General Questions: History, Research, Regency, Writing...

Tracy, what made you and your mother choose the Georgian/Regency period to set your books in?

How did the partnership with your mother come about? (My mother would faint away in horror if I suggested we write a romance fiction novel together. Not sure what she'd object to more: romance or fiction. More likely both. Very Happy

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Medieval & Regency Writer
keirasoleore.blogspot.com

Poor Relation Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 82

My mom loved to read. She read books to me and told me stories (she was a great storyteller) from when I was very young. She loved British literature. When I was six, we saw the Garson/Olivier Pride and Prejudice, and I wanted her to read me the book. She said, "we can try it, but I'm not sure if you'll like it." I was totally enthralled. I got the story on a much different level than I do now, but I loved it and was completely pulled into the world of the book. My mom and I went on to read all of Austen's novels, and then my mom discovered Georgette Heyer and introduced me to her (starting with The Grand Sophy when I was ten). On a family vacation when I was thirteen, I bet my mom a dollar that she could write a novel (she was a research social psychologist who had written nonfiction). We were both reading Regencies on that trip, and my mom came up with an idea for a Regency romance. We started talking about it and decided to write it together (I'd been writing stories since I was about eight). That book was eventually published as The Widow's Gambit just before I graduated from college.

I actually majored in early modern British history in college, with an emphasis on the late fifteenth century (I did my honors work on the books printed by William Caxton). At the time I was writing a (never published) fantasy series set in an alternative history fifteenth century Eurtope. But the more I researched the Regency and the Napoleonic era, the more fascinated I became. I love eras on the cusp of change, I love exploring the tension between reaction and reform, the changing definitions of love and marriage, the shifting sexual and political dynamics. And the clothes are great Smile

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Cheers,
Tracy
http://www.tracygrant.org