Fan Vaulting, Fan Base

The outside of Bath Abbey is absolutely, breath-takingly gorgeous. Everything about the structure is impressive--its size, the high walls, the stone carvings on the outside of the building. Then you step through the doors, and the inside is just as lovely. Surely, you think, beauty like this doesn't happen on its own.

Something causes you to look up, and suddenly you realize that, no, it doesn't.

Fan vaulting was an invention of Gothic architecture designed to support the high, high ceilings of the period. The ceiling itself is actually the vault, and the fans are the support system. As impressive as the ceiling is, it could not remain where it is without the fans.

That's how I feel right now. This amazing ride with His Good Opinion owes so much of its success to you. I only wrote the book--you, my friends and family, have been the ones to support both it and me in a way that has absolutely astounded me.

Thank you so much for this beautiful, beautiful ride.

ETA: I just sold my 100th paperback! Yet another milestone to be thankful for. :)

Happy Birthday, Jane!

Over two hundred years ago in a small Hampshire village, Jane Austen was born. She died before her 42nd birthday, but in those four decades, she changed the course of English literature. The novel as we know it was birthed in her keen observations and clever wit.

More than most authors, I owe my own literary career directly to Jane Austen. I wrote stories before finding the niche of Austenesque fiction, but I never finished anything that was remotely publishable. Today, on her 236th birthday, I can say that I am a successful author thanks to Jane.

I've said my thanks before, but I wanted to once more: Thank you, Jane, for sitting down at that little table and writing books that would change my life. Happy birthday.

Filling In the Blanks

These carved blocks came from the temple to the goddess Sulis Minerva on the site of the Roman baths in Bath. The individual pieces offer one glimpse into what worship at the temple would have been like.

Even though there are chunks missing, scholars have managed to piece together this recreation:

It's pretty incredible, isn't it? They only had a third, maybe half the pieces, and yet from that they could take an educated guess at the whole design.

And here's where I tie this into writing. Back story is like this. As writers, we need to know all the pieces, everything about who our characters are and why they do the things they do. We need to know they were stung by a bee in fifth grade and have been terrified ever since.

The audience doesn't need to know that. Give them a third, maybe half of what you know and they'll be able to piece together the rest. That moment as a reader when we realize how things fit together is magic, and if you offer us too many pieces, it's lost.

The Book That Changed My Life

Five years ago, I started wondering if maybe I should move. Not just to a different neighborhood, or even to another city, but abroad. I didn't know why exactly (and I'm still not sure), but I felt restless--like I just wasn't where I belonged.

It didn't take much thought to choose England for my new home. I've been an Anglophile for a very, very long time. Books are probably at the root of the initial obsession as well, but frankly it's been so long I honestly can't remember.

I planned a trip, which I referred to as a recon mission. I wanted to know exactly what I was getting myself in for by moving there. After all, my only previous experience with England was two weeks in London over Christmas in 1997. I was pretty sure things had changed since then.

That trip got postponed at least twice due to finances, but finally I went in March. As you know if you've read my #DarcyHunt entries, I had an absolutely fabulous time. Everything went right. England opened its arms to me and said, "Welcome. You'll feel at home here." (Only this was said in a much more English-y/much less Midwestern kind of way.)

Well... a funny thing happened. Knowing how right it felt made me wonder if I was wrong. I second-guessed myself. Did I really want to move overseas? How would I like England as a permanent resident?

I have spent the last three months in limbo, not sure exactly what I wanted to do. Then on Saturday night, I picked up The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson and I read this:

Home. It was a nice thought. She had missed her parents, her friends... but the word didn't have quite the same meaning anymore. England was home too. So much of her was here.

[...]

She wanted this train to break down, for her flight to be canceled, for immigration to tell her that she wasn't allowed to go. She wanted London itself to rise up and refuse to let her pass out of its boundaries.


And just like that, I knew what I needed to do. I know there will be obstacles ahead, legal ones in particular. I know I have financial obligations I need to meet first. I know my cat is absolutely going to hate me for taking her across the ocean, and I know she'd hate me even more if I left her behind.

Despite all that, I know that if I don't do this, I will regret it for the rest of my life. (I swear, I did not intentionally paraphrase the proposal from Runaway Bride.)

England is home, too. Just like Ginny, so much of me is there. I can't wait until the actual me part of me is there as well.

A few giveaway reminders before you go:

1) I launched a website on Monday. IndieJane.org is giving away a free Kindle during our inaugural month, so slip on over and enter to win. While you're there, take a look around--it's a site for both indie authors and lovers of Jane Austen fiction. 

2) Remember Absolute Liability, the book I featured in last week's post on writing cross-genre? My friend (and Indie Jane co-owner) Jessica is giving away FIVE COPIES! Check out her blog to win.

Winchester Cathedral and Jane Austen

It's a beautiful sunny day in March, and I've just landed in England. I made it through customs and caught the train to Winchester, where a friend met me. She knew immediately what I would want to see first: Winchester Cathedral, the place where Jane Austen is buried.

It was after 4:00 PM when we started the self-guided tour, and even my jet-lagged brain could appreciate the beauty of the afternoon light coming through the stained glass windows. Sometime I might do a blog post just on the stained glass I saw in England--I have even more pictures of that than I do of the willows.

The various altar pieces were beautiful. This one in particular struck me, with the gilded paintings and the beautiful masonry.

After seeing the cathedral in all it's glory, you finally come to Jane's grave. This is the actual stone marking where she is buried. I still find it a little odd to think of people being buried inside a building--can anyone explain this to me? I realize it was something of an honor, as not just anyone gets space beneath the transept, but beyond that...?

(Please forgive the slightly blurred picture--the batteries in my camera were dying.)

Jane's gravestone makes no mention of her writing--it's simply a commemoration by her family and friends of a life well lived. It wasn't until several years later that this plaque was erected on the wall of the cathedral, honoring "Jane Austen, known to many by her writings..." Above the plaque is a gorgeous stained glass window of St. Augustine, as Austen is an abbreviated form of Augustine. (I do have pictures of the window, but they turned out even worse than the pictures of the stone and the plaque.)

I find it a little ironic that my first stop in England was Jane's last. I don't attach any great symbolic meaning to that, but I know my trip over all grounded me more in her life and her way of thinking. The chapters I've written since I've come back have flowed more easily, with less time wondering how exactly something would work.

Visiting a grave site leaves you with a greater appreciation for what the person accomplished in her life. Jane Austen didn't live long--she was only 41 when she died. But in those short years, she created six of the most-loved novels in modern English, and she left us with numerous remnants and pieces of juvenilia. She worked hard at her writing, frequently sitting for hours a time at her little writing table. That kind of consistency and dedication inspired me to do the same.

If you could visit the grave of one person, whose would you choose and why? What lessons would you take away from the trip?

The Big Picture

On my first morning in Winchester, the proprietor of my bed and breakfast recommended I walk up a small hill that overlooks the city. Even though in the back of my mind I was thinking, "I really don't have time--I have to see the cathedral and the house where Jane Austen died and-and-and," I took her advice. 

When I reached the top, I could see why she'd suggested it. The entire city of Winchester spread before me in a gorgeous panorama. I could see the back of the cathedral, the ruins of the old Bishop's Palace, Winchester College, and so much more. That first overview of the city helped me understand where exactly I was when I wandered the streets later.

On January 1, I picked up a hard copy of my draft and started editing--or at least I tried to. I didn't get past the first page before the sheer enormity of the task struck me. There was no way I could read through this story and edit it. I could barely remember what happened in the middle.

After some thought, I put the entire file on my Kindle. I spent the next three weeks reading it and taking notes, which I've then used to guide the editing process. Going through the story from start to finish allowed me to see the big picture; now, when I'm editing, I know where I am in the story and I don't get lost.

I blogged last Monday about paying attention to the details, and that's important. However, as writers we can become a little myopic--so obsessed with what is going on right now in our stories that we fail to see how that fits into the whole.

So if your editing is giving you grief, why don't you join me on this hill? I guarantee you, the view from here is worth it.

Austenesque Lesson: The Sequel

Austenesque novels typically fall into one of three categories: variations, alternate universe, or sequels. All three have their own set of pit-falls the author must avoid for the story to be worth reading.

In my mind, the sequel is the easiest to sell to the reader, but the hardest to write. Readers want more of their favorite characters; that's why this genre exists in the first place. However, Jane did a wonderful job tying up loose ends, so it's hard to find an actual plot to work with. After all, plot requires conflict, and the pictures of perfect domestic felicity we find at the end of her novels might seem, at first look, to negate the possibility of the lovers ever suffering discord.

To get past that, the sequel author needs to remember that Jane Austen painted a realistic picture of people and life. People are not perfect, even when their love story has the perfect ending. For instance, I imagine that Emma continued to meddle and Knightley did not stop chastising her for it. Both were improved by the events of the book, but neither were perfected. It is the task of the Austenesque author to find which foibles of personality would carry on into marriage, and how that might affect the couple's future happiness.

In Mr. Darcy's Secret, Jane Odiwe excels at this. Her Darcy and Elizabeth are every bit as much in love with each other as we imagine them to be from Pride and Prejudice's conclusion. However, like all newlyweds, there are things they don't know about each other. Elizabeth in particular is troubled by letters she's found that indicate Darcy might once have loved another lady.

At the same time, his decision that Georgiana must make a good match disturbs Elizabeth. She knows her sister-in-law has formed a tendre for a landscape artist, and the marriage Darcy has in mind for her will not make her happy. Darcy's insistence on an alliance of equal fortune and importance seems hypocritical to her, given that he gave up both to marry her.

Both of these plots are very true to the characters. The story progresses in a manner that allows us to learn more of all our favorite characters from Pride and Prejudice, as well as getting to know Georgiana better yet. By the end, of course, all the misunderstandings are resolved. Life at Pemberley is happy once more.

And that is the true art of an Austen sequel: It takes our characters from the happily ever after we see at the end of the book, through another conflict, and brings them back to a happiness made more complete by a greater understanding of one another. If you wish to see this in practice, I highly recommend Mr. Darcy's Secret by Jane Odiwe.

Taking chances

Last month, fellow author and blogger Julia blogged about an exhibit she saw of Dale Chihuly glass. She was particularly struck by the artist's trust in his audience: There are no walls or barriers protecting these fragile pieces from the public. If something were to happen, irreplaceable art would be destroyed, but apparently he views that as an acceptable cost. His goal is to allow the public to truly interact with his work.

From trust, it's only one small step to taking chances. I believe I'm pretty transparent in my work. I think and talk as Darcy when I'm writing, so there's little room for me to be vulnerable myself. But taking chances... seizing opportunities that I'm given... I could do better there.

In the Jane Austen's House Museum, there is a pianoforte that guests are welcome to play. I looked at it longingly several times, but my keyboard skills are similar to Elizabeth's: I would not play at all amiss, if I practiced more. There were other people in the museum, strangers. Could I play in front of them, expose my lack of skill to their critical ears?

In the end, I shied away. I felt a mild pang of regret when I left the house without touching the instrument, but it wasn't until I read Julia's post that I realized I'd let an opportunity slip through my fingers. Who cares how well I play? I could have played the pianoforte at the Jane Austen's House Museum!! Why didn't I?

This is my year of taking chances. Self-publishing is a huge step into the unknown. Will people like my book? I don't know. All I can do is write (and edit, and rewrite) the best book possible and then put it out there. I know if I don't, I'll regret it--just like I regret not playing the pianoforte.

A certain sameness

Every city I visited in England is situated on a river, and I managed to walk beside all of them at least once. Of course, picturesque riverbanks just invited photographs, so I came away with quite a collection.

When I looked at my pictures after I got home, I noticed a certain similarity to them.

Winchester

Stratford-upon-Avon

 

Bath

Windsor-Eton

Do you see it? Every single picture features a willow tree. True, there were willow trees along all the rivers, but couldn't I choose something else to frame the photo?

I notice the same thing when I'm revising. During my last project, I actually wrote, "Find someplace other than the library!!!" across the top of a chapter in block letters, because every other important scene happened there.

In the Netherfield portion of HIS GOOD OPINION, my setting of choice was a garden walk. Any time Darcy needed to think--something he did far too much of--he took a walk through the gardens. By the time I reached the last scene, I knew as I wrote it that it would need to be moved. (Another garden scene?) shows up right in the MS.

Now, for all you members of Over-Thinkers Anonymous, this is not something to worry about during your rough draft. You notice that even though I caught it, I still went ahead and wrote the scene.

However, when you hit the revision stage, things probably need to be reworked. In my writing, if multiple scenes are set in the same place, it's often a clue that I've written the same scene more than once. That was the case with HIS GOOD OPINION. Like I said, there were way too many scenes where Darcy wandered off to think. Is he a thoughtful man? Yes. Does any man think that much about love and relationships? No. Therefore, I cut the love bit out of the first scene and then combined the second two into one.

The other possible reason is (sorry to say) laziness. This was my excuse in my earlier project. I didn't want to think about the setting any longer, so I didn't create other places in that world. I'm not one of these writers who can build whole cities out of nothing. My best work is with characters. Painting the backdrop for them to live on is tedious work to me, and sometimes that shows.

I'm working on both of these flaws. When I get to Pemberley, I will spend some time just thinking about the estate and the house itself. How many floors, how many rooms, what would the rooms be used for? If I have a clear idea going into that section, I'll have a much easier time moving things around and describing them.

What about you? Do you find yourselves leaning on a setting the way writers sometimes do a certain word or phrase?

How to Write Like Shakespeare

Saturday was Shakespeare's 447th birthday, and as part of the Happy Birthday Shakespeare project, I'd like to share some pictures and thoughts from my recent visit to Stratford-upon-Avon.

Shakespeare's Birthplace

 First, a confession: As much as I loved Chawton, Stratford-upon-Avon grabbed my heart and would not let go. I felt absolutely at home here, and I did not want to leave.

Shakespeare's Grave, Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon

Even in March, the city was full of tourists. (I ran into the same group of French students every place I went.) They all come to visit because they have been touched by the words of a man who died almost 400 years ago.

Anne Hathaway's Cottage, childhood home of Shakespeare's wife

 The authorship of those words, however, has been a subject of contention for the last 150-200 years. When I was at Anne Hathaway's Cottage, I overheard the guide explaining the Shakespeare Authorship Controversy to another visitor.

There are several reasons some people doubt Shakespeare actually wrote Shakespeare. However, the most ludicrous to my mind is this: Shakespeare grew up in a small town in rural England and never traveled any farther than London. His life experiences wouldn't have given him the keen understanding of human nature we see in the works attributed to his name.

Let's put this argument in perspective. Many of Shakespeare's plays are histories. If we're to believe he couldn't have understood people well enough to write the complex relationships he did, then how would Francis Bacon, the Earls of Denby and Oxford, or Christopher Marlowe (all given as potential candidates) have been able to write about events in the past? They didn't experience them, so surely they couldn't have written about them.

King James Bible, first edition. Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon

Ridiculous, yes? Have these people never heard of books? Shakespeare lived in a time when books were becoming readily available to the masses. The obvious example in his lifetime was the publication of the King James Bible in 1611, but even before that the written word was a hot commodity among those who could read.

Guild Chapel, King Edward VI Grammar School, Stratford-upon-Avon

Some go so far as to argue that Shakespeare was illiterate, but that stretches credulity a bit far. As the son of a well-to-do man, he would almost certainly have been educated at the local grammar school. There he would have received instruction in Latin and Greek, a vital tool since most works were still written in either language.

Carnegie Library, Stratford-upon-Avon

Today, Stratford's public library is just two doors down from the Birthplace, as if it is impossible to separate a love and reverence for the Bard from a love of books. Shakespeare read classical myths and the plays and poems of his day, and in them he traveled to places he could only see in his mind. Today, people read his plays for the same reason. His words take us to Ancient Rome, to the battlefield of Agincourt, to fair Verona. With each reading, we learn more about people and history, about mythology and poetry.

This is why writers need to read. It is not so we understand how to use language, when to follow the rules and when to break them. Those are things we learn in the process of attaining a greater wisdom:
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." (Hamlet, Act I, Scene v, 166-167)

If you want to write like Shakespeare, if you want to live in a world that is wider than you can imagine, then you must read.

Jane Austen Was Here

To a certain extent, all authors work in the shadow of the literary greats. How will our books compare when stacked up against classics like Les Misérables, Don Quixote, or Wuthering Heights? For the Austen sequel writer, the pressure is infinitely greater. We are not just working in the same profession as those masters; we are actually taking the characters and settings of Jane Austen's stories and adding to them in some way.

Three weeks ago, I stepped directly into Austen's shadow when I visited Chawton. This house, now home to the Jane Austen's House Museum, is where she lived when she wrote and edited the majority of her novels. If you remember, I planned to spend some time writing on the grounds, and there was some debate over how intimidating that might be.

Honestly, I didn't think it would intimidate me--until I saw her writing desk. This is actually the little table she sat and wrote at. I imagined I could hear the squeak in the door which warned her when people approached. Then I was intimidated!

Look at that chair, at the angle of the chair to the table. This was not an ergonomic work station, friends. Granted, the chair is low enough and the table high enough that she wouldn't have to hunch over her paper, but beyond that... Can you imagine the dedication that would drive you to spend hours a day, cramped into one position, writing away?

Yes, I thought, I can imagine it. While my situation at home is far more comfortable, I still have a chiropractor and massage therapist constantly telling me I should take better care of myself. I ignore them, because sitting for hours a day is the only way to get the book done, and the book demands to be finished.

After touring the museum, I walked a ways up the road to the main house--Chawton Great House. This is a fine Elizabethan manor and I learned quite a bit about the Austen connection to the Knight family. Among the group, there was that electric realization that Jane Austen actually visited this house--ate in this dining room--walked on these stairs.

So did I do any writing? Yes, I did. Intimidated or not, I could not let this opportunity pass me by. Jane Austen was here, and now, so was I.

Change your focus

On Monday, I shared a little of my approach to photography: take as many pictures as possible, and hope some turn out well. There is a dark side to this, however. I can be a little... obsessive. At times, I'll fixate on an image I must capture on film, and nothing can shake me from my purpose.

In England, I found myself drawn to the flowers. Even though our climates are very similar, somehow more things were in bloom there than at home. Stratford-upon-Avon was particularly beautiful. On my first afternoon, I walked out to Anne Hathaway's Cottage.

The walk itself is lovely. Magnolias were in bloom, as well as other trees I can't identify.

However, I became obsessed with this:

And when I say obsessed, I mean I have 16 other shots, all of about the same quality. For some reason, I could not get a clear shot of this little flower, no matter how hard I tried. It wasn't until I looked at them at home that I realized the problem. Take a look at this example:

Do you see what happened? I wanted a picture of the flower in the middle, but my camera wanted to shoot the one on the edge. The resulting image is blurry and unsatisfactory.

How often does that happen when we're writing? In the middle of revisions, it can feel like we've reworked a scene 14, 15, 16 times, all without affect. It's only when we take a step back and look at what we're trying to accomplish that we realize we've been focusing on the wrong things.

Perhaps the chapter needs to be rewritten from another character's perspective, or maybe the entire scene should take place later in the book. Whatever it is, once we adjust our lens, we're able to write the scene we didn't realize we needed to write.

PS: Please, for the sake of my sanity, don't tell me how I could have gotten a clear picture of that flower. I think I'd throw my camera at the wall if I found out now.

Getting the perfect shot

The week before I left for England, I bought a new camera and three 4gig SD cards. I didn't want to fret about space every time I thought about taking a picture. Three weeks and 1200 pictures later, I believe I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.

After deleting all the blurred shots and awkward camera angles, I still have 800 decent photos. Of those, I selected 222 to share with my family this afternoon. That's approximately 1/6 of everything I took, or 1/4 of the good ones.

And here's where we get to writing: Because I gave myself permission to take as many pictures of whatever I wanted in the beginning, I came away with some pretty awesome shots. If I wanted to take a picture, I didn't debate with myself. I didn't wonder if I had the composition just right, or if the lighting was perfect. I pulled out my camera and shot the picture. Obviously there were some less than pretty files taking up space on my cards, but those were the practice shots. They eventually gave way to pictures like these:

Bath Abbey, with birds

I've got a dozen good pictures of Bath Abbey. This one is special though because I captured the birds in flight. It was serendipitous, but I also made my own luck. If I hadn't had my camera to my eye, I wouldn't have got the shot.

Chandelier in the Octagon Room

Unlike the Abbey, I have very few good pictures of the Octagon Room at the Assembly Rooms. I took at least three other pictures of the chandelier, but they're all blurry. On a whim, I stood underneath and shot this photo. It's one of my favorites from my entire trip.

London Eye at sunset

The sun was setting as my friend and I walked along Victoria Embankment in search of dinner. When we saw the sunset behind the London Eye, we stopped for pictures. I took roughly two dozen pictures of that sunset. This one captures the hazy, end of the day feeling perfectly.

Writers tend to over-think. Do I have this scene right? Did I use too much dialogue/not enough dialogue/would my character really say that? There is definitely a time for all of those questions, but it is not when we are in the middle of a first draft. When you're writing a first draft, you have all the space in the world. Write the scene from different angles. Play with the setting and the mood. There will be time enough for thought later.

Your novel has been detained for questioning

Every trip has its little adventures, and Darcy Hunt was no exception. My feet had barely touched English soil when the drama began. I approached the Customs agent, somewhat tired and bedraggled. After a series of questions, she handed me a piece of paper that said I was being detained for further questioning.

Why? Because I couldn't tell her the address or phone number of the friend I was to stay with in London. Never mind that I had the address and walking directions of the place I stayed that night; the fact that I didn't know the details on my London friend concerned her enough to detain me.

(In the interest of my future plans for England, I'm leaving out my editorial remarks here. You may exclaim and wonder all you wish in the comments however.)

Those of you who know me know it's unusual for me to be unprepared for that kind of question. I'm a plan ahead kind of gal, but for this trip I wanted to be a little more easy going. I knew where I was going to meet Helen and how to get there; that was good enough for me.

The plan ahead part of my personality is why I'm a planner, not a pantser. When I get a story in mind, I sit down and work out all the details before I start writing. The very first thing I get a handle on are my characters... things like their address and phone number, for instance.

Every time I've attempted to write a novel without an outline, questions have detained me somewhere in the first or second chapter. Who are these people? Why are they acting like this? I lose time and momentum when I have to stammer out the vague clues I have.

What about you, friends? Has your novel been detained in Customs?

Chawton: A Janeite's Mecca

When I plan a vacation, I separate sites into three categories: If I Have Time, Quite Interested, and Do Not Miss. As a Janeite and author of Austenesque novels, Chawton Cottage definitely falls into the third category.

This house is where Jane spent the last eight years of her life. It was here that she edited and/or wrote most of the six major novels. I hunted around the internet for a picture, and found this on thefemalerambler's Flickr feed:

(I'll have plenty of my own to share when I get back, don't worry!)

Now, while I'm at Chawton I plan to do a little writing of my own. It's supposed to be sunny, so I thought I'd sit outside somewhere with a notebook and engage in some method writing. Where better to get into Jane's mind than at her home?

I mentioned this on Twitter, and one person mentioned she'd be too intimidated to write there. So I'm asking you, friends: If you could visit someplace like Chawton, would you be inspired or intimidated?

Leavin' on a jet plane

I leave for England today at 2:00 pm. I've got my Kindle loaded with plenty of reading material and several audio books on my iPhone. I printed out the next ten chapters of my story to edit while I'm gone, and I even have a coloring book. (The pictures are of Regency fashion, so it counts as research.)

I've spent the last few weeks writing and scheduling blog posts. There will be new material every Monday and Thursday, just like normal. I tried to theme them around my current location. Heads up for the Janeites out there--Thursday I'm at Chawton!

If you're on Twitter, I'll also be tweeting whenever I find wi-fi. I'm tagging all tweets related to my trip with #DarcyHunt so they're easy to find. Disclaimer: I am not actually going to England to find Mr. Darcy.

That's about it. I'll be back live and in person on April 5. Don't miss me too much.