The Proviso

Make it easy on the customer

Moriah

There’s a book I really really really want to read. However, it’s only available in e-format 2 ways: Serialized on the author’s blog (i.e., on the computer—no thanks) and via Kindle (no thanks). Now, I’m getting ready to email him and ask him if it’s available any other way, so we shall see.

There’s another book I really really really want to read. However, it’s only available in 4 formats (actually, 3 because 2 formats are identical in nature), none of which I can read on my ebook reader. The format I want is MS Reader (LIT). Why? Because I can break the DRM and put it on my ebook reader. Which, come to think of it, is probably why it’s not offered in that format.

Really, there’s enough GOOD stuff out there in more accessible formats to waste time having to read on the computer. After having had my eBookWise for a mere 7 months, I’ve gotten to where I WILL forgo a title (no matter how badly I want to read it) if I can’t get it in a format that is accessible to me. Otherwise, I’ll just go to the library, where it likely won’t be.

We’re really trying to put The Proviso in as many places as possible in as many formats as we can. It’s not just in the B10 Mediaworx bookstore (8 DRM-LESS formats bundled together in a zip), but at Amazon in both trade paperback and Kindle, at Barnes & Noble, at Books-A-Million, at Powell’s, and now at ebooksjustpublished (which takes you back to the B10 Mediaworx bookstore, but hey, it’s exposure).

Some time next week, The Proviso will be in the iTunes store as an iApp for iTouch/iPhone. Although we’ve formatted it into EPUB for those who’ve downloaded Stanza on their iTouch/iPhones, we really want to present as many options as possible to make it easy for every customer to read it the way they prefer to read it.

Because not being able to read a book I want to read the way I want to read it is beginning to weary me.

The book as art

Moriah

I said something in my little rant the other day that’s stuck with me: The book is the art.

To me, Harry Potter’s fabulous because it’s a whole experience. The cover art and the story work together. It’s got color, movement, focus, texture. You’re sitting there in your reading chair on a cold day (possibly snowing), drinking hot chocolate, bundled up with this heavy hardback book in your hands.

Your head’s in the story. Your eyes are seeing the specialized fonts in the header and the brilliant colors of the edge of the binding. Every once in a while, your eyes get a treat in the form of a graphic buried in the text denoting handwritten notes that give you a sense of intimacy with the events that you don’t get with typesetting. Your arms feel the weight of good storytelling. Your fingertips brush the dust jacket and feel the texture of the thick mottled matte paper, they pinch heavy paper between them and turn the pages.

I have a leatherbound edition of Alice in Wonderland. It, too, is an experience, with a little bit of the feel of age. Deckle edges are the best.

I can tell you all the usual reasons I decided to publish independently, and give you another half dozen reasons why Dude enthusiastically encouraged me to do so (the biggest being that he has faith in my work). But after my little temper tantrum, it occurred to me that there was one other reason I really hadn’t thought about much:

The whole book is the art. I had a vision for my book, the series. Even when I was sending out queries galore, I had a vision and I’ll tell you, I was vaguely depressed to think that even if I got The Call, someone else was going to take my vision and put his own spin on it–and he may or may not give a fat rat’s ass what I want or what I see. That’s not to say a graphic artist wouldn’t have done better than I could have and surpassed my vision by light years. It’s simply that I would have no control over it, a little input that might or might not be taken into account, and perhaps no veto power, especially if he was up against a deadline. This is not a client-vendor relationship between the author and the artist.

Interior design is a relative static: You design so as to make the reader unaware of your design. You don’t give him a headache, you don’t wear his eyeballs out. In short, as Zoe put it, you don’t piss him off.

I can give no advice with regard to other indies and how they handle cover design. All I’m saying is that I’m a very visual person and for me, the story is not the art.

It’s the book.

Book design: ur doin it rong

Moriah

Thank Mike Cane for this rant.

I’ve read a few self-pubbed books lately. None of them were egregiously horrible in the design department and a couple of them were even fairly decent. And frankly, after I converted them to digital and put them on my ebook reader, it wasn’t an issue at all. But let me take the opportunity today to piss off everybody right up front and then we’ll get to the good stuff.

1. If I hear one more word out of self-pub haters that someone self-pubs because she sucks as a writer– Oh, wait. I hear that all the time and move along on my own business. Nebber mind. You go ahead and keep doing what you’re doing, Mr./Ms. Author, because obviously it’s working for you. (Note: I saw the writing on the wall for me when an editor said, “We love it and it’s well written, but we don’t know where to put it.”)

2. If I hear one more word out of proudly proclaimed self-publishers that no one can typeset anything in MS Word and make it look right, I’ll scream. Yeah, I have seen your books and yes, like you, I can tell who did and didn’t use Word for typesetting. Yes, you proud InDesign/PageMaker users, I can tell that you (or the interior design person you hired) used InDesign/PageMaker. How can I tell? Because you (or the person you hired) suck at InDesign/PageMaker. I cut my teeth on PageMaker in J-school, so I know what it can and can’t do and how well you have to know it to do it right. GIGO.

Design, people. Design is the first reason independent publishing gets no respect. If a reader can’t get past the design, doesn’t matter how good the writing is or isn’t.

I’m not going to worry about discussing cover art today, because, well, I can’t speak. I winged that and after about a year and sixteen different covers, I had enough skills to put this together:

The Proviso print cover

CLICK TO ENLARGE

So let’s talk about interiors, shall we? In this I have a wee bit of knowledge, but mostly it comes from J-school.

In my opinion, there are a few basics that should be fairly commonsensical but I’ve seen violated as of late:

1. Don’t use Times New Roman 12 pt single spaced. Please. Pleasepleaseplease. Pwettypweeze with sugar on top. (And as a personal favor to me, don’t use Garamond or Palatino Linotype, either. Ask Lulu to please add some more fonts to their repertoire you don’t have to embed OR learn how to embed your fonts, but then you wouldn’t need Lulu.) If you choose to use a sans-serif font, pick one that’s easy on the eyeballs like Calibri or Candara.

2. Justify your margins.

3. Don’t use 1/2-inch paragraph indent. Use something a lot smaller.

4. White space!!! You can get away with using a smaller font size if you make sure your line spacing is adequate.

5. Don’t put your headers on the chapter page break.

In my case, I had a 283,000-word book. I wasn’t going to be able to mess with font sizes much and still fit it all in one spine, which meant I had to do a couple of things I wasn’t happy about, but won’t do on books any shorter. One thing was having to make the font 11 pt. Because in Adobe Jenson, that’s really really really small; on the other hand, the line spacing is 14 pt, which, according to some typography books I’ve read, is a good ratio and I must say my eyeballs agree. The other thing was:

6. Start all chapters on the odd page, not the even. This isn’t a “rule” so much as simple polish. I couldn’t do it because of my page count. On the other hand, I haven’t read a book that stuck to this “rule” in so long I’m not even sure why I care.

Okay, so here’s an example from The Proviso:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Let’s break it down.

1) No header on chapter page, and no page number, either.

2) Right margin justified.

3) 0.5 inch on the outside margin, but wider margin on top and bottom (not much, admittedly, but enough).

4) 0.2 inch paragraph indent.

5) Drop cap and first line small caps. It’s nice. It means you notice details. Neither of these is necessary, but it polishes without going overboard.

6) Nice line spacing = plenty of white space, or at least, as much line space as I could afford, given the length of the book and Lightning Source’s printing limitations.

So what’s my point?

If you are going to try to do these things yourself, learn what makes human eyeballs happy. Read the books. The one I lived and breathed by was this one: Type & Layout

Practice. Experiment. Study the way other books are designed (especially the high-end ones). Notice details. Take notes. Don’t be afraid to throw out your pet specs (the same way you shouldn’t be afraid to throw out your words that don’t work).

Independent publishing is a business just like any other business that sells goods to merchants, which makes it difficult enough for us in an industry that doesn’t do business that way and has a vested interest in keeping the status quo. But you know what? If the last week of handselling has taught me anything, it’s that the readers don’t care who published your book–unless it looks like an unprofessional job.

If they take one look at the book and ask to see it, read the back copy, then flip open the pages to read a little bit, and then whip out their checkbook (especially for a book this expensive), then you’ve done something right. If they aren’t intrigued enough to make it to the back copy, and then the first couple of pages, all the good writing in the world isn’t going to help you. They won’t know why they don’t like looking at it and they’ll care even less, but they will know they just don’t want to look at it.

Bottom line: Once you’re finished with the story inside, forget about it and concentrate on the visuals. The book is the art. It all works together in a symbiotic fashion. Don’t believe me? Ask all those authors whose publishers killed their sales straight out of the gate with a bad cover and bad back copy.

“We don’t know where to put it.”

I do. Right in the readers’ hands.

The Proviso reviews start coming in…

Moriah

…and it’s good!

SamQ read and enjoyed.

I had never read a romance book like this one before; one that mixed Mormonism, Libertarianism, politics, Wall Street, and love, with a hot, at times blunt, dash of sex. It deals with pretty weighty themes and moral tightropes, yet never in a preachy way. The author has fairly intelligent characters and expects her reader to be at least as intelligent. That’s refreshing too. The meandering into theories and philosophies is also fascinating and is a pleasurable stimulation for the synapses.

Thank you for reading it, Sam.

I’m a series whore

Moriah

Okay, let me clarify: I’m not so crazy about the ones where you have to read them in order, especially if they’re not marked on the cover as being part of a series (Covenant, are you listening to me?) and which book it is. I like the ones you can read out of order. Yeah, you might get spoilers for the ones that came before it, if they happen in chronological order.

But what I really really really really super-duper like are books that are interconnected by characters, say, like a family series. Like, say, ahem, the Dunham family. With these people, I go back in time, forward in time, some of them aren’t even related by blood but by friendship. It doesn’t resemble a straight line so much as a wagon wheel, with a hub (The Proviso) and spokes, each spoke being a separate, standalone story but with characters you can keep up with in other books.

My current project is Stay, set in both Mansfield, Missouri and my beloved “Chouteau” County. It’s the romance between two of the very minor characters in The Proviso.

As you can see from the word-count meter at the right, I’ve written a good portion of it. That doesn’t mean anything. It’ll be rewritten several times before it gets published some time in (I’m hoping) the winter of 2009/2010. As you can also see, it’s a little more manageable (for me and you) at 100,000 words.

Winners!

Moriah

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest this weekend for a copy of The Proviso.

Winners of the ebook:

we, samq, Emily Ryan-Davis, Charlotte McClain, and Gin (WordSugar).

Winners of the paperback:

Kai Pollard, Zoe Winters, Sandi

I also threw in another couple of paperbacks for PallasAthena and Cheryl Smith, but they have not responded to my email as of yet. Please contact me!

Contest!

Moriah

As about 4 of you know, The Proviso goes on sale tomorrow. So to celebrate that (’cause, you know, I don’t drink and can’t share champagne virtually anyway), here’s a contest!

Three print copies of The Proviso (huge honker, too) and 5 ebook copies will be awarded to randomly chosen commenters who answer the following questions:

1. What literary character [uh, other than Mr. Darcy 😉 ] would you most want to meet and/or know–you know, Biblically?

2. If you have a favorite piece of artwork, what is it? (If you don’t, that’s okay! Just say so!)

3. Do you like blond heroes?

4a. Have you ever been to Kansas City? OR

4b. If you live in Kansas City, what’s your favorite part of town?

5. Paper or electrons?

Contest ends Sunday at 11:59 p.m. CST. Winners will be chosen randomly by random.org and announced Tuesday.

So, you 4 who read this blog, go find 4 friends who’ll pad the comments, ’kay?

(An honest review would be greatly appreciated, but not expected.)

For future reference

Moriah

Over on Teleread, there’s a new blog post today about ebooks being fertile for annotation. I envision this somewhat like a post littered with Wikipedia links to explain things so that the reading audience who doesn’t know what he’s talking about can go get a little primer, and the part of the audience that does know won’t have its reading flow interrupted.

I could have (and still could at any point in the future) litter The Proviso with references and annotations embedded in the ebook editions, but my question is this:

If you had an ebook reader (or if you HAVE an ebook reader), how do you think you’d like such a thing?

On the ebook front, nothing much to report except the iLiad just released a new thingymajig that’s not getting rave reviews. And the Kindle’s not coming out in the UK this year.

On the publishing front, The Mysterious They say that if you’re a midlister or a new author–or an agent specializing in such–y’all are just SOL ’cause the PTBs at major houses are tightening their belts (which means either the smaller houses will be, too or they’ll step in to take up the slack and make a mark).

Yeah. I don’t have that problem.

Oh, one more thing. As a reader, I have a suggestion for you e-publishers: Put the blurb of the book on the first page. That way I haven’t forgotten what the book is about when I open up my ebook reader and see titles and author names. I’m terribly forgetful and have no wish to dive into a book I don’t know what it’s about. Yeah, I downloaded it so it must have intrigued me but now I don’t know why. With my print books, I always go to the blurb to figure out what I want to read next, but obviously, there is no back-of-book on an ebook.

And by the way, we did put The Proviso‘s blurb in the front for that very reason.

Kansas City: Comfort food

Moriah

Yeah, I’m on a KC kick lately. This post is prompted by the search phrase “kielbasa kansas city.” Heh. Do I know where to point you.

Peter May House of KielbasaPeter May’s House of Kielbasa, on the east side, just west of I-435, a few blocks south
of the Truman Road Viaduct. (In the Sheffield neighborhood—click the pic.)

Peter May’s House of Kielbasa
1654 Bristol Avenue
Kansas City, MO 64126
(816) 231-9850

I pimped a bunch of businesses in The Proviso, amongst them:

Peter May’s, Tasso’s Greek restaurant, Strawberry Hill povitica, Bryant’s, and Planter’s. (Mind, this does not mean I don’t like Gates, because I do, but I had to cut the scene in Gates, ’cause, damn, this book is huge.)

So. Peter May has precious little web presence. I’ve suggested they get a website and set up mail order because they are genius, but alas. Go there. Have much gastronomical orgasming.

Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins’s $200M mistake

Moriah

And it’s ugly, too.

no images were found


.

The Nelson-Atkins Gallery of Art is one Kansas City locale that plays a fairly significant role in The Proviso. I mean, the whole city is rather its own character (or at least, I tried to make it so), but this one spot, I think, plays the most parts other than “Chouteau” County and its pretty courthouse and The Country Club Plaza. It hosts a senatorial fundraising party, it’s where one of the female protagonists goes to meditate, and it’s the gallery chosen to premier a new painting by an infamous artist.

Anyhoo, I see on BlogKC that the gallery’s having to cut back like everybody else. Well, you see, the difference this time is because of that, uhm, $200M construction trailer brilliant Steven Holl masterpiece called the Bloch addition that they built next to the neoclassical structure.

Time called it the number one “(New and Upcoming) Architectural Marvels.”

Adding a new wing to a neoclassical museum, Holl devised a spectacular update on classicism: an irregular series of volumes that cascade down the museum’s lawn and glow from within. The effect against the nighttime sky is nothing short of magical.

If you say so, but I’m just an ignernt country rube who obviously doesn’t know brilliance, especially when it cost more than it was sposed to. And why are all the kudos about its brilliance coming from people who don’t live here?

(Poor Rodin. They displaced The Thinker.)

Now, three problems with this thing.

A. It’s ugly. Did I mention that yet?

B. It’s expensive to light (because, you see, its only marginally redeeming architectural feature can only be seen at night when it’s lit).

C. It’s the most inefficiently designed interior space I’ve ever seen.

So what is one of the things they’re having to cut? The hours and the lighting. And I’m telling you, folks, in the daytime, without the lighting, it looks like a construction trailer/storage shed.

Rozzelle Court Now, I’m not going to be one of those people who would start crying if they began to charge admission, because, well, it’s a very prestigious gallery in terms of its collection and yeah, I’ll pay to get in. And I know they’re not going to knock the damned thing down especially since they spent so much money on it.

But I just need to poke a stick and say, you spent a whole lot more money than you thought you would on something the citizenry doesn’t really like and now you can’t pay to make it do its featured thing that somewhat redeems it.

Enjoy. Or don’t. If you live here and you feel me, meet me in the Rozzelle court (closed Tuesdays now, remember!) and we’ll commiserate.

So a writer walks into the ePub…

Moriah

Th. said:

Tell me more.

Okay, this is the rundown of ebook devices and formats as I understand them. The news changes from day to day (though I try to keep on top of it), and some of what I might pass along is probably no more than hearsay (I’ll mark that part), but I do think the hearsay is important to the overall discussion. All of these readers have down sides (naturally), most of which I don’t know, but I’ll try to include them if I do.

* * * * *

big_ewreader.jpgFirst, I have an eBookWise-1150, which I adore. It uses the native IMP format. This is why I like it:

– It’s inexpensive. At $110 (plus shipping) for the stripped-down memory model, it’s what I consider the gateway drug to ebook readers. IOW, if you have enough interest, it’s not so much you can’t experiment if you’re a first-timer or just unsure.

– It’s ergonomically designed for one-handed reading. You have 2 buttons you can click with your thumb for page forward and page back. You can use it left- or right-handed. I can lie down and snuggle under covers in bed (or even under the covers–remember reading with a flashlight?) and hold it with one hand.

– It’s backlit. You can read in the dark. My husband loves that.

– If you get the eBookWise librarian, you can convert almost any document to the IMP format.

– It comes with a stylus so you can mark, write, highlight, and search.

– You can change font size, but there are only 2 sizes.

– It can play audiobooks, but I don’t know if it can play mp3s because I haven’t tried and I’m not that interested.

– It holds a good charge. Lots of reading time for not a lot of charge time.

– It can display .jpg files.

This is what I wish it could do:

– Read EPUB. I really, really, really want to see everything go into the EPUB format, as that’s what’s being worked on as the mp3 format of language and pictures.

– You can get books from eBookWise/Fictionwise bookstores (and direct from epublishers), but I wish the eBookWise could download on the go a la the Kindle, as long as you’re in a hotspot.

– It’s an LED screen, which is hard on some people’s eyes, especially after looking at a computer all day, but I don’t find this to be an issue for me.

– I wish conversion from one format to IMP weren’t so tedious and time consuming. In other words, you have to be a little more savvy than your average user to get files other than IMP onto your reader.

This is how it’s affected my reading/buying:

– I spend a lot more money on books now because of the instant gratification effect.

* * * * *

prs505sc.jpgSecond, I would love to have a Sony ebook reader, except for one thing: It’s not backlit. They do have a clever little device for it now, a plastic screen that opens and closes like a door and lights it from the top.

– It uses eInk technology, which is apparently better for your eyeballs.

– Sony’s latest release is touted to be able read EPUB format, along with PDFs (although I hear that’s not so good, really), its native BBeB, LRF, Word files, and mp3 files.

– You can find it in stores (Target! Score!) and look at it, touch it, see how it is. If they could get it into Wal-Mart, that’d be a coup d’etat. This also means it’s returnable if you don’t like it.

– It’s light and apparently well designed ergonomically.

This is what makes me hesitate to buy it:

– It’s not backlit. Again, this seems to be a love/hate feature. However, as stated, they do have a little add-on device to enable you to read in the dark.

– I believe (though I do not know) that conversion from one format to another is tedious and time consuming. See notation above on this topic, which, really, is a big beef for all the devices out there.

– At $300, it’s about $200 more than I want to pay.

– I do not believe they have a download-on-the-go the way Kindle does but I do think I heard they were working on it.

* * * * *

v3-whispernet_v4948240_.jpgKindle runs the AZW format, which is DRM’d Mobipocket, which also goes by the PRC/MOBI extensions, which I would not touch with a 10-foot pole and this is why:

– Amazon can lock up your purchases so you can’t read them anymore. In effect, you are renting the books, not buying them. They have a track record of doing this, so be careful.

– There is some speculation that they’re taking a loss on their ebooks so that the Gospel of Kindle can spread more easily, then they plan to raise the prices (remember, lease prices, not buy prices) once it can justify doing so. This is complete hearsay because Amazon won’t release good data on sales of either Kindles or ebooks. However, I don’t doubt that they could and would, because, well, Wal-Mart set the precedent, didn’t they?

– It’s also way too expensive for what you get.

– I have heard that it’s ugly and clunky to hold.

– Price: $359.00 Owwie.

– Proprietary format and DRM (digital rights management, which is a cardinal sin), which ties in with how they can shut your books off.

The only thing that sets this apart from the others is being able to purchase (rent) and download from wherever you are via “whispernet.” And I’ll tell you, from what I’m reading, that’s the draw, right there. If Sony got that, I think they’d win that skirmish.

* * * * *

Palm/Blackberry, by which I am also tempted. This uses the eReader (PDB) format. I mean, really, all-in-one capability for your life in the palm of your hand? Lists, phone numbers, books, music, phone, internet, email, instant messaging. What’s not to love? Erm, the really really small screen, that’s what.

* * * * *

iPhone/iPod touch. This one’s tricky, because while I’m attracted to the possibilities here, I’m REPULSED by the fact that Apple isn’t getting into the ebook scene. I’ve referenced it before, but this burns my ass: “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore… The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.” (Steve Jobs said that. Bastid.) This means, no iBook store. If Apple built a reader, I am convinced it would take over. So why don’t they? No idea.

So with this device, what we see now is that ebooks are being sold, but as applications (like games), not as text. I’m not sure how this works yet, really, but I do know there are a couple of vendors out there converting ebooks to apps for the iPhone, which can be downloaded on the go, a la Kindle.

* * * * *

asus_eee_701-300x225.jpgThere’s another little device on the market right now that might get a little toehold, but I think it’s too early to tell: The ASUS Eee PC, which operates on Linux and a solid-state hard drive. More about this at Dear Author, as this is one of the few places I’ve seen with a decent breakdown. This, I am also interested in. The price tag ($299-499) doesn’t bother me on this because it’s a computer that can read ebooks and this price is comparable to the Kindle and Sony readers, which don’t do any more than that.

Choices! Ahhhh!

These are a couple of other ebook devices I hear bandied about once in a while, but am not really interested in learning:

RfP referenced the iRex iLiad by iRex Technologies. This uses eInk technology that Kindle and Sony do, but this is HEHEHEHEHELLLLAAAAAA expensive. It supports PDF, HTML, and MOBI/PRC.

Cybook (eInk). This supports all the major ebook formats.

And there are more here at the MobileRead Wiki (great resource), but I think I’ve covered the major players.

Right now, B10 Mediaworx will for sure offer The Proviso in the following formats:

HTML (any ol’ browser and most versatile for conversion to other formats)
IMP (eBookWise, ’cause…I got one-a doze)
LIT (Microsoft’s reader, which is what I buy when I want to buy a DRM’d book because I have a nifty little program that will break the encryption)
LRF (Sony)
MOBI/PRC (Kindle or any PC with the free reader installed)
PDB (Palm and Palm-type devices)
PDF (because, well…it’s there and we have to do the print version in PDF anyway, so why not?)

Of course, we’ll put it on Amazon in print and for the Kindle (glorified MOBI/PRC).

We’re also in the process of researching its conversion to an iPhone application and put in the iTunes application store. AND we plan to get it converted to EPUB format as soon as we can. Can’t promise anything on those front, yet.

* * * * *

I come at writing from genre romance. Its redheaded stepchild, erotic romance, can’t claim to be the leader in the ebook race because Baen (science fiction/fantasy folks) got there first. But romance is a close second and I would hope that others get on the bandwagon, particularly LDS publishers.

I needed to buy something from Deseret Book (that’s yet ANOTHER rant about marking your stupid series on the cover and what’s a sequel to what because you burned me AGAIN) and I really had to think about whether I wanted to purchase those books because they weren’t in digital format.

I was fortunate enough to get an electronic ARC of Angel Falling Softly from Zarahemla, but even then, I inferred that Eugene did his own conversion to Kindle (because he posted a primer on his site, albeit with regard to Path of Dreams). I hope that Zarahemla can see its way to digitizing its backlist and be a leaders amongst LDS publishers.

Let me repeat: I spend a lot more money on books now that I have an ebook reader and can get it instantly than I ever did with paper books, which require gas and/or a lot of time and/or a lot more money and/or a lot more effort than the electronic version. Publishers, do you get that?

I SPEND A LOT MORE MONEY ON BOOKS NOW.

Say that until you start dreaming it in marquee form.

The DDJ

Moriah

Damned Day Job

Yes, I have one of those, albeit from home and entrepreneurial in nature. Actually, I have 2 money-making gigs. I also have 2 non money-making gigs: the Tax Deductions’ mother and this here book thing I hope will start paying for itself in a little while.

I have a DDJ for the usual reason: Books. Oh, uhm, roof and food. Right. And clothing. For the Tax Deductions. Dude and I go au naturel.

Now, between the Tax Deductions, the DDJs, and the fact that my editor just bled all over my imaginary friends (thank you, Lorna!), I will be busy with scissors and cheap tape for the next little while. Office Depot is my home away from home.

In the meantime, please visit Thmazing’s Thmusings where you will find installment number 2 of The Erotic in LDS Lit. I’m finding the development of this series very profound and I’m still unpacking it.

Pretty women

Moriah

Disclaimer: I can’t stand Hillary Clinton. At all. But… I find her very attractive in this picture. I’m not even going to chalk it up to the hair (very nice) or necklace (meh—not a fan of chunk jewelry). Perhaps the smile? Yes, that’s it. It looks…genuine. Happy. Even as much as I despise her, I didn’t like the constant yammering on her looks. On the other hand, if she’d let this side of her show more often, would she have gotten farther?

Then there’s this picture of Dame Helen Mirren who, at 62, is totally rockin’. I wouldn’t have posted it because Karen already did, but it’s stuck with me for 3 days. To me, it’s an illustration that Mother Nature doesn’t necessarily punish us XX types for having the audacity to turn 40. Or 50. Or 60.


And the last 2 ladies in today’s lineup are Alfre Woodard (56) and Diane Keaton (62). I don’t guess I have any commentary because, well, look at ’em. Obviously, I don’t know which ladies have had what work done, if any, but still.

Over at Teach Me Tonight, Laura Vivanco discusses the topic of older women in romance vis a vis Charlotte Lamb’s novels. She also points out RfP’s post at Access Romance and about young heroines who don’t really seem young and Robin Uncapher’s post about the time warp in romance.

Well, I’ll tell you. I didn’t really feel like writing an ingenue because at my age, it’s just silly and I was never an ingenue when I was that age. I wanted to write people who had some experience with life. Now, Susan Elizabeth Phillips writes older romance, but always within the context of having the older couple as a secondary love plot.

Mine aren’t 50-ish, but they are 40-ish and as the series progresses, they age. In book #2 (Stay), the hero and heroine (Eric and Vanessa) are youngish by my standards (late 20s and early 30s, but this is a challenge I set for myself). By book #3 (Magdalene), the oldest of the original characters are on the wrong side of 45 and still going strong. Mitch and Cassie, the hero and heroine of Magdalene, are on the wrong side of 45, with grown/almost grown children and possibly a grandchild or two.

So along with my other crimes against romance, you can add major characters in their 40s. Gee, how many other ways can I bend this genre?

Religion. Money. Politics. Sex.

Moriah

Haven’t talked about politics much, have I? Yeah. There’s a reason for that: I’m pretty burnt out.

Barack Obama: Untried newbie left-wing liberal with a yen to reach into my pocketbook. Yawn

John McCain: Moderate liberal who gave us McCain-Feingold attempting to pull the wool over the conservatives’ eyes. Yawn

(Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t thrilled with any other choice out there, either, so it’s not like I’m mourning the loss of, say, Romney, ’cause, oh, honey, I’m so not on the Romney wagon.)

Yeah, I’m not having a good time.

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The 37-year-old virgin heroine

Moriah

The Virgin Heroine has always been (and remains, IMO) a staple of genre romance. It’s getting not so much that way anymore, but as time goes on and society gets freer with its sexcapades, it’s harder for a writer to justify the Virgin Heroine, especially beyond, say, college age. On the other hand, we still have historical writers who are perfectly capable of pulling off the “wicked virgin widow trope,” which I have to admit is cracktastic and I never ever get tired of it. (Kind of like “I had to do it to fulfill the will” plots, but that’s another post.)

I don’t believe I’ve ever read a contemporary romance (other than an inspirational or sweet) that used religious beliefs as a solid, if not defiant, reason for the heroine’s virginity. And in any case, religious or not, if the heroine does lose her virginity before she marries the hero, she still marries (or commits to) the hero, so it’s all good.

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