Nancy Young's Blog
November 6, 2014
Putting a Duke In It: The Grapes of Wrath
When the Joad family starts out, the sun glows golden as they jounce along the roadside thick with orchards, heavy-leafed and weighted with fruit, past vineyards crawling with green tendrils, past patches of maters and melons. When the clouds form, they feel only relief, no longer worrying that the radiator will bubble over. But then the deluge strikes, washing out roads, beating against the hood of the car like buckshot against a tin can. Mired in mud, they pull over and huddle into a rain-soaked hay barn, where they discover the languishing Duke of Ravenswood, who, in disguise, has been picking cotton. "Ain't et in days," his valet informs the Joads. "Cain't hardly move none now." Rosasharn, her heart touched, takes the dying Duke to her breast . . .
November 4, 2014
Catcher in the Rye with a Duke in It
Smart, troubled, virginal Holden, disguised as a boy, runs away from finishing school and embarks on a New York adventure. While standing in Central Park comparing her plight to that of the dismal ducks doomed to swim in circles before her, she encounters the wicked, womanizing Duke Antolini. The Duke, seeing through her disguise, determines to further her education.
Seeing Things
Seeing Things
November 3, 2014
Putting a Duke in It: Call of the Wild with a Duke
Buck, the spoiled and discriminating Duke of Ravenswood, is kidnapped on his way to America by a pack of miscreants afflicted with gold fever, including sassy but virginal Mercedes. Shedding the veneers of aristocracy, Buck comes to terms with his manhood and conquers the Yukon--and Mercedes, who heeds her own call of the wild.
November 2, 2014
Put a Duke in It
That's the advice I received at a Romance Writers of America workshop as far as successfully marketing a novel. Believe it or not, a marquess or and earl won't sell. It's a duke or nothing. So now I'm imagining classic novels--with a duke in them.
1. Heart of Darkness (with a Duke): Innocent young Charlotte Marlow, kidnapped by lascivious pirates, is taken down the snake-like Congo, only to be rescued by the mysterious, imposing Mr. Kurtz, who turns out to be the incognito Duke of Ravenswood, who just happens to be exploring the Dark Continent when he hears her screams.Seeing Things
1. Heart of Darkness (with a Duke): Innocent young Charlotte Marlow, kidnapped by lascivious pirates, is taken down the snake-like Congo, only to be rescued by the mysterious, imposing Mr. Kurtz, who turns out to be the incognito Duke of Ravenswood, who just happens to be exploring the Dark Continent when he hears her screams.Seeing Things
