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Candice
Queen of the Board Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 2671 Location: Minneapolis, MN	Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:22 am    Post subject: Secrets of a Lady / Daughter of the Game   Post your questions and comments about Secrets of a Lady / Daughter of the Game in this topic. _________________
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Margaret L
Landed Gentry Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 139 Location: California	Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:39 am    Post subject:   I have to agree with Candice that this is one of the best books I ever read. There is so much I love about it, I don't even know where to begin ... the characters, the conflicts, the secrets slowly revealed, the suspense, the writing ... everything. It is simply superb. Without getting into spoiler territory, I always thought it was very courageous of you to go through with a certain bad thing that happened to their child. I think most writers would not have done that, would have watered down the scenario by avoiding something so ... bad. Though it made me squirm, I applaud you for having the guts to write it, to make it a more realistic, and powerful, story. I have a question about the re-issue. Why was the title changed to Secrets of a Lady? I have to admit that I liked the orignal title better. At first it seemed to me like one of those sneaky publisher tricks to get us to buy a book we'd already read, thinking it was new. But then Beneath a Silent Moon was re-issued under the original name, so now I'm totally confused. Did the publisher just not like the title Daughter of the Game, and decided to change it? Enquiring minds want to know. _________________
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Tracy Grant
Poor Relation Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 82	Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 12:42 pm    Post subject:   I had a hard time writing that scene, Margaret. My good friend and critique partner, Penny Williamson, had suggested the scene--she said to make the threat real, something bad had to happen to Colin. It was a very difficult scene to write, but I think Penny was right. It makes the book stronger, it raises the stakes, and it reinforces the theme of how far people will go to achieve their ends (and sometimes not being sure of the answer themselves). I'm glad you thought it worked--I'll pass that along to Penny . As to the title, titles are the publisher's province and largely a marketing decision. Authors can suggest and approve, but we don't have control. The original title was The End of Reckoning. I loved it, but I also loved Daughter of the Game, which we settled on after endless lists went back and forth. Avon really wanted a new title for the reissue. I'm not sure why, except that I think it came largely from the sales force. More endless lists went back forth. I've actually grown to wuite like Secrets of a Lady as a title. It's has a nineteenth-century novel feeling I love, and it does sum up Melanie Fraser . I was sure they'd want to retitle Beneath and was pleasantly sujrprised when they didn't. Again, it was a sales/marketeing decision. Cheers, Tracy http://www.tracygrant.org
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MizMacgyver
Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 18 Jun 2007 Posts: 1485 Location: West Virginia	Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:40 pm    Post subject:   Tracy Grant wrote: I had a hard time writing that scene, Margaret. My good friend and critique partner, Penny Williamson, had suggested the scene--she said to make the threat real, something bad had to happen to Colin. It was a very difficult scene to write, but I think Penny was right. It makes the book stronger, it raises the stakes, and it reinforces the theme of how far people will go to achieve their ends (and sometimes not being sure of the answer themselves). I'm glad you thought it worked--I'll pass that along to Penny . That scene kept me up for the rest of the night one night. I would normally have found a good break point, put my book away for the night and went on to sleep. Couldn't do it. Had to keep reading. _________________
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Tracy Grant
Poor Relation Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 82	Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:32 pm    Post subject:   I should probably say I'm sorry I kept you up, MizMacGuyver, but that's actually a great compliment . Did you just stay up to finish the scene or the whole book? Was it that the scene made you unsure of what would happen next? Cheers, Tracy http://www.tracygrant.org
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MizMacgyver
Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 18 Jun 2007 Posts: 1485 Location: West Virginia	Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:41 pm    Post subject:   Tracy Grant wrote: I should probably say I'm sorry I kept you up, MizMacGuyver, but that's actually a great compliment . Did you just stay up to finish the scene or the whole book? Was it that the scene made you unsure of what would happen next? Cheers, Tracy http://www.tracygrant.org It was the whole book Tracy and yes, I had to know what happened, you had thrown me loop and I wasn't going to be sleeping anyway......LOL _________________
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Tracy Grant
Poor Relation Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 82	Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:48 pm    Post subject:   MizMacgyver wrote: Tracy Grant wrote: I should probably say I'm sorry I kept you up, MizMacGuyver, but that's actually a great compliment . Did you just stay up to finish the scene or the whole book? Was it that the scene made you unsure of what would happen next? Cheers, Tracy http://www.tracygrant.org It was the whole book Tracy and yes, I had to know what happened, you had thrown me loop and I wasn't going to be sleeping anyway......LOL Then the scene had the desired effect . I think often one of the hardest things for a writer is to create uncertainty about how the story will turn out. Diificult as it was, I think that scene was what the book needed. Cheers, Tracy http://www.tracygrant.org
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MizMacgyver
Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 18 Jun 2007 Posts: 1485 Location: West Virginia	Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:53 pm    Post subject:   Tracy Grant wrote: Then the scene had the desired effect . I think often one of the hardest things for a writer is to create uncertainty about how the story will turn out. Diificult as it was, I think that scene was what the book needed. Cheers, Tracy http://www.tracygrant.org I have to agree with you, I was uncertain to the point I wasn't even going to try and sleep.......LOL I have been known to go to sleep, wake back up and get to the bottom of a puzzle. If I am thinking about it when I lay down I am not going to sleep anyway. _________________
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Tracy Grant
Poor Relation Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 82	Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:25 pm    Post subject:   MizMacgyver wrote: Tracy Grant wrote: Then the scene had the desired effect . I think often one of the hardest things for a writer is to create uncertainty about how the story will turn out. Diificult as it was, I think that scene was what the book needed. Cheers, Tracy http://www.tracygrant.org I have to agree with you, I was uncertain to the point I wasn't even going to try and sleep.......LOL I have been known to go to sleep, wake back up and get to the bottom of a puzzle. If I am thinking about it when I lay down I am not going to sleep anyway. Were you unsure of what would happen to Colin or between Charles and Melanie or both?
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MizMacgyver
Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 18 Jun 2007 Posts: 1485 Location: West Virginia	Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 6:11 pm    Post subject:   Tracy Grant wrote: Were you unsure of what would happen to Colin or between Charles and Melanie or both? Both actually, I thought it was going to do a total turn around. It was biting nails time there for a while. _________________
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Tracy Grant
Poor Relation Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 82	Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:16 am    Post subject:   MizMacgyver wrote: Tracy Grant wrote: Were you unsure of what would happen to Colin or between Charles and Melanie or both? Both actually, I thought it was going to do a total turn around. It was biting nails time there for a while. And I confess I'm glad to hear it . One of the things I wanted in writing Secrets/Daughter was for the ending not to be obvious, and I was afraid it would be. So I'm glad I created uncertainty! Cheers, Tracy http://www.tracygrant.org
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KalenHughes
Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 1077	Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:50 pm    Post subject:   Margaret L wrote: I have to agree with Candice that this is one of the best books I ever read . . . Without getting into spoiler territory, I always thought it was very courageous of you to go through with a certain bad thing that happened to their child. I think most writers would not have done that, would have watered down the scenario by avoiding something so ... bad. Though it made me squirm, I applaud you for having the guts to write it, to make it a more realistic, and powerful, story. At this point I really knew I wasn't in Romancelandia anymore. And it made me question if I was being too easy on my own characters (hello, the answer is clearly YES). One of the things I love so much about reading Tracy's books is that they really inspire me and drive me to go further in my own writing. To push. To let things go to a truly BLACK moment, rather than chickening out and only gonig to a pale gray (which I'll admit is my natural wont). _________________ -Kalen w/a Kalen Hughes LORD SIN; LORD SCANDAL w/a Isobel Carr The League of Second Sons, coming 2011 www.kalenhughes.com
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Tracy Grant
Poor Relation Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 82	Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:23 pm    Post subject:   KalenHughes wrote: Margaret L wrote: I have to agree with Candice that this is one of the best books I ever read . . . Without getting into spoiler territory, I always thought it was very courageous of you to go through with a certain bad thing that happened to their child. I think most writers would not have done that, would have watered down the scenario by avoiding something so ... bad. Though it made me squirm, I applaud you for having the guts to write it, to make it a more realistic, and powerful, story. At this point I really knew I wasn't in Romancelandia anymore. And it made me question if I was being too easy on my own characters (hello, the answer is clearly YES). One of the things I love so much about reading Tracy's books is that they really inspire me and drive me to go further in my own writing. To push. To let things go to a truly BLACK moment, rather than chickening out and only gonig to a pale gray (which I'll admit is my natural wont). That's a lovely compliment, Kalen. Thinking back, I think I learned to go farther in terms of what I put my characters through. My books have definitely become darker through the years. Partly its the progression from traditional Regencies to Regency-set historical romances to historical suspense fiction, but I think it's also getting more comfortable taking risks with the story and the characters. It's a challenge to think "what's the worst thing I can put these characters through, how would they get through it, what would happen next?" (My poor characters--I really do like them . I had one friend who read the early chapters of Secrets of a Lady when I was first writing it say she didn't think it was possible for Charles to believably forgive Melanie. It was defintiely a challenge to get Charles and Melanie to the place they're at at the end of the book, but a challenge in a good wa. Even then I needed my friend Penny to insist I had to write the scene in question above in Secrets of a Lady . But I am much more of a novelistic risk-taker than I used to be. After all, it's a book. If you decide you've gone too far you can rewrite . Cheers, Tracy http://www.tracygrant.org
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KalenHughes
Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 1077	Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:29 pm    Post subject:   My brain just doesn't naturally go to a dark place. Curse my parents for givng me such a happy, stable childhood! How am I supposed to work with that? _________________ -Kalen w/a Kalen Hughes LORD SIN; LORD SCANDAL w/a Isobel Carr The League of Second Sons, coming 2011 www.kalenhughes.com
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Candice
Queen of the Board Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 2671 Location: Minneapolis, MN	Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:36 pm    Post subject:   KalenHughes wrote: My brain just doesn't naturally go to a dark place. Curse my parents for givng me such a happy, stable childhood! How am I supposed to work with that? LOL! Me, too, Kalen. My childhood was much too happy. What were our parents thinking??? _________________
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