Ann Stephens's Blog

For summer is a-come in,

and winter’s gone away.

All in the merry morning

that is the month of May.

— From May Day, by Christina Rossetti

When I was a child, my mother taught my sisters and me to roll colored construction paper into cones, staple braided crepe paper handles to them, and place a few candies in each one. Every May 1st, we were then sent forth into our neighborhood with them. 

Our mission was to hang our offerings on the door handles of our friends, ring the doorbell and run. Under no circumstances were we to be seen. This was our version of May baskets.

Needless to say, we fooled no one, even before the days of camera doorbells. I always felt a little silly doing this, because we were the only ones who participated in this strange custom. I’m not entirely sure why we did it. Perhaps because her parents were born in the 1880s, when May Day was A Thing. Or perhaps she’d heard tales from her grandfather, who had immigrated from England, where May Day was Quite a Big Thing. 

In America, girls from grade school to high school might be crowned as a May Queen, and be-ribboned maypoles would be set up for children to dance around. May baskets were made and distributed (theoretically anonymously) to friends and neighbors. Gardens would be planted, and bouquets of flowers picked to bring into the house. 

This bringing in the May — fetching flowers and green branches from woods and fields, was an ancient custom across northern Europe from Russia to  Ireland. What a relief it must have been to throw open the doors to sunlight and pleasant fresh air after spending winter inside, huddled in smoky air from the fire. 

Germans had Walpurgisnacht on April 30-May 1, with animals and people passing through fires for good luck. Once upon a time the fires were sacred, and passing through them was thought to be a blessing from pestilence and witchcraft for the next year. 

Sacred fires played a part in rural Irish celebrations as well, for similar reasons.  The Catholic church had replaced the Celtic festival of Beltane with May Day, but the fires, the branches and flowers over doorways and windows, remained. Rural Irish might make a May bush as well by decorating a thorn bush with garlands of flowers or ribbons. The local church would choose a May Queen, as in ‘well, aren’t you the queen of the May’. 

By the Victorian era, May Queen in Ireland, England, or America were intended to be girls and young women of good character, dressed in white and crowned with blossoms to represent purity and the promise of spring. Human nature being what is, I expect this was mostly a popularity contest — hopefully the ‘queen’ was popular because of kindness to her fellow students. 

Elizabethan John Stowe wrote in 1598 that in London, the population “did fetch in May-poles, with divers warlike shows, with good archers, morris dancers, and other devices, for pastime all the day long; and toward the evening they had stage plays, and bonfires in the streets.”

That sounds like quite the street festival! If my childhood had had something like that on May Day, I probably wouldn’t have felt so foolish. 

Still . . . I think I’m going to pick up some paper and make a few May baskets. 

How is May Day celebrated in your part of the world?  Let me know in the comments — I love learning about new (to me) customs. 

Elizabeth Gaskell: author of 19th century gems such as Cranford, Mary Barton, and North and South. Also Elizabeth Gaskell: author of Gothic short stories, filled with all the hauntings, burning hearts, family curses and general melodrama that Victorian readers craved. (Image by Sandy Flowers from Pixabay. Assisted by AI.)

I was amazed to find that this cheerful, hospitable minister’s wife, with her sympathetic observations of Manchester’s slums and the factory workers who lived in them, wrote gothic horror. Not all of her short stories belong to this genre – for example, the genteel and delightful Cranford was a compilation of short stories written mostly between 1849 and 1853, for Sartain’s Union Magazine and Charles Dickens’ periodical, Household Words. Other short stories could be considered part of her ‘industrial fiction’ along with most of her major works.

However, several of her shorter pieces include the hallmarks of Gothic horror: an oppressive atmosphere, supernatural elements (if not always ghosts), guilty secrets of a family or individual, long-lost relatives, physical or emotional isolation, and, of course, creepy old manor houses.

The truth is that Elizabeth Gaskell thoroughly enjoyed telling and writing ghost stories. She collected them, taking an avid interest in local folk tales wherever she traveled. She was known for frightening her guests with gruesome tales told with trademark gusto.

But who read them?

The majority of her short works were published in Household Words and then All the Year Round, both owned by Charles Dickens. He started them to increase his own sales and readership, but he also solicited pieces from other popular writers. Everyone benefited: magazine sales profited Dickens, the writers were paid per story, and everyone got more readers. He dismissed ghosts and eerie events, but he was happy to use them in works like Bleak House and A Christmas Carol to attract readers. As for his periodicals, hardly an issue came out without a ghost story, many of which came from Mrs. Gaskell’s pen.

Dickens aimed for a middle-class audience, so the fiction reflected the popular culture of mid-nineteenth century Britain. True, the British were starting to embrace books and plays representing realistic characters and situations, as witnessed by the success of Gaskell’s novels about the poor and working class. At the same time, the influence of the Romantic era still appealed to the reading public. Brooding heroes, family curses, revenge, unexplained insanity and forbidden/betrayed love filled books, magazines, plays and ballets. Alongside this, audiences adored sentimentality and unrealistically elevated views of human nature, domesticity, and childhood innocence. Gothic literature and stage pieces hit all these notes.

The appetite for things that went bump in the night was likely encouraged by one of the harshest facts of the 19th century: Victorians lived with death from disease in a way that many of us find hard to grasp. Before antibiotics and vaccines, diseases like measles, whooping cough, sepsis, and tetanus routinely killed people before their 18th birthday. Other fatal diseases that spread before the acceptance of germ theory were cholera, typhus and typhoid fever. Tuberculosis, known as consumption, slowly killed people of all ages.

What else might have inspired Mrs. Gaskell?

Even if you survived childhood, one estimate is that you had a 30% chance of losing at least one parent before your fifteenth birthday. Belief that cherished parents or children lived on in the after-life, and might still influence or visit, must have offered comfort. Gaskell’s own mother died when she was thirteen months old, six of her seven siblings died in childhood, her adored older brother was lost at sea, and then she in turn lost her only son when he was only a year old. As a minister’s wife, she had a firm belief in a world beyond ours. Irreligious superstition was frowned upon in so respectable a woman, but at the same time, she insisted to friends that she had once seen a ghost. (Alas, there aren’t details in the sources I’ve found.)

Both in her novels and her gothic stories, Elizabeth Gaskell mused on the effect of losing a parent, often the mother. Although she grew up in a happy home, raised by a loving aunt, she must have wondered what kind of guidance and encouragement she would have received from her own mother, had she lived. In her work as a minister’s wife who regularly attended the poor of Manchester, she would also have witnessed what the loss of a parent could mean. Factories employed men and women, so the death or abandonment of an earning adult could ruin a family, in addition to the emotional toll.

I’ve only read a few of her short stories so far. I have read those below – some are ghost tales, all are gothic. I hope you enjoy my brief descriptions and notes about tropes. Most are available to read online here: http://victorian-studies.net/EG-Works.html

Disappearances (1851): This reads almost as a written version of an ‘unexplained disappearances’ video on YouTube, except about fictional characters. It’s simply a series of unrelated vignettes by an unidentified narrator. Perhaps Gaskell had in mind her brother’s never-explained disappearance at sea when she penned it.The Nurse’s Story (1852): An honest-to-goodness ghost story, featuring a young orphan stalked by two malevolent ghosts. The narrator is the child’s faithful nursemaid, Hester, who recounts life in a crumbling old house complete with an organ-playing ghost, two spooky old women, and a horrible family secret.The Squire’s Story (1853): Gothic, but not a ghost story, about a new guy in town who isn’t what he says he is, the wife he deceives, and an off-page murder.The Poor Clare (1856): Features a witch rather than a ghost. Abandoned fake wife, secret baby, a witch’s curse, evil doppelganger, family rejection, revenge from the past, repentance and forgiveness.The Doom of the Griffiths (1858): Almost a plot within a plot featuring an ancient family curse/prophecy, a conniving stepmother, rejection of a child, a poor but good woman, the collapse of an ancestral line.The Ghost in the Garden Room (1859): Featured in All the Year Round’s Christmas issue – because nothing says “Merry Christmas” like a story of callous youth, grinding poverty and a murderous son?? Please note, there isn’t actually a ghost in this story. All very confusing. Have some eggnog.

Do any of these sound like a good Halloween read?

[image error]It’s a holiday weekend, I need to get a post up by the end of the month, and I’m dry as a bone for inspiration. So in my desperation, here is a list of qualities I love to see in a hero. I’d love to get feedback from others about works for you in a hero.

 

Qualities in a hero that make me melt:

1. Kindness: However secretively and grudgingly it’s offered, even the most cynical, badass hero has to be able to scrounge up sympathy for at least one living creature besides the heroine.

2. Fidelity: To family, friends, platoon, mentor, his own moral code — I don’t care which. If a guy can’t show heartfelt loyalty to anyone or anything else, I’m going to have a hard time believing he’s going to stand by the heroine in the long run.

3. Sense of humor: Because there is nothing in this world better than a soulmate who gets your jokes.

4. Master of the Game: The ability to think ahead and to think fast shows smarts. Brawn is great for the heroine to run her hands over, but I love a man who formulates a plan to solve his problems. And then formulates Plan B. And Plan C. And . . . well, you get the drift. There’s a reason I have a soft spot for Batman.

5. Man Brain: If the character is meant to be a straight cis male, please don’t give me a chick in a cravat. I will make serious side eye at a straight hero who analyzes his innermost feelings to his  fellow male BFF. Actual, breathing men have assured me that while they do have All The Feels, they would undergo torture rather than discuss them with another man, no matter how trusted. Men also tend not to notice details like the difference between sea green and sage green unless they’re something like a painter, where knowledge of colors is necessary. Ditto for familiarity with women’s clothing, unless he’s a clothes horse himself or has a lot of female relatives. He’ll register impressions like ‘pretty’ or ‘sexy’, for example, but probably won’t know who designed the outfit.

So that’s my list — what turns you on in a hero? Comments welcome!

[image error]Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their new baby boy!

According to the BBC, bookies have Arthur as the likeliest bet for the new prince’s first name. I’m not holding my breath, and I’ve got my doubts about the second runner-up, Albert. Here’s why: The couple’s other two children have been named for a king and an heir apparent to the throne. If they follow this trend for their third offspring, their choices are limited.

In the nearly one thousand years since the Normans conquered England, there have only been nine names borne by the nation’s kings.

Nine.

Four Williams, eight Henrys, one Stephen, three Richards, one John, eight Edwards, two Jameses, two Charleses, and six Georges. And some of these names are already Right Out.

For example, William. The wee babe’s daddy is already a Prince William. Two would be confusing.

Henry – Same problem. Even if they go with Prince Henry to differentiate him from Uncle Harry, there’s also the fact that the last King Henry went through a lot of wives. I think they’re going to give this one a pass.

Stephen – I would personally be delighted with a Prince Stephen (duh!), but the one and only King Stephen brought ruin to the country by starting an 18-year civil war with his cousin (and rightful heir) Matilda. Also, let’s take a moment to be thankful that the young princess wasn’t named Matilda.

Richard – yes, it conjures the image of Richard the Lion-Hearted, but on closer inspection, I suspect their Highnesses will give this one a pass, too. For one thing, Lionheart used the English as a cash cow to fund a very expensive Crusade. (And to pay his ransom when he was taken prisoner on the way back home. Bad form.) The second Richard is often considered a tyrant, and the third usurped the crown from his young nephews (whose deaths he is suspected of arranging).

John – still one of the most reviled kings in British history. His barons had to insist on the Magna Carta. My guess is this will be a firm ‘nope’.

Edward – a very nice name, and there have been a lot of them. Unfortunately, the last one abdicated when he couldn’t marry a twice-divorced American. Worse, he was a Nazi sympathizer. Hard no here, too.

James – the last one was forced off the throne due to fears of Catholicism. But times have changed, and besides, the little prince will be raised in the Church of England. James might have some potential as a name for the newest royal.

Charles – the first Charles was a disaster as a monarch. The divine right of kings may have been a thing across the channel in France, but the British hadn’t bought into that since the Magna Carta (see John). The second Charles didn’t like Parliament any more than his dad did, eventually dismissing it for the last four years of his reign. But nobody wanted to go back to Oliver Cromwell’s dour Protectorate, so Charles II is still remembered kindly. However, there’s currently a Prince Charles.

George – they already have one.

Granted, there are other names that have been borne by princes who didn’t become king: Edmund, Geoffrey, Arthur, Leopold and Alfred, among others. Albert is currently a front-runner, based on the popularity of the television show Victoria. If that’s the case, just name the boy Prince Tom Hughes Something Something and be done with it.

Also high in the books are Arthur and Philip, which could very well have some appeal. Arthur is one of Prince Charles’ middle names, and the Duke of Edinburgh, at nearly 97, might like to see a namesake.

My guess for the new prince’s name? James Arthur Philip Mountbatten-Windsor, give or take a middle name.

Does your family have any traditional names? Or do you have any guesses about the new prince’s name?

Advertisements

[image error]A word is more enduring than worldy wealth.  — Irish proverb

At the discovery, several years ago, that I have a pair of Irish ancestors, I smiled a little. They’re pretty far up my dad’s family tree, having left Dublin a generation before the Great Hunger. I haven’t found any other genetic connection with the Emerald Isle to date.

Nevertheless, it tickles me to have this faint connection to the Irish and their Gaelic forebears. I have to love a people who place such high value on a good story.

Like their fellow Celts in Scotland and Wales, pre-Christian Gaels in Ireland developed a respected caste of oral storytellers, poets and historians. With writing limited to Ogham inscriptions in wood or stone, clans depended on the memories of filid, brehons, and bards.

Like druid priests, a fili, or poet, studied for years. Instead of focusing on religion, filid memorized lore, history, and genealogies. Their purpose of protecting and guarding knowledge is still reflected in modern Gaelic. The highest rank of fili, the ollam, is now Gaelic for professor. Filid also composed elaborate poems to praise their chieftain or patron (or satirize him if suitable payment had not been forthcoming for the last poem).

A brehon specialized in legal knowledge. The poetry and stories they learned focused on laws, customs, crimes and punishments – the equivalent of modern case law, perhaps. It’s not clear whether they functioned as advisors to chieftains and kings, or if they had the authority to pass judgement themselves. Either way, they held a valuable position within the household or clan.

[image error]Less scholarly, and less prestigious, bards provided entertainment. They wrote songs as well as poems, accompanying themselves with a harp to amuse a feasting crowd or a circle of villagers gathered by the hearth. Like the filid, though, they could praise a good patron or heap scorn on a stingy one and they garnered respect.

Christianity brought Latin and slightly increased literacy to Ireland. Monks recorded many of the oral histories in manuscripts like the Yellow Book of Lecan, but the traditions of the poets and bards remained strong. Neither Viking nor Norman settlement could entirely do away with them. But when the English conquered Ireland, official policy was to superimpose their language and Protestantism over the Gaelic-speaking Catholic population.

Marginalized, the Irish clung to their native language, music and history, and so the seanchai, or storyteller, developed from the old bardic traditions. Like bards, a seanchai learned old tales from older storytellers, gathering them year by year without any help from the written word. Often they journeyed from place to place, swapping an evening’s or several evenings’ worth, of entertainment for room and board.

Thus legends and myths of heroes, queens, kings, lovers, and saints were preserved, along with cautionary tales of sidhe and their inhabitants from the Other World. By memorizing and re-telling these vestiges of Irish history and customs, generations of seanchai safeguarded the language and culture of their people until interest in the old language and ways revived.

Behold the power of story.

Advertisements

[image error]

 

What Jane Austen novel is Bridget Jones’s Diary based on? Who made it popular for brides to wear white? How did Ellen and Portia meet?

For Valentine’s Day, Harlequin — the world’s biggest publisher of romance novels — is sponsoring several Romance Trivia Author & Reader parties across North America. Check the list above and see if there’s one near you. It’s a great chance to meet local romance authors and win some prizes.

They are kindly opening it up to non-Harlequin authors, and I am participating in the Omaha, NE event at The Bookworm, one of the city’s best-known independent bookstores. (Location details under ‘Upcoming Events’, to the right.)

There will be a slew of romance writers there, and we love to meet readers! There is no admission charge. People can form a team with friends, or join a team when you get there. Did I mention there would be prizes?

Here is information about the Omaha event and its hosts, from The Bookworm’s Events page on Facebook:

Hosted by bestselling authors Victoria Alexander, Sherri Shackelford, and Cheryl St.John and sponsored by Harlequin, the biggest name in romance publishing, the evening offers friendly competition tailor-made for Valentine’s Day. Romance Trivia by Harlequin tests contestants’ knowledge on subjects like film, television, music, history, literature, sports, science, food, and nature.

 

Doesn’t this sound like a great way to spend an afternoon?

Till next time,

Ann

Like many writers, the question “How’s the book going?” from kindly friends and family summons up a number of emotions in me, very few of them positive.

What I want to do in response is curl up in the fetal position and moan. “The book is a nightmare! I can’t write anything but garbage! Thank you for bringing up such a painful subject!”

What I actually do is develop a short-term facial twitch and tell them the book is fine. Then I change the subject to the fantastic meal I had last time I ate out. Even that was at McDonalds.

All of which brings me to the topic of this post. For everyone who wants to ask me about my work-in-progress (and even those who don’t), here’s a little bit about what I’m working on:

1. Name: A MOST IMPROPER CONNECTION

2. Setting: Victorian England, 1840

3. Hero: Morgan Tregarth

Once the disgraced second son of titled father, Morgan has returned to London because his family finally has a use for him. Now the guardian of a four-year-old viscount, Morgan has everything he needs to conquer London society: good looks, charm, and a large fortune. The only thing he lacks is a child — his child. The one he’s tried to find for 10 years, thanks to the cold-hearted nursemaid who tricked him into believing she loved him, even went through a marriage ceremony with him, and then disappeared without a word.

4. Heroine: Alix Ellsworth

Disguised as a widow, Alix has fought to raise her daughter for 10 years. Once the pampered daughter of an army officer, she chose a servant’s life over that of a prostitute. Unfortunately, she fell under the spell of the son of her employers, and ended up pregnant. The cad even convinced her to go through with a ‘marriage’ ceremony before abandoning her. Now he’s back, and Alix, threatened with debtor’s prison, is determined to get some help from the man who helped put her in this position: Morgan Tregarth.

A MOST IMPROPER CONNECTION is a second chance at love story, as two people learn to trust each other — and their own instincts — again. All while trying to cope with an adventurous four-year-old and their own daughter, who on a good day can cause a kitchen fire and a cat fight at the same time. Oh, and let’s not forget about the society miss who wants to marry Morgan, and the blackmailing uncle who threatens Alix.

Want to know more? Leave a comment below!

Till next time,

Ann

 

Advertisements

[image error]Don’t be afraid to explore the depths of your characters

As in deep point of view. Not necessarily sexy, historical or romantic, but choosing a POV is a crucial part of storytelling. First person, second person, third person. Authors have used all of them to craft unforgettable books.

Many writers enjoy using first person, because they feel like they can dig up all their protagonist’s emotions. For that reason, many readers enjoy stories told in first person. Confession time here: as a reader, I struggle with first person books. Exceptions have been The Martian, by Andy Weir and Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series.

First person isn’t a bad thing! It’s just a matter of personal preference. Like a kid at bedtime, I almost always want to know what the grown-ups are doing when I’m out of the room. Hence, I’m more comfortable reading third person, and a lot more comfortable writing in it. I like the freedom to move from character to character.

Even so, third person has its own pitfalls. I’m making my way through a book by a New York Times best-selling author, written in third person. It makes me want to poke pins in my eyes. Because it is All. Talking. Heads. Every last thought these characters have comes out in dialogue. Everything, including emotion, is on the surface — one of the hazards of writing in this POV.

Enter Deep Point of View

Deep POV, also known as third person limited, is a way to marry the intimacy of first person with the wider scope of third person. The reader is pulled into the head of a character from the first words of a scene, and experiences what it’s like to be that person as the story unfolds. Not just thoughts, but emotions and immediate physical sensations. The rush of first love, the burst of grief, the comforting squeeze of a friend’s hand on your arm. Making readers share those sensations gives them an investment in your story. Maybe even in you as a writer.

Going deep takes some work. For one thing, a writer can’t do it unless she or he knows his characters from the inside out. That means knowing more than their appearance and their basic goal, motivation and conflict. Where did they go to school? How do they view themselves? How do others view them? What was their birth family like? Do they speak formally? Swear a lot, or not at all? What are their wounds? For historical fiction, what are the customs, technology and language of their time and place?

The key to this point of view is that the writer is limited to what the current POV character can observed. (Limited third person, duh.) If you’re in your hero’s head, he cannot observe that the heroine thinks he’s hot. He can be aware when she flirts back at him, and can hear if she suggests going somewhere with less noise. But unless you’ve given him mind-reading powers, he cannot read her thoughts.

Besides, what if her ex is sitting in the corner and she’s trying to make him jealous by flirting with the first attractive man she sees? Mr. Hero doesn’t know this. The reader only finds out when the story moves into the heroine’s POV. (Things like this are why I love writing third person.)

Another thing to keep in mind is to avoid phrases such as ‘he thought’, ‘she noticed’, ‘he saw’, ‘she knew’. These place a distance between the story and the reader. Eliminating them will pull the reader in.

Consider the differences in these two examples:

Third person: She noticed a dark-colored splotch next to the building. When she stopped to touch it, her fingers came away sticky. She sniffed and recognized the coppery tang of blood.

Third person limited: A dark-colored splotch next to the building halted her. One touch left her with sticky fingers. She sniffed, then gagged at the coppery tang. Blood.

Ideally, the second passage makes readers share the character’s response to her surroundings. Plus they learn that the smell of blood makes her sick.

The more vivid we can make our writing, the more interesting it is to readers. Interested readers keep turning pages. ‘Nuff said, right?

Till next time,

Ann Stephens

 

 

 

Tagged: Ann Stephens, Characters, Deep POV, Percy Jackson, Point of View, The Martian, Wordpress, Writing

The 19th century equivalent of a file cabinet! Pictured is a ‘Wellington chest’, sometimes called a ‘side-locking chest’. These got their name because the Duke of Welllington is supposed to have carried a similar chest with him on his Peninsular War campaigns.



     Wellington’s chest had to be portable, but it featured a frame on the right-hand side that overlapped the drawer fronts. This strip of wood, when locked in place, prevented the drawers from opening. It was the latest security tech for that era.




     After the war, anyone who needed private and secure storage seized on these useful items. Surviving pieces average around four to four-and-a-half feet tall, with seven to ten drawers.


     Wellington chests were made into the Edwardian era, and are still found by lucky antique hunters today.


     I’ve given a Wellington chest to the factory-owner-turned-earl hero of my current Work-In-Progress. Would you like to have one of them for yourself, or stick to the plain metal models we’re familiar with today?


A full article about this particular Wellington chest is here.
Tagged: Ann Stephens, Historical romance, Research finds, romance novels, Victorian era

This may clarify a few things about me. What life lessons did your mother teach you?

 

Tagged: 10 Things My Mom Taught Me, Ann Stephens, Family, Life Lessons, Moms