Interview Meme

[rispacooper]

From Pir8fancier's Interview Meme:

(in which people respond to this and ask me to interview them, then i get to ask them 5 original questions and they must post replies on their LJs)



Okay, Rispa. Rubbing my hands together in glee.

1. It is the reign of Elizabeth the First. You are the ambassador from France, and you have just received word of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and that Henry IV has renounced Protestanism. You are told you have an audience with the Queen. Now! You walk into the room and everyone is dressed, head to toe, in mourning. "As you see, Ambassador," she says. "We are in mourning. Why are *you* not?"

"One doesn't dress to mourn the dirt swept away when cleaning house." (I am going to hell for that, if not causing a war...)

2. How much historical research did you do for "Sins?" Whew. Well it depends. Some things I already knew from various classes. Mostly I researched specific problems I'd encounter (i.e. pants versus trousers versus breeches, or were forks used yet...turns out, no, not really). And language questions. I *heart* linguistics sometimes and went a little crazy making sure they were only using words that were around and in use at the time, not to mention words that each character would have in their own personal lexicon. James, for example, could probably name certain parts of a lady's dress. Rene on the other hand? Doesn't know, doesn't care.

3. Do you heavily outline your writing or do you let the muse take you where it will? I have ideas...let me capitalize that. Ideas. Characters come first, then maybe scenes, a few snatches of dialogue, settings... It's difficult for me to plot because I'm rarely about action. I love action I just can't seem to write it. Hmmm I usually start with a beginning very well thought out, and a vague notion of the ending. Then I take 3 years just to write it down. (ack! flashback to senior thesis). I wouldn't say the muse takes me so much as the characters start to do what they like. If a scene isn't going how I want, after a lot of swearing and punching things, I usually realize that it's because it wasn't true to the characters as they have become. Maybe to the characters I started out with, but I tend to forget that they've changed through the chapters.

4. If you had a week to play with time, which era would you transport yourself back to and what sex would you be and why? Regency England (ah my teenage years and all those romance novels). I would be a lady...well a woman...I don't know about a lady. The women who rebeled or were different in that time were quite interesting. Courtesans and spies...the Napoleanic Wars going on and all this intrigue and danger everywhere. The birth of the feminist movement, in a really strange way, and the age of the Writer, when Poets were Rockstars.

5. Where's your favorite place to get Mexican food? El Charro in Lafayette

Comments

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

Rispa:

(1) First of all, this does rival the "Paris is well worth a mass" comment. Clever you.

(2)Uh, regarding the dress bit. *WHY* would Rene even care since the last thing he'd want to do is undress a woman. I asked that question because your fic seems to *be* pretty canon to the period, but you don't overdo it so that we're puzzled by or annoyed with the authenticity.

(3) That surprises me because you do seem to weave and reweave certain themes and images in a very complex way. Something that happened in chapter two all of a sudden makes sense in chapter 14, and I've often wondered if you were an outlining fool. Since you're not and your fic stays on course, I'll take that as license for me to be just as wayward and continue to NOT outline.

I call that thing where the characters essentially mutiny as writing voodoo. Where you subconscious has completely hi-jacked the writing process. It knows what to say and how to say it, and if you don't like it, tough shit. I've learned to trust that process because you can't really fight it. If you do, you end up writing utter shit. And then spend hours, days, and weeks trying to fix it and end up in the exact place you should have been if you'd listened to them. Plus, who in their right mind would tangle with Ne Ne.

4) Have you read the biography of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire? God, this was a fasinating period. Surely, you must have. Interesting woman. So much more interesting that her dull, dull, husband. And she was so having it on with Elizabeth Foster. As was he, apparently. Have toyed with the idea of doing a Regency mystery series based on her. More political mystery than anything (but will have to throw a few dead bodies in there). But I think I could at least throw some interesting sex in there because clearly everyone was having interesting sex. Except for the Prince of Wales, who I don't want to imagine having sex. EVER.

5) I live three minutes away from El Charro and I eat there at least once a week. And you can't fool me, it's the margaritas you lust for. The ultimate with the herradura silver. Si? If you see a middle-aged woman with long legs, hair down to her waist (or up in chopsticks, usually), two kids in tow, with a very tall husband. c'est moi. Come say hey. I'll buy you a drink.

OMG, do you think we already know each other? This will NOT be the first time I've been outed.

Of course, great minds think alike...

[paraxdisepink.livejournal.com]

I call that thing where the characters essentially mutiny as writing voodoo. Where you subconscious has completely hi-jacked the writing process. It knows what to say and how to say it, and if you don't like it, tough shit. I've learned to trust that process because you can't really fight it. If you do, you end up writing utter shit. And then spend hours, days, and weeks trying to fix it and end up in the exact place you should have been if you'd listened to them. Plus, who in their right mind would tangle with Ne Ne.

I <3 the total truth of this paragraph.

[rispacooper.livejournal.com]

re: 3)Ah well, since I develope character first, I know all this backstory that I've created just in my mind. So I have Rene mention things idly or imagine a certain sexual position with James (perv) in an early chapter, and then later I decide whether or not to expand on that.
4) Hmm, I think Georgiana Cavendish has been mentioned in a few things I've read, but I've never read a book especially about her.
5) MARGARITAS! also, anyone who is anyone who worked at my old jobs knows, you might order the margaritas, but you need at least two shots first.

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

Highly recommend, "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire," by Amanda Foreman. It won the Whitbread Prize for Biography and is one of the most interesting biographies I've ever read. She was exceptionally close to the Prince of Wales, and this is THE age for political cartooning. Her husband was a dull stick in the mud, who by virtue of his birth found himself embroiled in politics. His wife was much more on the ball than he was and more or less led the political charge. She had several lovers (not including "Bess" Foster who I think was double-dipping with both the Duke AND Duchess), although she denied ever being Fox's lover. She even had a child in wedlock that was not hers! She had a rather sorry end, sounds like raging alcoholism, and was constantly in severe debt for gaming. All in all a delicious story and all the more sad for being true. It's in paperback, I just saw in on the shelf in a bookstore.

And vis a vis margaritas. OLE!