Rose Lerner's Blog

Archive for the ‘barnes&noble’ Category

So I don’t have time for a post with actual content because:

1. My deadline for A Lily Among Thorns is coming up in a few weeks and I am revising every spare minute that I have. The only reason I was able to snatch this time to post is that I’m printing out the MS now to do a hard-copy edit and my printer is REALLY SLOW.

2. I’m going to see David Sedaris speak tonight and I have to leave soon to pick up my friend for dinner! I’m so excited. I’m hoping he’ll talk about his mother since it’s Mother’s Day. I LOVE his essays about his mother. Although right now I miss my own mother so much that if he does talk about his, I’ll probably cry. (Also, happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there! Moms are great.)

HOWEVER, in the meantime, here are links to some stuff:

1. Ten of my favorite romances, over at Dear Author! What an awesome new feature, I LOVE hearing about other people’s favorite books.

2. An interview with me over at The Romance Reader! I talk about my introduction to romances, my day job, my attempts at writing “serious” literary fiction in college, and a bunch of other stuff. An excerpt:

What led you to write romance?

I’ve been writing since I was a tiny child–after a certain age it was fanfiction for classic British lit, mostly. My first attempt at a novel was a sequel to Ivanhoe when I was ten. I wanted Rebecca to marry Brian. I got into romance when I was twelve. My middle school had a little career internship thing in seventh grade, and they paired me up with a local writer. She in turn introduced me to Carola Dunn, another local author who was writing traditional Regencies at the time (she’s doing mysteries now). I read everything by Dunn in the local library, some of it more than once. The following year a friend loaned me my first Georgette Heyer, and it was all over.

3. My thread is up at the Barnes & Noble forum! Come on over and say hi! (And if you have any questions about In for a Penny, this is a great chance to ask them, the thread is spoiler-friendly!)

4. And don’t forget about my contest! I’m taking suggestions for the plot of a short story set in the In for a Penny world. You can submit ideas through May 31st, and then I’ll pick my favorite and write the story over the summer and post it September 1st.

Do/did any of you watch Smallville? I watched some old episodes with a friend this week, and I forgot how incredibly wonderful Lex is! It’s kind of frustrating because it’s like the show figured out that he looks beautiful and heartbreaking when he’s sad and/or terrified, and then they had him do that every week. On the one hand, I enjoy it, but on the other hand, sometimes I just want him to be happy! I want the episode “Lex And Clark Go On A Picnic In Lex’s Porsche And Nothing Bad Happens.”

It’s a great lesson for a writer, though, I think: if your villain is arguably your most compelling character and you don’t make him clearly villainous enough, it makes your good guys look like jerks. And also, you need to have a good balance between bad things happening and good things happening, or your reader gets worn out. (A few reviewers of Penny mentioned this rule, actually, which I think is fair; I did throw a lot at Nev and Penny. If I had it to do over again, I’d probably add a couple more scenes of them just being happy together…although what I’d cut to make space, I don’t know.)

Aaaaand, gotta run! I’ll be back with content soon, I promise. I’m even talking to a copyeditor friend about doing some guest posts, it’s gonna be great!

Eloisa James has read my book!!!

Okay I know I am supposed to be a professional and not act like a fan and blah blah blah but ELOISA JAMES HAS READ MY BOOK. AND SHE LIKED IT. And she posted about it here for her Barnes & Noble blog/column! I read it this morning at 4:30AM before going to work and of course when I got there I immediately told my coworker all about it:

ME: It’s like every month she does a theme and she talks about books that fit the theme, and–
COWORKER: What was this month’s theme?
ME: …Um. Protagonists who aren’t very bright.
COWORKER: [after laughing quite a lot] Is one of your protagonists not very bright?
ME: Well, I never thought of him that way before? He likes classical music and studied Latin at Cambridge and stuff. But I definitely see what she means because he is pretty hapless and not good at math, and in the genre there are lots of uber-competent brain surgeons running around and–
COWORKER: Doesn’t your book take place in the early nineteenth century?
ME: Yes.
COWORKER: So maybe a brain surgeon wouldn’t be the best choice for a hero for you?
ME: You have a point.
COWORKER: The reader would think, “Ooh, a brain surgeon,” and then he’d walk on with, like, a hammer and bone saw. “I’ve discovered that this part of the lobe controls deviant behavior! Stand aside while I cut a hole in this convict’s skull!”

For some reason I am picturing this hero as Hugh Laurie’s Wooster in my head. Okay, and what’s sad is that I have such a thing for mad scientists (I’m not kidding, I think they’re dreamy!) that I would probably read that romance. Even though I have a lot of strong and negative feelings about historical psychiatry, ESPECIALLY when it involved surgery (often it was non-consensual surgery!).

Anyway, you should read James’s piece, and then check out the B&N Romance board for conversations about the piece and about my book and all kinds of stuff!

Which is a good time to mention–I will be one of the B&N feature threads for May!!!!!! I am so honored and excited you guys. My thread is here and I will be hanging around the boards and the thread all month, but especially I will be there regularly next week, starting Monday the 10th, to chat and answer questions and talk about books and also probably Star Trek because this is me. I can’t wait!