Ask Stephanie Laurens - September 27, 2012 discussion
Ask Stephanie!
date
newest »
newest »
Mod
I love your books! I adore every single one of your heroes and heroine.
Wondering, would you keep the story about cynster family? I always imagine if you will told us about the se..."
Hi, Adisty - re the question about more Cynsters, I've answered that above (see reply to Rachael) But as to who is my favorite author...I don't have one - I have so many I couldn't possibly list them! I read lots of romance of all types, and also lots of fantasy and crime. For instance, I've just finished G.A. Aiken's How to Drive a Dragon Crazy, and am now on Meljean Brooks' Heart of Steel. Prior to those, it was Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid books, and I have a Peter Robinson, a Catherine Coulter, a Loretta Chase, a Nalini Singh...and several others on my TBR pile. And that's not counting the iPad. :)
I am SO excited and happy about more Cynsters, I just hope I'd find them here
Mod
Hi, Dick - great question. I think the issue of whether romance is literature revolves about what one means by the word literature (yes, it has two different meanings). First meaning is: all works employing the written word. By that definition, travel brochures are literature - and romance novels definitely are. However, if you use the term literature in its other sense - meaning literary works - then no. Neither travel brochures, nor any form of genre fiction, qualify as literature - because the meaning of "literary works" is: works in which the arrangement of letters on the page and words in sentences is paramount. (All above are not my definitions, but the definitions drawn from the Oxford English Dictionary, current multi-volume version, and also in the case of literary works echoed by literary greats).
I suspect the modern arguments about what is and is not literature stem from a lack of appreciation of the fact that not all novels are the same. We as readers totally accept that a "good" travel brochure is one that makes us want to know more about the destination or trip it describes - we rank the writing of travel brochures, and scientific papers, and how-to manuals, letters, and all other forms of writing on the basis of whether the writing actually achieves the purpose the writer set out to achieve. Yet when it comes to novels, the distinction of "what the author set out to achieve" is, for some reason, dropped.
A literary author sets out to work on the arrangement of letters on the page and words in sentences - that's what they say is most important to them. There may well be a story in their work, but that's incidental to the author. A general fiction author sets out to explore a particular subject, usually using story to do so most effectively. But whether that story is entertaining or not (even though it might well be) is neither here nor there.
A genre fiction author sets out to entertain. Pure and simple - just that. We're storytellers, the descendants of the bards but these days we tell our stories via the written word - but the only valid way to judge our stories is whether they entertain our audience/readers.
I cannot see the logical sense in judging literary works, general fiction works and genre fiction as if they are all one and the same thing - when each category of novels sets out to achieve very different purposes. Shouldn't each type of novel - just like any other form of writing - be judged on the basis of whether it serves the purpose for which it was created?
:} As I suspect you can tell, I've thought long and hard about this issue and could go on for hours. But part of that comes from having been a scientific author, too, and therefore being very aware that scientific papers are literature in the wider sense, yet definitely are not literary works. And I also know just how amazingly different good scientific writing is compared to good genre fiction writing (for science, think no phrases or clauses, only a succession of simple sentences stating facts in a logical order). No one would judge my scientific papers against "literary works" yet many insist on judging my entertainment works (genre fiction) against the yardstick of literary works - which makes no sense to me. My genre fiction works are not meant to be, never intended to be, literary works.
And of course, the opposite applies, when people bemoan that literary works don't attract the audience genre fiction/entertainment works do. But why would they? Good literary works are by their very nature largely academic exercises, and are appreciated on an atheistic level, while genre fiction, like all entertainment, is universal and connects predominantly on an emotional level.
Yes, a lot of the above are generalities, but sometimes you have to step back to generalities in order to see the wood for the trees.
Mod
Hi, Jen - when I first started the Cynsters, I knew there would be the first six (see my reply to Carol for how that come about) but then the canon expanded more or less on its own. I just followed.
And yes, there will be more Cynsters - I have no plans at this point to end the series. I'm following the younger crew, watching them evolve, and largely letting them take me - and eventually my readers - into the Victorian era.
Mod
I just wanted to say how much I love reading your books! I especially enjoyed reading the Bastion Club series, even with how this series ended! Will there be any new books to the ..."
Hi, Denise - re there being more Cynster novels, as you'll see from various replies above, the answer is yes! And to go further - they will for the foreseeable future be Cynsters - members of the family. Some of the connections (ones you've yet to meet) are getting spun off into another group. But that's for the far future :)
Hello from Upstate NY! I have spent so many nights over the years reading your books, can I jut say ...YOU'RE THE BEST! When I need to escape the stress of the day I pull out one of your books and loose myself in the story. Loved the Bastion Club series. The Earl of Glencrae was by far the steamiest! I have noticed a certain repetitiveness (phrases, thoughts the characters have about each other, why they feel strongly about certain thing; i.e. the Cynster girls being overly protected by their alpha male relatives) in the last three novels and just can't help wondering is that the editors doing that? (Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue) comes to mind. Have you read the Game of Thrones series yet by George R.R. Martin?... Bloody Fantasy so when I finish w/his book(s) I feel like I've been put though the ringer (in a good twisted way) and then I pick up your latest and it's like settling in w/a friend-you know what to expect -sassy, funny, and entertaining and ALWAYS keeps me coming back for me.
Thanks for all you do!!!!
Mod
First, I absolutely LOVE all your books!!! I think it's amazing that you can create new adventures for all of the extended family and friends of these beloved characters. My quest..."
Hi, Angela - thanks for stopping by, As for how I come up with the storylines...I wish I knew! The ideas literally just pop into my head, usually the incident that starts the story off, along with the principal characters, and from there it just organically evolves.
Mod
"
Hi, Alpestre - I lived in southern England (Kent) for four years, worked in Central London, in Lincoln Inn Fields, and drove all over England during that time, visiting houses, castles, etc. I can actually remember a lot of it, and yes, I use the memories in the books. Lots of different places have come in useful! As for character names...the principal character's names usually come along with the character - the name has to fit, at least for me. Many of the other names - titles, surnames - I use Georgette Heyer's method to find - use a detailed map of England and hunt for a village or town name that works :)
Have you converted over to an e-reader device or do you read a printed book. The debate is still raging at our house. I feel so disloyal w/an e-reader (someone gave it to my teen as a gift and I tried it out last week) but the green girl in me says go digital! How do you feel about being 'published' or being 'e-published'? Does it mean more to you to have a physical book in your hand after you finish the manuscript?
Mod
My question is regarding how you pick the locations like the mansions that the caractors live in. I have an idea for writing a regency novel but get stuck when trying to place my caractors. Thanks for any advice. "
Hi, Ricky Joe - usually the story dictates location - like if the action necessarily takes place in London, or in Cornwall. And then I use maps to work out where the houses must be for the story to work. Most of my geography is accurate and nowadays correct for the time period as far as I can make it. And therefore also the time taken to travel from one place to another by whatever means (carriage, horse, mail coach) is also correct. As a reader I do get annoyed when authors have people in London pop off to Stratford-on-Avon for the afternoon, and then return in time for dinner.
Mod
Hi, Susan - the short answer is yes, but it won't be a different series as such, more a different subset of the Cynster Novels. After Henrietta and Mary, Lucilla and Marcus, Richard and Catriona's twins, are the next up -- theirs will be the final two stories in the necklace group. And some time after that, we'll have Devil's three children. And then...:) more to come.
Mod
I would love to know how you come up with your male characters? Are they your dream guys or are they who you think would fit well with the female characters? Thanks so much."
LOL - I think some of these guys would be very irritating to live with! But to answer your question, all my male characters are versions of a single archetypal hero - the warrior. Each is different to some degree, but they all have similar and predictable reactions to certain situations, and relate to people, especially those close to them, in much the same ways. The warrior archetype is one of the strongest storytelling archetypes, and is especially useful for romance stories, but specifically because of that strength, not every author uses, or is comfortable using, it.
You are also correct in stating that the type of characters I use - male or female - are in large part dictated by what sort of character the main character (e.g Devil because his story started with him, or Amanda, because her story started with her) is going to need to play against them. I wouldn't easily accept - and I don't think readers would either - the notion of a truly timid or weak female somehow coping with a warrior male. I could write a female who started apparently timid and weak, but through having to cope and interact with the warrior-male, transformed into the woman she really was underneath...(great story idea, incidentally - let's see where that one lands :)) but truly mismatching character-strengths yet making the story believable to modern audiences...would be a truly difficult task.
Mod
I picked up one of your novels by chance and since then I've been addicted. I read all of your novels and can hardly wait for the new one. ...1. Where does the word 'ton' come from? I looked it up in my English dictionary and oculdn't find it so I'm at a loss.
2. How can you write such amazing erotic scenes? Where do you find the inspiration?"
Hi, Brigitte - to your questions:
1) ton = fashionable style or distinction. The ton = fashionable society. Both derived from the French "tone" and a modern use is the word "toney" - I suspect you used an American English dictionary. Fr many of the odd words in my books, you need to consult e.g. an Oxford. The more I write, the more differences I find between UK and US words and even usages!
2) re my love scenes - they are always driven by the characters. At least one of them will have an ulterior agenda, and they will be using the lovemaking to further that, so the scene is really another "action" scene, just a different sort of action :) But it's all written through the characters' experience, which is, I suspect, what makes readers experience the scenes in the way they do.
Mod
Hi, Flora! After Henrietta's and Mary's stories (2013) will come #2 and #3 in the Barnaby Adair series - Heathcote Montague's tale first, then we finally get to learn what really happened to Malcolm Sinclair. After that, I believe we'll be back to the Cynsters for Lucilla's and Marcus's stories, then...I haven't yet decided which of the many stories on my list will come next. There's more than 15 books all waiting to be written - probably by the time I start writing Lucilla's I'll know which is demanding most strongly to be written after Marcus's. It almost certainly won't be a Cynster novel - I like to mix things up, see my earlier reply to Sarah, so it might be the first of a new series, or a stand alone, or... - it'll be on my website when I know!
Mod
So my question is, How do you decide on who should appear in who's book?"
Hi, Ki - which secondary characters come into any book is determined by the plot. That's the only reason they can be in someone else's story, so it's really not something I have to think about all that much. I get to the point of one of the main characters needing to do something, and in their head I look around, and ask as anyone would: who do I know who can help me with this? Likewise, with characters like Helena or LadyO, you know that if a certain type of story is running anywhere near them, they are going to put in their oar, regardless of what the principal characters might wish! But that again is the plot dictating - if you run such a story with such characters in such a place/world inhabited by these others - which of those others is going to want their say?
Mod
Hi, Angela - yours is one question I really can't answer, because all your reactions are really up to you. I can't tell how any individual reader is going to react to anything I write.
But your question touches on a very important point, which I can best describe by pointing to the closest alternative to reading genre fiction - which is watching a popular movie. With the movie, the writer/screenwriter is the creative talent, and creates the story and script, and the production crew - director, actors, photographer, sound people, animation specialists, etc - are the interpretative talents. The interpretive talents bring the writer's words to life. The audience just sits and the experience is delivered to them - in watching a movie, the audience doesn't need to do anything but drink it all in and enjoy.
But genre fiction novels - essentially the same sort of story as a movie - demand significantly more input from the audience/reader. With genre fiction novels, the writer/author is again the creative talent, but the readers themselves are the interpretive talent. You take our words and bring them to life in your head, using your imagination.
No more than a screenwriter can influence how an actor delivers a critical line can an author influence what a reader makes of the author's words.
Which, of course, is why a site like Goodreads works, because while many readers will experience any given book in largely similar ways, some readers will have widely different experiences of the same book. But that also means neither I nor any author can ever tell any given reader whether or not they'll like a particular book. The correct response always is: you'll have to read it and see :).
Mod
I adore all the Cynster men but in particular, Devil! My question to you is, Out of all of your characters, who is your favorite hero? heroine?"
Hi, Angela - see my reply to Cherish above, but the short answer is that I don't have a favorite hero or heroine as I'm always fully engaged with the pair I'm writing now.
Hi Mrs Laurens,Greetings from Modern Day rural Cambridgeshire! Have you ever worked out where the line between Viscount Debenham's estates near Peterborough & Devil's estate is? Are they neighbouring estates? What else can you tell us about that area of the world in your books?
Mod
Hi, Kit - that refusal to admit out aloud "I love you" - that reluctance to saying the L-word aloud, is a classic characteristic of the super-alpha-warrior-male. It's not that they don't love, but quite the opposite. It's that they feel love so powerfully, and understand it and themselves well enough to see it - or admitting it out aloud - as admitting to a huge vulnerability. Which no warrior is going to readily do, and the more powerfully they love, the less likely it is that they will say it out aloud. They'll search for and find every possible way to communicate the fact without stating it. Which is what Devil and Richard do.
I don't try to massage my characters into being politically correct - I don't think putting words into such characters' mouths is in any way useful but would rather destroy the character. And there's also the reality - which I know modern readers are very attuned to - that actions truly do speak louder than words, and when it comes to the word "love" - just uttering it is worthless if the feeling isn't there behind it. So I have no difficulty with my characters never saying the words, just as long as it's beyond obvious that the true sentiment is there.
Mod
Hi, Joan - waving. Thanks for stopping by. As for plans for future works, see the various answers above, especially in response to Flora.
Hi Stephanie, I just want to tell you I absolutely love your books and think I have read them all. I recently read Where the Heart Leads and Loved it. Will there be more Barnaby and Penelope stories?
Mod
"a secret love" was the first book I ever read from cover to cover in one week, and after that I wanted more. so I guess I owe it to you that I'm addicted to reading....I'm working on something now,and I just want to know if you have any tips on writing and if you ever got bored with writing? and how do you know if there are too much or too little details or even dialogues?."
First, if you get bored with writing, you won't be writing anything worth reading. The first reader a writer has to capture is themselves.
As for all the rest, if you're writing what you love to read (which you should be) and you find it (details, dialogue) entertaining and just right...then it is. Write for yourself first, then let the readers decide if they, too, enjoy what you've produced.
Sounds simple, right? Sadly, it is, and that's the one thing beginning writers rarely accept. Good luck!
Mod
I am new convert, your name caught my attention :-) when I was looking for a new author to try out, after picking up 'Brekenridge to the Resue' I have been hooked.
My question is, what drew you to this particular time period of history to write about? Do you have any plans to write any other novels outside of the current time period???"
Hi, Stephanie - I was interested in the Georgian-to-Regency periods long before I wrote my first book. I'd read heaps of other, mostly UK-pubbed, Georgian/Regency romances, and already had an appreciation of why that particular period worked so well for romances (because of the particularly strong resonance with modern times/modern issues, which I'll comment on in reply to another question later). When I came to write that first book, I didn't even stop to think which time period to set it in - I actually wrote that book because I was desperate as a reader for another Regency-set romance, and didn't have one available, so I sat down and wrote one.
As for plans for other time periods - some of the Cynsters to come will necessarily be in the Victorian era. Other than that, yes, I have plans further, much further, down the road for a series set in the 1920s, but I have decided that it will best suit me as an author to write at least 1 if not 2 books per year still set in the era I love best, so there will always be other books, other series set in the expanded Regency period I prefer (1810 to 1837) coming out every year.
Mod
I love all of your beautiful novels, but do you ever wish you could go back and re-write any of them ?
If so which ones and why ?
Also what different genre's of books do you like to unwind and escape into ? ."
Hi, Mandy - no, I've never wished to go back and rewrite any of my books. Once they're done, they're done, and that's it. I've always got plenty more stories lining up to be written, and I'd rather go on with those...and I have to admit I'm not sure I see what the attraction or need to rewrite books that readers are still buying and enjoying is.
But as to what genres I read, it's all genre fiction, but a fairly wide net - romance, especially paranormal/fantasy, romantic suspense, some contemporary and historical as well, plus crime - mostly police procedurals or detective novels or mysteries - and straight fantasy, too.
Mod
Hi, Sherri - usually it's the characters that come first for me, but I only start weaving a story in my head (usually years before I actually get to write it) once I have the initiating incident (the action that throws the characters together and starts the story rolling). As I let my stories evolve more or less organically, driven by the characters, with the villain opposing them, then I have to have both characters as well as plot to get going. But once I have those three things - two principal characters and the inciting incident - the rest just flows.
Mod
Hi, Nora - re your other questions, as you've noted, I've answered them already in replies above. But to these last -
Re contemporary novels - possibly, one never knows. I do have several series outlined, but whether they'll ever get to the top of my "to write next" list is an unanswerable question :)
Re who did I read before I started to write? Same as I read now, but even more Regency-set romance in those days. That was always my favorite go-to-genre, but as I write it now, I read less of that and more of the other genres I mentioned in an answer above.
Re what made me bold enough to publish my books? LOL - I really don't know! I just never considered sending a book to a publisher as "bold." What else was I to do with it? No, stop laughing - I'm being literal. It was there, the book I wrote because I ran out of Regency-set romances to read, sitting as a stack of computer paper taking up space on my desk, and I thought it was OK, so...I sent it off, and after minor revisions, that became my first published book. I never had any internal hurdle to overcome - if it was a book, and I thought it was, then it might as well get submitted because what else did you do with a book? Perhaps it was because there was nothing riding on it - I hadn't written it to be published. I'd written it to entertain me, and it had, and after that it was toss it in the trash, or submit it. So I (quite literally) shrugged, and did the latter. That book is Tangled Reins, still selling after more than 20 years - and that, I admit, makes me smile.
Mod
Hi, Laura - very insightful question! But it's actually the other way around. I write what would have happened in Regency England, but I'm very aware of the resonances that exist between that period and our own in terms of romance.
Which is why most successful Regency-historical romances involve members of the aristocracy. During the period from early 1800s to late 1830s, the aristocracy went from marrying for reasons that never had anything to do with love (dynastic, or for status or managing wealth) in and up to the late 1790s, to in the Regency having love-matches become quite the vogue, even among the nobility (possibly in reaction to the Romantic movement among artists from the late 1790s). So by the Regency period, for the first time, both men and women had to face the questions: Do I marry for love? Or do I marry for other reasons? Or do I not marry at all? In the period I write in, all three were real options, and they weren't options the characters' parents had had to face. For the aristocracy, this was new and unchartered waters. So in the Regency it's easy to focus on those questions, and as you point out, there's no distraction from the intrusions of modern life. Yet those questions are exactly the same questions readers of today face in their love lives.
This is really the answer to why, of all the historical time periods, the Regency works so well for romance authors and readers alike.
Mod
Hi, Robert - you are not alone. I think I run at somewhere around 15% male readership, but that's something of a guess. In the UK, most of the male readers who have contacted me are historians, or retirees who are attracted to the adventures, but happily read through the romance, too.
In the US, my male readers are more varied, from mid-20s to retirees. Interestingly, I get a lot of ex-servicemen (ex-warriors) who seem to appreciate and relate to my male characters and several have commented that through reading my books they can then see what it is in their behavior that most irks the females in their lives - and more importantly, why. So they gain insight into how women think through my female characters.
I've more widely heard that smart guys in their mid-20s specifically read romance novels to get a better idea of how women think and what women really want - which I for one think should be encouraged!
Mod
The first four of the GOT series are sitting on my bedside table, waiting...
Soon,, soon.
Mod
When it comes to books...knowing as I do all the chemical processes, let alone the energy that goes into printed copies...I have to do to the green side. I use an iPad (because I can have all the stores on it via apps). As an author, I suppose having a physical copy is nice, but I'd prefer the world got its priorities right and understood the issues around printing books, and so moved to digital. And as an author, the most wonderful thing about digital books is they can be (should be) accessible from anywhere in the world. Eventually, they will be. So yes, count me on the prefer-digital side of the divide, although living in Australia, I still have to get some books in print (imported from US or UK, so just think of the unnecessary energy going in transport) because said must-read books are not (yet) being made available in digital here.
Mod
Greetings from Modern Day rural Cambridgeshire! Have you ever worked out where the line between Viscount Debenham's estates near Peterborough & Devil's estate is? Are they neighbou..."
Hi, Lauren - yes, I do know where the estates are, but they are not neighboring. Can't remember the exact location off the top of my head, but Debenham's estate is to the north of Somersham Place.
Mod
Hi, Wendy! Yes, indeed! The next two Barnaby Adair books (with Penelope, Stokes and Griselda - incidentally, all of them make appearances in Henrietta's book as well) will be released in 2014.
#2 is Heathcote Montague's story, and #3 is the redemption of Malcolm Sinclair.
And there's a #4 to come later, too.
Hi Stephanie! Love your books. Thanks for sharing your talent. My question is ... have you always been a writer? Growing up were you the kid who was always writing stories to share with family and friends? Or did you start writing only when you ran out of stories to read?
Mod
Hi, Michelle - I was always a storyteller. I can't remember a time even as a very small child when I didn't have a story revolving in my brain. But I never really made much attempt to write them down, even though some were really long and involved - as in hours' worth of story I could have told. I didn't start as a storywriter until I ran out of books to read.
Hi Mrs.Laurens.. Thanks for the awesome answer. It was fun to read yours. I have another question. What are your biggest dream of wishes toward your writing career and life itself?
Are you still here ms stephanie...Im sooo in love with your book, i prefer printed book than e book...
Although i have thousands of them...
Thank you for writing :-)
Love from Indonesia
Mod
Hi, Adisty - that's not easy to answer, because as you go through life the goal-posts change. Right now, I would say that the one thing I'd most like is to be able to keep writing as much as I am.
Mod
Im sooo in love with your book, i prefer printed book than e book...
Although i have thousands of them...
Thank you for writing :-)
Love from Indonesia"
Hi, Rosalina - waving. Thanks for stopping by.
Mod
Happy reading!
Stephanie wrote: "Thanks to everyone who stopped by. Loved your questions! Thanks for participating and making my first Goodreads chat so enjoyable.Happy reading!"
The pleasure is ours ms laurens :-)
Ms. Laurens - You write amazing historical romance & adventures - and it's the adventures that get my heart racing nearly as much as the romance! As an avid audio book (CD) reader of your stories, I have to say that anytime you can have Simon Prebble narrate your stories, I will listen. His voice sets the tone, the mood, the feeling and gives the listener/reader a chill with his wonderful voice - just at the right time. Thank you again for sharing your talent and stories - please keep them coming!
That was great! I was not able to attend live, but got a lot out of reading all the posts. Thank you for your time.
Thank you so very much for your answer :)
StephanieI own everything you have written in either hard copy or e-book. Could you tell me if you plan to bring the groups back together again like you did in the Black Quartet series and when is Adair's next book due out?
Thank you and keep writing your wonderful stories.
Ronda
Ask Stephanie Laurens - September 27, 2012
Books mentioned in this topic
The Lady Risks All (other topics)A Rogue's Proposal (other topics)
Just have..."
Hi, Blacky - re your question as to which book I most enjoyed writing, every book is different in the writing (and most long-time authors will tell you the same thing, no matter how much we might wish it were otherwise.) There is always a challenge with every book, and with every book the challenge is not the same as it was with any previous book. I'm not sure why that is, but I suspect it's a good thing. It keeps me engaged in meeting the challenge of writing the story in the most effective way every time. But that also means that every time I get to the end, I feel I've accomplished something and get the satisfaction of that, and...then I move on to the challenge of the next book. So again, I don't have books that are more (or less) enjoyable in the writing. They are all just different. I think if that wasn't so, I'd get bored and stop writing.