Ask Annie: How do you plan your books?

"How do you plan your books? A kiss at 25%, sex at 50%, an argument at 75%? Or do your books grow organically?"

Organically, definitely.  From somewhere out of the depths of my imagination will come a scene, or an incident… (eg, a girl waking up in bed, naked, with a stranger and no memory of how she got there, or hiding from an embarrassing moment in a ballroom only to witness a scheming woman trying to entrap a man, and facing the moral dilemma of whether to risk more embarrassment by coming out of hiding and saving the hapless man, or staying hidden and feeling guilty for leaving him to his fate.)

From then, I imagine what led up to that moment.  And how the participants in it will deal with it going forward.  And, yes, since I write for Harlequin Mills & Boon, how I can resolve all their problems and give them a happy ending.

The scenarios that will lead to a happy ending may get worked into a synopsis, or brief outline, and filed away in one of my many notebooks.  So that if ever I run out of stories I’m burning to write, I can consult them for inspiration.

Sometimes the story flitting round in my head is so consuming I HAVE to write it down, and really come up with ways by which the poor unfortunate creature I have imagined in her pickle, can find a way to achieve a happy ever after.

The actual amount of kissing, or sexual intimacy which I write can vary immensely, since it stems very much from the characters personalities and the situations into which I have flung them.  In some stories, for example where the couple have to marry for some reason at the start, they may work through their issues with arguments alternating with make-up sex (I think of these as honeymoon books)

In others, if my heroine is a complete innocent, and the hero is trying to win her, or rescue her, then they might not even kiss with any passion until pretty near the end.  (my courtship books)  It really does depend on the characters.

So my books are a bit like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates.  You never know what you’re going to get.  (And please, no quips about preferring hard or soft centres!)

The one thing I do need to factor in, at a certain point of the drama, is the “dark moment”.  Just as the characters seem to be finding their way to each other, there has to be an incident which will almost tear them apart, which will test the strength of their love, so that when they come through it, the happy ending feels much more emotionally satisfying than if they hadn’t had to face it.

But of course, being a romance, they will come through, in one way or another, whether it means the hero climbing in through a bedroom window with a rose tucked into his crossbelt (An Escapade and an Engagement) or simply writing the heroine a revised list (Lord Havelock's List)  (Though it’s funny how it nearly always seems to be the hero who has to do the grovelling!)

To be honest, I think that planning out my books to the extent you mentioned would feel a bit like painting by numbers.  Maybe it would be a bit easier if I could produce stories in this way, but I wouldn’t feel as if I was being so creative.  Nor would I get that sense of getting to know my characters as I write about them.  They wouldn’t become such real people to me, or, I suspect, to the reader.

Annie's next book is "The Major Meets his Match," the first of a mini-series with three heroes attempting to solve a crime.

Annie considers it one of her "courtship" books.

It is available for pre-order from Amazon.

You can read the opening on Overdrive

Ask Annie: How to Write the Perfect Hero

You may recall that I've been taking questions from the Ideas Jar of late, and the most recent one I've received is this:

Following on from your post on point of view – how exactly do you approach characterisation between the genders?  i.e. male point of view and female.  How do you research the male psyche?

Well, I had to have a bit of a think about this question, because it immediately made me feel as if I ought to research the male psyche.

But after a bit, I decided to ‘fess up.  I don’t really hold to the prevalent view that men are from Mars and women are from Venus.  We are all from planet earth.  We all react to the trials and tribulations that life throws in our paths according to many factors apart from our gender.  Our personality, background, previous experience of similar situation, the state of our health, stress levels, or even whether we’re hungry or tired or just plain in a bad mood for some other reason.  And while I find articles like this one, that is supposed to highlight the difference between the way men and women think very amusing, I don’t believe it really does demonstrate basic differences between the sexes.

I don’t hold to the view that women, as a rule, would spend that much time dissecting their relationships – at least, not the kind of women I want to write about.

Nor would any hero of mine be so inattentive to the woman he is dating that he loses the thread of the conversation entirely.

When I write a hero, he will think, and behave, far better than that.  If he is going to be a swoon-worthy romantic hero, then he is going to have real goals, and a compelling motivation for thinking the way he does, for saying what he says, and for acting the way he does.  Because any heroine I write is most certainly not going to be feeble enough to fall for a man who is not worthy of her.

Having got that off my chest, I have to admit that when I write a story, I do tend to find it easier to imagine what my heroine is thinking and feeling, and often start by writing the romance almost entirely from her point of view.  And the hero I write for her has to be what she needs, specifically, rather than being a stereotypical hero in any way.

He also needs to have goals in which a modern reader can sympathise, and motivations that make sense.  He needs to be, first and foremost, a person.  A person that readers can relate to, and cheer for, and want to find a happy ever after.

Now that, actually, is where I do face having to make some tricky choices.  My hero needs to be the kind of man that will make a modern reader swoon, yet he also has to be a believable Regency male.  And because of the era in which he lived, he would have had a very different outlook in many ways, to a modern man.

Both he and his female counterpart would have known their place in the social hierarchy, which was much more rigid than ours today.  He might well have known what kind of life he would have lived, from his birth, particularly if he was born into the peerage.  He would have been closer to the land, more aware of the passing of the seasons, and familiar with handling animals.  He would have known how to ride horses and how to shoot pigeons, and would not have thought either pastime anything out of the ordinary.  He would have attended brutal bare-knuckle fights, and cock fights, but he would also have gone to church as a matter of course every Sunday, and been proud of being English (not British).  If he was from the upper classes he would have also had a working knowledge of Greek and Latin.  He would not have been ashamed of believing he was innately superior to women, (and most other men).  Nor would he have thought it unreasonable to pay a skilled man to spend his entire life taking care of his clothes, or spending a small fortune on getting a jacket that moulded to his shoulders, and breeches that outlined his fine, muscular legs.  He would also have consumed so much alcohol – since water wasn’t often fit to drink – that nowadays he might be deemed to have a bit of a problem!

And yet I still need to portray him as a person with whom modern day readers can empathise.

And so I draw a veil over the cock fights he attends, and don’t let the reader in on the fact that he probably consumes so much alcohol that he is slowly but surely pickling his liver.  Instead, I concentrate on his reaction to, and his treatment of, my heroine.

If ever he acts badly towards the heroine, the reader needs to see that his motives are not from sheer unpleasantness, but because he is damaged in some way by the blows life has dealt him.  And be able to believe that the heroine I write for him will be capable of bringing him healing, through the love he develops for her.  And that she bestows on him.

So, to sum up, when I write a hero, I want him to be believable as a character from his time period.

I want him to have the kind of character that a woman, from any time period, could find totally swoon-worthy.

And I also want him to be a perfect match for my heroine.

And it won’t hurt if he also looks like this!

Annie's next hero is Lord Ashenden, whose story will be told in "The Debutante's Daring Proposal" which is released in June, but is already available for pre-order through Amazon (and other retailers)

Whose line is it anyway? By Annie Burrows

On the first Friday of each month, Novelista Annie Burrows will be drawing a question out of the jar where we've been putting all the questions about the writing process posed by readers –

This month, the question posed by…(wait for it…yes, it’s Cheryl again!) is actually two questions:
1 How many points of view in a novel?
And
2 How to weave two or three points of view into novel – by Chapter?  Or paragraph?
The first question is easy for me to answer now, because I write for Harlequin Mills & Boon, who have very definite guidelines on this.

Because the stories feature a strong, central romance, the story needs to be told from the point of view of the hero and heroine.  To put anyone else’s point of view would take the focus away from the main characters, and have the effect of diluting the emotional experience.

 However, when I first started writing, I fairly often told sections of the (unpublished) stories from the points of view of all sorts of characters.  This would be ok for a lot of types of story.  For example, in thrillers there are quite often huge chunks of the story told from the point of view of a villain, sometimes an un-named and unknown villain who is gradually discovered by the hero and/or heroine.  And this works well.

But for romance, which is all about feelings, it is important to stick very closely to the main two protagonists, so that the reader gets quickly caught up and then swept along in their emotional journey.

The second question, about handling point of view, is a bit more tricky to answer, since it deals with the nuts and bolts of writing.

I don’t find that it is as simple as thinking, “oh, I will write this paragraph from Mildred’s point of view, and then have one from Derek.”  The action of a story usually plays out in my head like a film, first and foremost, so that I break down the action into scenes.  And, as in a film, sometimes the camera angle changes, so that the viewer (or reader) can see the action unfolding from a different perspective.

And generally, I will write a scene from the point of view of whichever character it affects the most.

So, a typical scene for me, since I write Regency romances, might deal with a marriage proposal, and its rejection by the heroine of my story.  If I want the reader to know why the dashing Lord Rothermere is so nervous about going to propose to plain and plump, and immensely wealthy Miss Grinling, I would open the scene from his point of view.  He is worried about his six younger sisters, the tenants on his estate, and his mother who is prostrate with her nerves after learning that his father gambled away all the money.  He knows Miss Grinling – the daughter of a wealthy merchant - has been half in love with him for as long as they’ve known each other.  And he assumes she will be thrilled to finally get a proposal of marriage from him.  By getting inside his head at this point I would get the reader rooting for him.  We admire him for sacrificing himself for the sake of his family, and hope he succeeds.  And we can then feel his shock and dismay when Miss Grinling turns him down in a cold, almost hostile manner.

At this point, as a writer, I have two choices.  Either to continue in Lord Rothermere’s point of view, or to switch to Miss Grinling’s.  If I were to stay inside Lord Rothermere’s head, though, I would run into the danger of making Miss Grinling seem unsympathetic.  All we would see would be the devastating fate that Lord Rothermere foresees for his family because of her refusal to bail them out.

So, even though the proposal, and refusal, may have only taken a few sentences, it is important to see why plain, plump Miss Grinling has turned down a flattering proposal from a man who is far above her, socially.

And learn that she has, indeed, been in love with Lord Rothermere ever since she first went to live in the village of which his father was the local lord.  And how painful it has been for her to watch him flirting with all the prettier, better-born girls in the area, whilst never being more than polite to her.  Since the death of his father, she has also learned of his ever more desperate attempts to rescue his family from the results of his father’s gambling.  Far from finding his proposal flattering, she is deeply hurt that he has only come to her as a last resort, particularly since his attitude is that of a man making the ultimate sacrifice in lowering himself to her level.

I have to be ultra careful when changing from one character’s point of view to another in such rapid succession, to make sure that the reader will know exactly who is doing the thinking, and talking.  With talking, it is easier, because I can always put “he said” after any comment, so that it is clear who has just spoken.  But making it absolutely clear who is doing the thinking can be trickier.

One way to make it clear that there has been a point of view change is to put a gap in the text.  However, when it is a scene such as this, putting breaks in the text every time the viewpoint shifts would look very odd.  So it has to be done through the actual writing.  One neat way to do this is to change the viewpoint immediately after someone speaks.  So, for example, there can be a section from the hero’s viewpoint, at the end of which he can say something like, "And that is your final answer, Miss Grinling?”
And then it almost invites the reader to look at Miss Grinling, to see what she is going to reply.
And I can make the transition by putting something like:
Mildred had an answer ready on her tongue.  “It is,” she declared grimly.  Because there was no way she was going to agree to marry a man who would never, and had never respected her.

From that point, I could delve into Mildred’s shared past with Lord Rothermere from her standpoint, so that the reader will see exactly why she has turned him down.  She can foresee only hurt if she marries a man she loves, who will probably carry on flirting with prettier, better-born women because all he wants from marriage is her enormous wealth.  Had he only given the slightest hint that he felt even the tiniest bit of affection, or even respect for her, her answer might have been different.
In this way, during the course of one scene, the conflict has been set up between two characters, both of whom the reader understands and wishes well.

Next question!

Annie's latest release is a novella in an anthology of Regency set Christmas stories:

Y is for...? by Annie Burrows

On the first Friday of every month, Novelista Annie Burrows has been sharing a very personal view of what it is like to be a writer. And is dealing with themes in alphabetical order. This month, she's reached Y which is for...

OK, I have to confess that I resorted to going through the dictionary to find a word that began with Y, round which to write this month's blog. I could have cheated, and gone with "Why" which would have given me a lot of leeway. But I didn't want to do that.

Anyway, there aren't that many words in the dictionary beginning with Y, so I knew it wouldn't take me long to read through them.

Thankfully, it took only a few seconds to discover this little gem: Yesteryear which is a poetical or archaic form for "a time in the past". Which seemed appropriate, as that is where I set my stories.

I've always had a fascination for yesteryear. It started when I was a little girl, with family trips to various stately homes. When we got home, my sister and I would dress up as ladies of the manor, and romp round the garden on imaginary horses - or, if it was wet, we'd draw plans of our ideal stately home, complete with dungeons, secret passages, and of course, massive libraries.

I started reading historical romances at school, although I didn't know it then. I thought I was studying Jane Austen, and Thomas Hardy. I still thought I was studying English literature at University, without realizing that reading all those stories, written in the past, had given me a love of reading about people from the past. After I left university, I didn't want to keep on studying great literature, but I did still find myself gravitating towards stories set in the past.

At first, I devoured books by writers such as Norah Lofts. I absolutely loved the way she took us into the lives of relatively ordinary people and brought an era to life. And then carried that story to the next generation.

Then I discovered Georgette Heyer, and learned that historical stories didn't need to be dark and melodramatic, they could be amusing romps.

And then, much later, when I was doing a writing course and I began to research the market, I discovered the "Masquerade" line produced by Mills & Boon. And I fell in love with historical romance - as a reader and as a writer. These were the kind of stories that were already forming in my imagination - where simple country misses won the heart of an apparently cold, aloof, brooding aristocrat. Or survived kidnap by pirates, or ran away from evil guardians disguised as boys, and generally discovered they were far stronger and braver than they'd been given credit for.

So I began to write stories set primarily in the Regency era. Why Regency? Because there was an established market for that type of story, and because I thought I knew most about that era, having read so many others set in that time. Stories, I feel, should provide an escape from real life. And the Regency is a great place for many of us to escape to, since it is far enough away from Nowadays to feel suitably exotic, but familiar enough so that we don't feel all adrift when we get there.

The only trouble is, once I began to write Regency romance, in earnest, I began to discover just how little I knew. When I sent my first heroine on a journey to find her long-lost brother in Spain, for example, I had no idea what route she might take, or how she'd get back to England once he died, either. I didn't know a thing about troop movements in the Peninsula, or how wounded soldiers were looked after, or what happened to their effects once they'd died. What was worse, it was extremely difficult to find out. I would go to the library for a book on a specific topic, and read lots and lots of them without finding out the one thing I wanted to learn. (Although I picked up a lot of other interesting facts instead). The only way round it, at that time, was to plough on, and hope for the best. Anything I didn't know, I skirted round, but even so, I'm sure I made a lot of mistakes.

Fortunately, Nowadays, I have access to the internet. If I want to know how long it would take to travel by stagecoach from Yorkshire to London, I can probably find out within a matter of minutes. And what coaching inns my characters would be likely to have changed their horses, too.

Annie's latest book is a sort of road trip, through a section of fictional Regency countryside, since she is still wary of sending any of her heroes to a coaching inn in a real town which didn't exist in Real Life. However, the heroine does discover she can survive no matter what the villains try to do, and impresses the hero with not only her bravery and ingenuity, but also her singing voice.

You can find it at Amazon, and Mills & Boon

X is for...X rated (or not?) by Annie Burrows

On the first Friday of every month, Novelista Annie Burrows has been sharing a very personal view of what it is like to be a writer. And is dealing with themes in alphabetical order. This month, she's reached X...

Last month, I asked what I should write about when I got to x, and several people suggested x rated.

I don't think I actually write x rated stuff, to be honest. In my mind, an x rating means erotica. And although I do write some steamy scenes, my main focus is on what goes on inside the heroine's head and heart, not the hero's bedroom.

It's not that I shy away from writing love scenes. I write about people falling in love, and a big part of that process involves sexual attraction. If I didn't include that part of my heroine's journey to her happy ever after, I would feel as if I was leaving out a huge part of her story. But that is what it is - just a part of her story. Sometimes the fact that the hero and heroine make love is an essential part of the storyline, but sometimes it just isn't.

Because, during the regency period, when my stories are set, single people didn't have the sexual freedom we enjoy today. There was a stricter moral code in place, and harsher punishments for women who didn't stick to those rules. Men sometimes had to make amends by marrying the woman they'd slept with, but by and large, it was the women left with the babies, the women who bore the brunt of society's disapproval, and the children who were left with the tag of bastardy.

Of course, if you were wealthy, there were ways round the rules that bound everyone else. Royal bastards were often given titles and lands. Girls from wealthy families who fell pregnant before marriage might be sent away to remote estates for a while, the child given to a humble family who'd receive wages for bringing it up, and the girl subsequently married off to someone who would be prepared to accept compensation for his bride's lack of purity. She wouldn't perhaps pay such a high price for having sex outside marriage, but she would still have a "stain" on her reputation - if anyone were to find out.

However, this means that my heroes and heroines are going to have to think very carefully about sleeping with each other before marriage. Which in turn means I have to think very carefully about how far to let them go if they aren't married. I do aim for historical accuracy, you see, and often I just can't imagine a scenario in which an unmarried couple would leap into bed with each other.

Which means that many of my books end up being what I would describe as "courtship" books. The couple might feel very attracted to each other, they may do a lot of flirting, but they won't fully consummate their relationship until after they are married. Or at least on the verge of marriage. That isn't to say there are no scenes where the hero tries to go as far as he dares. Which makes the ultimate scene, where he can finally make the heroine completely his, all the more satisfying (I hope!)

However, occasionally, I do write what I call "honeymoon" books. And the way I manage to do this is by having my protagonists marry at the outset, thinking they are going into a convenient marriage, and then finding they can't keep their hands off each other. And, because they're married, they don't have to. In fact, they tend to solve a lot of their issues in the bedroom (just like in real life?)

This means that my books don't all have the same level of heat. My 2015 Christmas book, for example, (The Captain's Christmas Bride) started with a girl accidentally seducing a stranger and having to marry him. And him believing that the only thing they have going for them is sexual compatibility. (You can imagine how that goes!)

In contrast, in the novella which is going to be out for Christmas in 2016 my hero and heroine don't get up to anything more than heated glances and one scorching kiss. It just wouldn't have been plausible for people in their situation, you see.

OK - now, here's a teaser for you. Do you think you can guess the level of heat of the books I've written from the covers I've posted in this blog?

Since the first two covers are both of the same book, I would say it's not likely!

So - what do you think my next book, "In Bed with The Duke" will be, from looking at its cover? Courtship book, or honeymoon book?

For more clues - you can read the blurb here

And you can read the opening chapter here 

R is for...romance (of course!)

On the first Friday of every month, Novelista Annie Burrows has been sharing a very personal view of what it is like to be a writer.  And is dealing with themes in alphabetical order.  This month, she's reached R...which stands for Romance!

When I was at the Romance Writers of America conference in New York this summer, one of the highlights, for me, was attending the Harlequin booksigning. 

 

In spite of what anyone may say, Harlequin romances are still incredibly popular, and if you don't believe me, just look at the queue to get in the door.

Sales may be down, but a lot of people were extremely keen to get their hands on the books that were being given away.

 I signed and gave away copies of my Waterloo book, A Mistress for Major Bartlett, almost continually for the two hours the event went on.

The only bit of the event I didn't enjoy was when a film crew came along to interview me.

(I'm not alone in that - the other authors ducked behind their stacks of books, then sighed in relief when the crew pounced on me, because I'd been too busy chatting to a fan to notice them sneaking up) 

Anyway, they cleared a space round my bit of the table, thrust a microphone at me, and said, in what I felt was a rather challenging manner, "Why do you love romance?"

My mind immediately went as blank as the first sheet of paper in a brand new notebook.  After umming and erring for a while, I came up with something inane along the lines of (I think) "What's not to like?  Doesn't everything in life mean more when you have someone to share it with?"

The reason I can't recall what I answered then, is because the crew went off into a huddle for a bit, then came back to me and said, "Could you say all that again, only this time look into the camera?"

Silly me, I'd answered the girl who asked the question, not the guy standing over to the side with half a ton of equipment strapped to his shoulder.

Anyway, by this time I was somewhat irritated.  Because I still couldn't come up with a clever, witty, answer off the top of my head.  And I felt a bit resentful that I had to defend my position as a writer of romance.  And as anyone who's ever tried to take a photo of me will confirm, I have an extremely expressive face.  So I don't think the second attempt to get a soundbite from me would have been any good either.  Not to judge by the tight smiles on their faces as they shuffled away, anyhow.

But now, three months later, I have finally decided what I should have said.  (Not that I've been lying awake at night going over and over how stupid I must have looked or anything)

As well as working out why I was annoyed at their slightly contemptuous attitude.  As if loving romance was somehow an odd thing for me to do.

All you have to do, I should have said, is to turn on the radio, to hear that love and romance is on just about everyone else's mind too.  There may be the occasional song that reaches a top slot in the charts about Medicinal Compound, or digging a hole in the ground, but the vast majority of popular songs are about love and romance.  Even the most cynical of news hounds would have to admit that finding a soul mate, that special someone who will understand you, support you, and share all life's trials with you, is extremely important to a lot of people.  And that without that special someone, life can feel bleak and pointless.

And nobody goes round asking pop stars why they love romance, and sing about it, do they?  It's just accepted.  Applauded even.  Programmes like the X factor or Pop Idol rely on the fact that huge numbers of young people want to get up on stage and sing about how much they long for the object of their affection to notice them, or to bewail the fact that their heart has been badly broken.

Has anyone gone up to Adele, or Sam Smith, and asked them why they sing about romance?  And made them defend their choice to do so?  And imply that they would somehow be more worthy if they sang about crime, or the human condition?  I don't think so.

So why is writing stories about romance regarded by the press, so often, as being somehow a bit silly, when singing about love and romance is not?

If I could write poetry, or hold a tune in a bucket, maybe I'd be up there singing about how wonderful it is to fall in love, or how badly it hurts when it all goes pear shaped.  (Or if I could stand being in front of a camera!)  Instead, I write about people going through the entire process of striving to find their happy ever after, in prose.

And what's wrong (to quote Sir Paul McCartney) with that?

If you enjoy reading romance, you can find a Annie's backlist on her website.

Her next book, The Captain's Christmas Bride, will be out in December, and can already be pre-ordered from Amazon

I is for...Internet by Annie Burrows

On the first Friday of the month, Novelista Annie Burrows shares snippets from her writing life.  In alphabetical order.  This month she's reached the letter I

When I first started writing, I used a small word processor which I got second hand.  I used floppy disks (which regularly got corrupted) to save my work.  And when I wanted to do any research I went to my local library.

I used to spend hours browsing around the stacks, desperately searching for that one nugget of information I needed, and getting pretty frustrated in the process.  I never did find a book that could tell me where troops used to embark during the Peninsular War, or how often injured officers got sent home - though there were half a dozen biographies of Lord Wellington.

Eventually I realized I was going to have to cut back on the time I spent doing this sort of research, and concentrate on writing the story, or I was never going to get anywhere.  So - I couldn't find out where the troops disembarked from - did I really need to put it in my story?  Couldn't my heroine just receive a letter saying that her brother/uncle/sweetheart had sailed?

I still spent a lot of time going through second-hand bookshops, hoping to find that one book which would have the specific bit of information I wanted, and in the process learning all sorts of things that might come in useful one day (and subsequently have).

The next computer I bought (again, second hand so it was practically on its last legs) had a button I could press which would connect me to the internet.  Which opened up a whole new world of research possibilities.  Whatever I wanted to know about, you could bet someone had written an article (or blog, as online articles are known - mad, eh?) about it.

And now came a whole new form of time-wasting.  Instead of getting on a bus and going into town, where I would spend hours finding out virtually nothing useful, I could now waste an entire morning finding out a whole lot more than I ever actually needed to know.   Because every article (sorry, blog) seemed to have a link to another blog about something connected to the topic, which looked absolutely fascinating.   So I may have started out wanting to find what kind of rifle a soldier would have carried in 1815, and instead found a page which told me all about the parlour games people would have played during Christmas of 1814, and then stumbled upon all the information I'd wanted to find out about troop movements in the Peninsula three books ago!

I now regularly use one site to find colourful phrases for my characters to use, another to make sure that the language I put into my character's mouths was actually in use at the time they were alive, and another when I want to describe a Regency dance.

So - internet - good for research?  Yes, in that it's easier to find out exactly what I want to know.

However, I now have to be careful that I don't just end up wandering through the stacks of knowledge available to me from my own armchair, instead of getting on with the story.

And don't get me started on facebook.  Yes, it's a great way to keep in touch with readers and friends.  But do I really need to watch that video of a dog going berserk in obedience school?  Again?

Or post a picture of myself in the style of a French impressionist?

To find out more about how Annie wastes her time, you can find her on facebook.

Her latest book, a Regency romance, is "Lord Havelock's List" and can be purchased from Amazon UK

Getting on the gladrags...

On the first Friday of the month, Novelista Annie Burrows shares insights into the life of a writer - alphabetically.  This month she has reached G is for...Getting on the gladrags

Most of my time is spent sitting in my study, typing away on my laptop.  But very occasionally, I get to go out and do something amazing - because I've become an author.

A couple of weeks ago, for instance, I painted my nails silver, got all dressed up, and went out to the AMBA (Association of Mills & Boon Authors) lunch.  I even booked a seat in a first class carriage, where I was plied with various snacks and drinks all the way to London.

I met up (accidentally) with two other historical authors on the tube train, and together we made for the Charing Cross Hotel.

Then it was drinks in the bar with more of the historical team,

Senior editor Linda Fildew, Carol Townend, Louise Allen, Janice Preston, Sarah Mallory and Elizabeth Beacon

followed by the lunch itself.  A three course masterpiece.

Historical authors Claire Thornton and Annie Burrows

 

I was sitting in between Claire Thornton, author of a fabulous trilogy set during the Great Fire of London, and the RITA award-winning Sarah Morgan.

Also at my table was Facebook friend and fellow Strictly fan Kate Hardy.

Kate and Annie demonstrating promenade hold

There was a brief lull after speeches from the managing director of Harlequin UK, Tim Cooper, during which Sarah Mallory, Louise Allen and I invaded the Virgin lounge in Eagle Place.

Annie Burrows, Louise Allen and Sarah Mallory

It gave us time to discuss strategy for the launch of our own trilogy next year, which will come out to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the Battle of 

 Waterloo.

Then it was off to the Meridien on Picadilly for the "Author Toast", hosted by the publishers, where authors Julia James and Chantelle Shaw were awarded Tiffany pins for publishing 25 stories apiece.

I drank two Rossini's, which have become my favourite cocktail, before dashing across London to get my train home.

I didn't have a seat booked, which meant I had to join the 300 m sprint for the one carriage which wasn't full, when the gate opened.

Talk about coming back down to earth with a bump!

Annie's A - Z of writing by Annie Burrows

Novelista Annie Burrows takes a highly idiosyncratic stroll through the A-Z of the writer's life.

Starting with A is for...

Well, Author, obviously!  Nothing beats the feeling of getting that call from a publisher, saying that they want your work.  (Or not much, anyway).

Only, the minute you become an Author, you have to start making a lot of decisions.  Like, for instance, should you take a pen name?

And if you do, how do you choose it?

I knew right from the start I didn't want to write under my own name.  I value my privacy, you see.  When I write that best seller, I don't want to be staked out by paparazzi who've discovered where I live...(delusions of grandeur?  Moi?)

And so I informed the lovely, intelligent woman who'd recognized the brilliance of my first book that yes, I did want to write under a pseudonym.

And how did I want to be known?

Christy Kendrick, I replied.  (Christy was my sister's pet name for me, and Kendrick my grandmother's maiden name, and I thought it had a kind of ring to it.  As though it should belong to a writer of historical romance.  I'd even opened a new email account for my fan mail as christyk...)

There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.

Then, "Well, we already have a Kendrick writing for Mills & Boon, and we don't want readers to get confused.  But as soon as you've come up with something else, we will send out a contract."

Mild panic ensued.  If I didn't come up with a pen name they liked, would they change their minds about offering me a contract?

Hurriedly, I wrote a list of about half a dozen names I thought might work.  (Including Sue Kray, which is the Anglicized version of sucrée, or, "The sweet lady" which was what I was used to being called in my job as merchandiser for jelly babies)

It was the editorial team at Mills & Boon who selected the name of Annie Burrows out of the list I sent them.  Which I suggested because Anne is my middle name, and Burrows is my married name.

So writer me still feels like a part of "real life" me.

(Although when I went to my first conference as a published writer, and people asked me what my name was, I had to look at my name badge to check!)

I'm more used to being Annie now.  Annie the Author.  It has a nice, alliterative ring.

Although later on, I discovered the way I should have picked my author name.  People who know what they are doing advise you to consider where you might get put on the shelves, when picking your author name, to maximise your earning potential.  Early in the alphabet is good, for readers who browse in alphabetical order.  Or late, for those who browse in reverse alphabetical order.  Or next to someone really famous in your field, so that people pick up your book while they're looking for someone else.

So I should have been something beginning with H (for Georgette Heyer fans).

Hey, ho.  Life is one long learning curve.

And next month I will be sharing what else I've learned since I've become a published author.

Something beginning with B...

Annie's latest book, Portrait of a Scandal is available now from Amazon UK

A writer's holiday... by Annie Burrows

Novelista Annie Burrows writes historical romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon.  This month she shares how research doesn't stop, even when she's on holiday...

One of the great things about being a writer of historical romance is that it gives me the perfect excuse to visit the many historical sites of England - under the guise of research.

 

But even when I go abroad on holiday, I can't resist poking around in museums to find out about the history of wherever I am.

 

This year I went to Madeira, and took a look behind the scenes at Blandy's wine merchants.  Not being in England, there were no scones, but I managed to tempt my husband onto the tour by pointing out we got a tasting session of the various wines at the end.

Our tour guide told us that John Blandy (whose life could serve as an example of how Regency men made their fortunes) was first posted to the island in 1807, as part of the British garrison which was guarding the island from Napoleon.  But there is also a letter to some wine merchants of the day, giving another explanation: 

‘Sirs! At the desire of our particular friend, Richard Fuller Esq., Banker in this City, we beg leave to introduce Mr John Blandy who visits your Island on account of ill health, and wishes to obtain employment in a Counting House. We shall be obliged if you can promote his views, and accordingly recommend him to your attention.’

The letter is dated 23 December 1807

Well, however the company started, Blandy's is now world famous as a producer of Madeira - which is a type of fortified wine.

 

The island of Madeira started supplying wine to the New World (or the United States as we like to call it nowadays) almost as soon as it was discovered.  But the voyage across the tropics sometimes caused the wine to "cook" in the barrels.  Although early customers complained this had spoiled the wine, and returned it, the suppliers realized that in fact it preserved it.  In its "cooked" state it would keep almost indefinitely.  Our tour guide told us that an opened bottle would last eighteen months.  (Not in our house it didn't!)  It soon became very popular in America, particularly in the hotter states where it was difficult to store wines in the cool conditions most of them require.  Madeira wine was the drink used to toast the Declaration of Independence.  George Washington apparently drank a pint of Madeira at dinner daily.  (Which made me feel less bad about getting through our souvenir bottle in less than a fortnight).

 

Nowadays the wine is not sent on a long voyage across the tropics to "cook" it.  Instead the process is done in the winery itself.  In fact the day we went round, they were pumping wine from the massive holding casks into the smaller oak barrels where it is naturally heated by the power of the sun.  The air smelled so rich and fruity it was like inhaling Christmas cake.

They've also made some changes to the process of making the wine.  The early growers of grapes used to be scattered all over the island.  They would each have their own press, and would send the juice down the mountainside in goatskins, carried on the backs of farm labourers.

 

 

When they set out, each goatskin would hold about 40 litres of juice...but there was often hardly anything like that on arrival as the thirsty labourers would drink it on the way down.

Hence the expression "having a skinful"

Nowadays, growers send grapes down the mountainside to be pressed at a central location.

(Annie's next book to be released in the UK is a short, spicy story in an anthology called "A Scandalous Regency Christmas"  For more details, visit Annie's website )