Round robin: why I gravitated towards the Victorian era.

So, after a bit of re-jigging of the round robin order, it's my turn, and Tim has asked me what attracted me to the Victorian era in particular, and whether I can see myself writing in other eras at some point.

The attraction of the Victorian era for me is a many-splendoured thing, and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that so many of my areas of interest can be found there. Because they seem quaint and dated to us, it's easy for us to forget this, but the Victorian era was one of tremendous progress: technologically, intellectually and socially. I'm a bit of a nerd and I love my gadgets (even if I don't always understand exactly what they're doing), and in the 63 years and seven months Victoria was on the throne, they made huge strides towards the understanding of the world we currently have today. There was Darwin's Origin of Species, of course - a massive 'eureka!' moment - and our practices of medical hygiene and surgical sterilisation took their first steps under Victoria. Of course, one of the vital ingredients for an interesting plot is to have some sort of change and turmoil rocking the boat of your character's life, and so to place them in an era in which so much is changing is helpful in achieving that.

However, I have a hypothesis that as a society becomes more technically advanced, it's as if they sometimes become a little frightened of the speed at which they're moving, and so they subconsciously put the brakes on in other areas, often by becoming - outwardly, at least - more socially conservative. This certainly seemed to be the case in many respects as far as the Victorians went, if you compare them to the 18th and early 19th C preceding them, which seem to modern eyes to have been more permissive than the Victorians who came next.

It is important, though, not to take this apparent primness at face value, because (as I have discussed ad nauseam on my blog), underneath that voluminous white underwear, the Victorians were a friskier generation of people than they probably would have wanted you, or the people next door, to have known about; and they were better at making moves towards social change than they might have admitted, too. The working class suffragists of the northern mill towns began their campaigning for the right to vote for all adults, male and female (as opposed to the rather more notorious suffragettes, who only seemed to care about well-off women being able to vote alongside their well-off male counterparts - don't mention the name Pankhurst to me around the time of an election unless you want a lengthy diatribe); and from 1874 it was possible for a woman to train as a doctor (although they did have to attend a women-only institution - the London School of Medicine for Women - to do so; and no doubt they would have faced prejudice from patients and other doctors once qualified). Those of you who know me will know I'm a soft touch when it comes to animals, and while the Victorian attitude to our non-human relatives was by no means ideal, again, they were making progress: the RSPCA¹ was a Victorian invention, as was the Vegetarian Society. Oh, and apparently something called the NSPCC² came about later in the Victorian era, too. (Internet disclaimer: don't take my tone too seriously there, will you?)

Anyway, you get the idea - it was a very confused, conflicted, neurotic era, so that's probably why it and I clicked. There's something very intriguing about a society that invents the camera and then immediately sets about making the first photographic pornography and taking pictures of the bodies of their dead relatives to keep in the family album; and yet as I say, over time the Victorians have still become grossly misunderstood by the majority of people, and had their already-pretty-damn-peculiar quirks exaggerated to mythic proportions; and I have an affinity with the misunderstood and the misinterpreted too that probably informs my interest in the period. On a purely shallow level, I think the Victorian era was more aesthetically beautiful than any period before or since - I love the clothes and the decor (the Victorian attitude to the latter being about as far from minimalism as you could manage, and no bad thing); and being a bodiceripper, I don't think it's beyond my remit to comment on how much better the men put themselves together then. Perhaps I've spent too much time looking at history books, but I think Prince Albert was a bit of all right in his day; and the other day I caught myself ogling a portrait of Elgar on the cover of Classic FM magazine. When I rule the world, football club shirts, baseball caps, tracksuits and trainers will be banned.

Finally (as far as the first half of Tim's question goes), I'm reminded of a quote that - if I recall correctly - is attributed to Stephen King; who, when asked why he wrote the types of stories he does, replied "what makes you think I have a choice?". In many ways, I think it's the same for me and my era of choice - these are the characters who come to me, and I think my Muse wears a waistcoat and top hat and carries a cane. At least, I like to think so.

As for writing about other eras, actually I already have - the third novel I completed (which may see the light of day at some point, once focus has shifted from the WIP) starts at the very end of the Victorian era and segues into the Edwardian (I know, so adventurous, aren't I?). From there, I have ideas for one or possibly two more sequels to that book, which would take me further into the Edwardian era and perhaps (if I'm feeling brave) into WW1, which is probably as modern as I can see myself getting. As for going back in time from 1837 (when Vic took the throne)...well...I can't see it at this point, anyway; at least not as far as full-length novels go. I enjoy reading about a wide variety of times, but writing about them...not so sure.


For the non-Brits:
¹ Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
² National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

*

And now my questions for Alis Hawkins, author of Testament and a fellow historical scribbler. Alis' first novel Testament is a fast-paced timeslip tale, and she has recently completed the first draft of her latest book, The Black and the White. Now that I feel like Parky having delivered that introduction, I'd like to ask Alis whether TB&TW is also a timeslip piece or a straight historical (and if it's the latter, how different she finds the experience of writing about one time period as opposed to two in the same story); and in particular what she thinks are the challenges and attractions of writing about the more distant eras she favours (TB&TW is set in the 1300s)?

Can I be cheeky...

...and ask who's in charge of updating the "this month's publication" box these days? David? Tim?

It's like the first time, only repeated.

Pardon the double-posting, but I just became the first guest poster on Nik Perring's blog as well. This time I'm talking a bit about the Second Novel Experience.

"Are you good-natured, dear?"

CROSS-POSTED FROM MY OWN BLOG, IF THAT'S OK!


More about Trades of the Flesh
Buy from Amazon through my webstore

Goodness, it's here. Trades of the Flesh is officially out in the world, making bookshops and webstores everywhere that little bit seedier. I'm sniffing with pride.

To mark the occasion, I have popped the lovely Melanie's guest blog cherry with a little bit of nattering about "ladybirds", "motts" - Victorian prostitutes to you and me. Melanie is also very kindly hosting a little competition in which you can win a copy of Trades complete with a signed bookplate. The rules are in the post, and you can enter in the comments...if you're in the mood to confess your own shady doings!

By the way, Melanie's blog makes for fascinatingly eclectic reading and is always beautifully illustrated to boot, so if history and art are your cup of tea and you haven't checked her out yet, you should. She has also used blogging as a medium to publish the first part of her Journal of Marie-Antoinette series of novels, which is also terrific reading.

Thanks Melanie!

Trades of the Flesh has a cover!

Behold the finished cover for Trades of the Flesh, which is now ready to go public! I absolutely adore it - the design gods strike again! Also, I can now give you a definite date for Trades' release - it will be available from UK outlets on 18th September this year.

A very short news post

I am delighted to report that I now have an agent, namely the canny, insightful and generally agreeable Edwin Hawkes at The McKernan Agency. I look forward to working with him immensely.

Miss Booth's Book Emporium

I have just set up a webstore for my books using Amazon's aStore system. I'm still finding my feet with it, but so far I'd definitely recommend it to other authors: you can build your own webstore and choose the products that go in it, but it's powered entirely by Amazon and all orders are handled and despatched by them, so you don't have to worry about messing up on that score, and of course it's a lot more reassuring for buyers as well - if you trust Amazon, you can trust an Amazon aStore!

So far I only have the editions of Cover the Mirrors that are available on Amazon's catalogue listed in my shop, but I'll add the audiobook and the hardback of Trades of the Flesh as soon as possible.

Celebration time

I have second novel news...

Cover the Mirrors goes Romanian!

(Cross-posted from my own blog, but it's only a quick 'un.)

I just received an email from Liz from Macmillan's rights department, informing me that Leda would like to publish Cover the Mirrors in Romania. Needless to say, I am extremely giddy about this prospect, and can't wait to see how the Romanian edition turns out. My first foreign sale!

PB cover

Since it's now up on Amazon, I might as well show you the cover for the paperback edition of Cover the Mirrors:



The geniuses of Macmillan's art department strike again...

Strange but apparently true

If you go to amazon.co.uk and key the title of my favourite film (Heavenly Creatures*) into the search box (don't specify DVDs or anything like that; just search all departments), the ninth item down on the list of results is currently Cover the Mirrors.

At first I thought it was related to my own search history, but I've had friends do the same thing on their own machines and they got the same results. Weird or what? And very cool, I have to say.

Anyone any idea why this might be happening? It's not as if my Amazon page mentions my taste in films or anything, so I'm left pleasantly baffled.


* And no, I don't go about my daily life envisioning lifesize claymation figures of my characters reacting to the situations and people I encounter. I'm tempted to add the word 'usually' here, but perhaps not.

hagsharlotsheroines review!

A fantastic review of Cover the Mirrors has been posted on the hagsharlotsheroines blog, courtesy of the lovely Laura! If you haven't checked hags out yet it's definitely worth a look, and while you're there you can check out my review of Libba Bray's historical YA fantasy The Sweet Far Thing as well.

Thanks again to Laura, and watch this space for news of my next contribution to hags.

Selling out, maaaaan.

With retailers seemingly selling out of Cover the Mirrors left, right and centre, I thought I'd have a rummage through the list of stockists I knew about and see how many of them still appear to have the book available for dispatch. The list is here in my blog - if any of you know of any more that I've missed, do please feel free to tell me.

Also, courtesy of Books Unlimited.ie:

On superstition

I just posted a rather rambling entry on writers and superstition in my blog, so I thought I'd open the floor to discussion in here as well. Are any of you prone to superstitions regarding your work?

Argh - her again!

Just a quick note to say that I have recently transferred my website to a new host. Generally speaking, it probably won't look very different, but if any of you have linked to specific pages on the old site, rather than just the domain address (http://www.fayelbooth.co.uk), your links won't work now until you switch them.

However, there are a couple of new features that might be of interest, namely a slightly more interesting bio page (I hate writing about myself, despite having blogs), a page waffling about 19th Century Spiritualism, and a book group guide for Cover the Mirrors (linked at the bottom of the Spiritualism page). Enjoy!


PS: My web guru informs me that if you have recently viewed my site on its old host, you might not be able to see all of the new site until your cache clears either automatically or manually. The site's not broken; your computer's just cutting corners!

Cover the Mirrors - hardbacks and paperbacks

I just updated my blog with news on the progress of the hardback first edition of Cover the Mirrors, and the forthcoming mass-market paperback version. It's proving to be quite a busy little book...

Hello and all that

I detest trying to write about myself (strange for someone with a blog, I know), so please bear with me!

So yes, I'm Faye. I don't know that I have any particularly interesting qualities that make me stand out as a person among the other MNWers, but this is about my book, so instead I'll tell you that my novel,Cover the Mirrors, is a Victorian era historical set in Preston, and features a fraudulent 'spirit medium' as its protagonist. (I prefer the word 'protagonist' to 'hero(ine) - it's less saccharine.) I may be biased, but I think my book has the best cover ever (see below). Publication will be next month (see the funky little ticker, also below), but I've already received my first royalty cheque from the large print and audio editions, which will be published by the lovely folks at Magna in Long Preston (Long Preston, not Preston), and Cover the Mirrors has been featured on Serendipity ezine's Halloween reading list, so I'm quite giddy about all that.

I can be found prattling on more extensively on my main website, my personal blog, my MySpace (I know many people hate that site, and it has got on my nerves on more than one occasion, but the fact remains that it's the busiest networking site on the internet, so I can't complain) and my Bebo Books profile, the latter being very new and something I'm still getting to grips with. Being the shameless sort, I also maintain a list of online retailers for my book, which is updated reasonably regularly in my blog (the latest version being here).

So that's me! Feel free to comment and ask me questions if you're curious about something I haven't covered.

FLB