9 to 5: Love, Danger and Romance for the 21st century heroine
February 11, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as 9 to 5, blogging, books, Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, danger, dangerous, job, professions, romance novels, writing, writing process, writngMeet EVELYN Q. DARLING, Romance Reporter at Large, in her first blog today:
In the past, creating a job for a romantic heroine usually meant she was either a governess, a nurse, or in the early twentieth century, a “typewriter,†better known as a secretary.
Take a letter, Miss Jones…
To all writers of romance novels.
Dear Miss, Ms. or Madam:
It has come to this reporter’s attention that several of you have veered away from writing about governesses in dark, gloomy manor houses and pert, red-cheeked nurses and turned to writing about heroines who carry guns, sport black leather and can take a man down in fifty seconds flat.
Really.
What happened to the days when all a heroine had to do to get her man was flutter her black lace fan and bat her soot-caked eyelashes? (Ample cleavage didn’t hurt either.)
It was so much easier when all a writer had to worry about was how many flounces graced her heroine’s gown or the number of hooks on a corset. (A heroine’s age at marriage also determined the size of her waist: if she wed at 18, she aspired that her waist remained at 18 inches.)
And if all else failed, there was always the “smart†heroine who wrote novels, solved mysteries or planted her delicate boots on foreign soil and showed her moxie by becoming a globe-trotting adventuress.
Sigh. Ah, for the good ole days before our heroines decided they wanted equal rights between the sheets. And on the job.
Now to create the modern heroine, a romance writer has to know the difference between a Glock and a Sig Sauer (the latter sounds like a deli sandwich).
Be able to “street speak†in urban fantasies, suck blood without smudging her lipstick in vampire thrillers and shape-shift into an exotic creature with all her parts intact.
So I’m asking all you romance writers to drop me a line and tell me what “dangerous professions†for a heroine you’ve seen in recent novels or in a novel you’re writing.
What’s new for a heroine in the 21st century in the world of “9 to 5†that you haven’t seen or written about before?
I’ll be eagerly awaiting your answers.
Who knows?
Maybe we can start a new trend: Dangerous heroines in tight corsets and red high heels who live in an abandoned subway tunnel and belong to a secret society of lusty Victorian vampires who feed on handsome firefighters.
Then again, maybe not.
Best regards,
Evelyn Q. Darling
Romance Reporter At Large
“Artwork by Jina Bacarr”
The Blonde Samurai: “She embraced the way of the warrior. Two swords. Two loves.â€
Jina Bacarr is also the author of The Blonde Geisha ,Cleopatra’s Perfume, Naughty Paris, Tokyo Rendezvous, a Spice Brief, and Spies, Lies & Naked Thighs
visit my website: http://www.jinabacarr.com/
What if Scarlett O’Hara was a blonde… by Jina Bacarr
January 11, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Adventures in Writing, blonde samurai, character, Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, Gone with the Wind, heroine, Margaret Mitchell, Scarlett, Scarlett O'Hara, writer's Life
I love historicals. Reading them, writing them.
And creating the perfect heroine. But is she a blonde, a brunette or a redhead? We writers wrestle with this question every time we put fingertips to keyboard. Sometimes the character is so clear in our minds, we know for certain she’s a natural blonde (and if she isn’t, well, we won’t tell–it’s up to the hero to see if the collar matches the cuffs).
Imagine if Scarlett O’Hara was a blonde…
Do you remember the vivid opening scene with Scarlett surrounded by the redheaded Tarleton twins? Her beautiful dark hair provided a rich halo around her face and provided a contrast against her white organdy dress with flounces and flounces of ruffles. The red belt cinching in her tiny waist was the perfect accent piece to complete her outfit.
Was this what Margaret Mitchell envisioned when she wrote “Gone With the Wind?â€
In a word, no.
Ms. Mitchell describes a “green flowered-muslin†dress, not the white one. Although in the film, Scarlett does show up at the Twelve Oaks BBQ in a similar dress (who can ever forget the scene in the film when Scarlett throws a porcelain bowl across the room not knowing Rhett is lying on the couch out of her pov and he pops up with the line: “Has the war started yet?†Pure classic romantic attraction).
Which brings me to the question: how important to you as a writer and/or reader is the heroine’s hair color?
Her clothes?
Do you enjoy reading descriptions of what she’s wearing? Do designer labels intrigue you or turn you off?
I must admit I enjoyed designing my heroine’s wardrobe in “The Blonde Samurai†about a Victorian heiress who weds a British lord then falls in love with a handsome samurai.
Here is what Katie O’Roarke as Lady Carlton wore at a grand dinner:
“…Which was why I chose the color red. A defiant color, bold and perfect. I relished how the velvet gown in crushed strawberry hugged my body, the small cap sleeves sliding down my bare shoulders while the tiered soft bustle swayed behind me, the long train sweeping over the muted Oriental carpets. A long row of pearl buttons gave off an opaline luster, racing down my back like a game of dominoes.”
Tell me what you think about whether or not a description of the heroine’s hair color and her wardrobe enrich the story for you.
Frankly, my dear reader, I do give a damn…
http://www.jinabacarr.com/
The Blonde Samurai is a 2010 Reviewers Choice Award nominee for Romantic Times
Happy Holidays with Story Videos from Jina Bacarr
December 11, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as British, Christmas, Christmas Carol, Christmas eve, Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, holiday, Romances, Scrooge, snow, Victorian englandMerry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!
We’re at the busiest time of year…and Santa’s Elves have been busy helping me put together four episodes for my story videos called: “A Naughty Christmas Carol.”
What is a story video? you ask.
It’s an idea I came up with when I decided to make audio stories with pictures and sound effects.
You’d think it would be easy: write a short 5 to 7 minute story epsiode for my theme about a naughty christmas carol, then record the voiceover, take some pictures to reflect the characters and settings, go through my sound effects (I have a collection of more than a 1,000 sound effects!), add some royalty free music and poof!
Like magic you have a story video…
Oh, my, what fools we writers be.
Writing then rewriting the stories was the easy part.
Recording my voiceover…how many takes?
Sound effects? Have you tried to find the right grandfather clock chime to fit what’s in your mind?
Compose pictures for the video: we’re not talking one or two shots; I took hundreds of pix for my Naughty Christmas Carol videos before I narrowed them down to a few pictures.
Have you ever tried to cajole a Christmas Doll to have attitude in her picture?
At least she sat still for her photo session!
Here she is:
Click here if you’d like to watch Episodes of “A Naughty Christmas Carol”
0 0 Read moreThe Berlin Diary of Lady Eve Marlowe: Else’s Story by Jina Bacarr
November 11, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Berlin, cleopatra, Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, Nazi, perfume, romance novels, Veterans Day, World War IIOn November 11th, we celebrate our veterans. But mothers are also veterans of war. Here is a story about such a mother written by Lady Eve Marlowe, the heroine in my novel, Cleopatra’s Perfume.
Before Lady Eve married a member of the British peerage, she was a cabaret dancer in Berlin in the late 1920s during the wild days of the Weimar Republic.
The scene in what I call a “story vid†(story video) takes place after one of the girls in the show is murdered and Eve goes to visit her mother.
Happy Veterans Day!
Best,
Jina
The Blonde Samurai: “She embraced the way of the warrior. Two swords. Two loves.â€
Jina Bacarr is also the author of The Blonde Geisha ,Cleopatra’s Perfume, Naughty Paris, Tokyo Rendezvous, a Spice Brief, and Spies, Lies & Naked Thighs
visit my website: http://www.jinabacarr.com/
0 0 Read moreThe day Stephen J. Cannell talked with Jina Bacarr at OCC
October 11, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as A Writer's Life, author, Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, novels, Stephen J. Cannell
Stephen J. Cannell talks w/ Jina Bacarr
Uploaded by Jina_B.
Everyone who attended the OCC Meeting back in 2007 when Stephen J. Cannell was our main speaker will never forget it.
I still have the notes I took that day…
And I have the video. So as a special tribute to Mr. Cannell who passed away recently, here is the video I did with him that morning after the Published Authors Workshop.
He was a great friend to OCC and to all writers everywhere.
Best,
Jina
The Blonde Samurai: “She embraced the way of the warrior. Two swords. Two loves.â€
Jina Bacarr is also the author of The Blonde Geisha ,Cleopatra’s Perfume, Naughty Paris, Tokyo Rendezvous, a Spice Brief, and Spies, Lies & Naked Thighs
visit my website: http://www.jinabacarr.com/
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