Using Music to Create - 'Collector of Hearts' Release Day

By Cassandra Samuels

Tomorrow is the big day! Release day for Collector of Hearts, Book 1 in the Regency Hearts series. To celebrate I will be giving away a copy of my new book to one lucky person who leaves a comment.

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Today I'm going to talk a little about how this book came to life and the power of music to help create. For me the spark of a story can come from many places but for this book it was a song, The Reason by Hoberstank. I thought, what if there was this man who is pretty messed up, who really needs someone to show him that he can love and also be worthy of love?

I pictured Robert Mallory, Marquis of Shelton, as being a rake, someone who was as notorious on the duelling field as he was in the bedroom. But what led him to this place? What happened to him to make him this way? The more I thought about it, the more I began to know this character, to understand him.

I entered my first chapter into a competition and it finalled. Okay, I was beginning on the right track. This entry became my first chapter but the comments from the judges made me realise that I needed to get the reader onside first. I worked and worked on the prologue because I knew if I didn't the reader would think Robert was a jerk. I entered the competition again, and again it finalled. This time the judges comments were more sympathetic, so I worked on the story some more. 

I usually work with headphones on because, if I don't, I am distracted by every little noise in the house. The music gets me in the mood to write and then becomes white noise after a time. That's when I know I am in the zone 

Robert Mallory is definitely egotisical. He's been living off his reputation as the Collector of Hearts for years, and when he meets Arabella he has no idea how his life is going to be turned upside down. The song Writings on the Wall by Sam Smith sums up how important Arabella becomes to Robert in his search for himself and redemption.

Next I had to create a heroine who would be strong enough to put up with his nonsense and also love him despite his many faults. Originally, I had Arabella's twin sister having her own love story simultaneously with Arabella, but that meant less time for Robert and Arabella, and I needed all the words possible to make this love story work. I pared the story back and under the guidance of the all-knowing Kate Cuthbert, and with the support of my crit partners Marilyn and Enisa, I re-wrote the whole thing. But when I needed inspiration for how Arabella felt about Robert, I turned again to music. For Arabella I listened to Starving by Hailee Steinfeld.

In Collector of Hearts Robert talks about love as just part of a game. A game he always plays to win. He's talked himself into believing that this is how things are done, and when Arabella challenges that idea he sets about to prove himself right. Only he gets caught up in his own game and Arabella doesn't play by his rules. This sets him on a path to a place he never knew he wanted to be. Falling in love. True love. The epic song Beautiful Lie by Thirty Seconds To Mars seemed to sum it up perfectly.

 I hope you enjoy Collector of Hearts as much as I loved creating it.

Do you listen to music when reading or writing? What is your favourite song to listen to at the moment?

Love to Love  listening to music and discovering new ways to be inspired.

Love to Laugh at early copies of my work.

Love to Learn from wonderful volunteer judges in contests. Such feedback is priceless.

Scandalous Women in History

By Cassandra Samuels

Hi everyone. Can you believe we are halfway through February? I hope everyone has had a fabulous start to the year.

For this post I’ve chosen to talk about a particular aspect of the research I did for my debut novel A Scandalous Wager.  Lisbeth Carslake (my heroine) and Caroline Norton are both scandalous women, and both were abused by their husbands.

Caroline is a fascinating woman for many reasons. Born in 1808 as Caroline Sheridan she became the face of justice for women, but she didn’t start off that way. When her soldier father died in Africa, the family was left penniless. They were granted a grace and favour apartment at Hampton Court Palace. Caroline and her sisters were highly accomplished and were accepted everywhere due to their upbringing at court.

Hampton Court Palace - copyright (c) Cassandra Samuels 2010

In 1827 she married George Norton, a barrister and MP. Caroline was witty and clever and used her skills to win favour for her husband and his political ambitions. However, he was a controlling husband and often had fits of rage and drunkenness. He physically and emotionally abused his wife throughout their marriage.

Caroline wrote prose and poetry to vent her emotions and earned money doing so. George disliked his wife’s success. In 1836 she left him. He took her earnings from her writing, so she racked up bills in his name. In turn, he decided to hide her children from her, a cruel blow to a woman who lived for her sons.

Her husband was insanely jealous of her friendship with the then Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, and sued him for Criminal Conversation (accusing him of having an affair with his wife). Melbourne took him to court and won.

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Caroline campaigned relentlessly for the rights of women to their children. Her intense efforts culminated in the Custody of Infants Act and the Married Women's Property Act. These acts gave women a legal identity where before they had none. I think we owe a lot to Caroline Norton.

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Do you have a favourite scandalous woman in history or even in the present?

Love to Love - watching documentaries on all things historical. This YouTube video on Caroline Norton and other scandalous women is just great.

Love to Laugh- At comedian Michael McIntyre - whose outlook on parenting and middle age is just hillarious.

Love to Learn - Listening to Podcasts by the History Chicks. If you love learning about women in history you will love this podcast.
 

Go to their website here

Finding Your Writer’s Voice

By Maggi Andersen

You can follow Maggi on Twitter here

When I first began writing to publish some years ago, the first bit of advice I was offered at university was to ‘write what you know’. Was I to write a sort of autobiography? I hated the idea. The stories I wanted to write were not about me, or so I thought. But to ‘write what you know’ isn’t about the events in your life, it’s about the emotions you’ve experienced. Whether it be love, loss, longing, disappointment or jealousy. Have you ever wanted something so badly you might have killed for it (metaphorically speaking, of course)?

It doesn’t matter whether you set your story where you live or on the other side of the world–as I did with my first novel. If you’re drawing from your own personal emotional experiences, your readers will feel it. And hopefully, your characters will leap off the page!

A good way I found initially, was to free-write. Just let go and let the words flow. Interesting what can come from that. And even years later, my first drafts can be a bit wild. I like to experiment, because I can always take it back a peg or two, and fear can be a good motivator. It forces you to write about something that matters, and releases the unique quality we all have, our voice.

Voice, I believe, is not only a unique way of putting words together, but a unique emotional response, and a distinctive way of looking at the world. Publishers want to read an author who has an original voice. When you settle down to read your favorite writer, you know what to expect from them, their voice is recognizable in their syntax, in their descriptive world building, in their emotions, and in their basic outlook on life.

For newbie writers, I say express yourself in your own unique way. We don’t talk exactly like anyone else, so why should we write like everyone else?

All those years I spent reading Georgette Heyer, who set her characters in a charming world with such clarity and delightful humour, might have developed my voice for writing Regency romance. I hope so. I love writing them.

My Regency series features two families, the Brandreths (who first appeared in the Spies of Mayfair series) and the Baxendales five daughters. The two estates run together in Tunbridge Wells, a town frequented by the ton. They’ve become one big family since two Baxendale daughters married Brandreth sons. Each novella in The Baxendale Sisters revolves a young lady’s come-out and the trials she must face before she can marry the man of her dreams.

Buy Maggi's books here

Love to Love... Books on ‘plotting and structuring your novel’, but never seem to apply it to my work.

Love to Laugh... funny memes and pictures on Facebook.

Source: Funny Pictures Facebook Page.

Love to Learn... How to promote my books on a shoestring, and spend no more than an hour a week. That’s a work in progress.

Here’s an (unedited) sneak peek from Maggi's latest book, The Seduction of Lady Charity. The fourth book in the Baxendale Sisters series is released 20th April.

Lady Charity Baxendale has long dreamed of becoming a renowned portrait painter. After two significant commissions from esteemed family members, a rakish Scottish baron commissions her to paint his portrait, and she feels she is one step closer to that dream. When Robin, Lord Stanberry, with whom Charity has had a long friendship, asks her to marry him, she must choose between marriage and her career. He is heir to a dukedom, and Charity fears she would be unsuited to life as a duchess, and her burgeoning career would end before it begins. And besides, Robin has made no mention of love.

Due to tragic, unforeseen circumstances, Robin is now the Duke of Harwood. He feels himself unfitted for such a position. Robin was perfectly content living as a viscount in Tunbridge Wells, writing a book on ornithology. He’d hoped to have Charity at his side by the time he took his place at Harwood Castle in Northumberland, for her pragmatic nature and strength of character would be of enormous help to him. Should he have thrown himself at her feet and declared an undying love? Charity would have seen through it, for that was not the sort of friendship they enjoyed. But her refusal has brought him lower than he’d thought possible. Could he change her mind, despite the distance that now lay between them?


You can check out more of Maggi's books on Maggi Andersen's website

Or you can follow Maggi on her Facebook page