Blog | Alison Morton Author

Writing Challenge Day 21: My preferred genre

Crumbs, there are some interesting topics in this topic! The problem with this one is that essentially genres segment books into one thing or another, slicing away any possibility that a book may seep into another. 😱

Unpicking this…

Historical fiction is an umbrella for biography (Julian by Gore Vidal), adventure (Rafael Sabatini’s The Sea Hawk), romance (any Georgette Heyer Regency story), literary introspection (The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco but also mystery), historical whodunits (any of the Falco or Flavia Albia series by Lindsey Davis), epic saga (anything by Edward Rutherford), police procedurals (Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series), a portrayal of a time of great change whether in the ancient past (Mary Renault’s brilliant novels of Greece) or the explosion of 20th century world wars (Pat Barker, Sebastian Faulks) which still resonate strongly with us now.

Some subgenres such as alternate history (um, the Roma Nova thrillers) and historical fantasy (Naomi Novik’s Temeraire) insert speculative or ahistorical elements into a novel.

Thrillers and mysteries can include political, conspiracy, crime and spy stories, or very popular at present, psychological thrillers. They can range from the shocking and horrific (Stephen King), almost unbearable to read to cozy village mysteries such as the Miss Marple stories.

Action thrillers include ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge and kidnappings as themes and sometimes plunge into terrorist and drug fields. But often there is a female sidekick/scientist/pawn in such stories, or these days a female lead with a male sidekick. The tension between them is nearly always laced with a dollop of sexual chemistry, if not romance. Interspersed are the sadly out of fashion ‘caper’ stories which are light-hearted action stories.

But what are they when they stray into another genre like Ken Follet’s The Key to Rebecca, Ellis Peters’s Cadfael or Steven Saylor’s Roma Sub Rosa series featuring Gordianus the Finder?

Romance shouldn’t be a problem, should it? Boy/girl meets girl/boy and after various trials and tribulations, they arrive at a happy ending, or at least, a happy for now ending.

End of.

Well, no. Romance subgenres can include contemporary, historical, romantic suspense, paranormal, science fiction romance, fantasy, time-travel, multi-cultural, erotic romance, epic, saga and chicklit. As you can see, several of these seep into other genres.

So romance is another very large umbrella. In fact, a book without an emotional relationship would seem to be rather bland in my er, book.

Going boldly where plenty of people actually have gone before, we enter the science fiction and fantasy genre where we find criminality (J D Robb’s Eve Dallas series), space exploration, intergalactic warfare, multi-dimensional transfiguration (The Expanse) and good old fantasy with dragons (Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern), witchcraft (Neil Gaiman’s Stardust) and mythology (Lord of the Rings J R R Tolkein). Many of these have a strong element of romance.

And then there are classics like 1984 and anything by H G Wells or Margaret Atwood which comment on where humans have changed their society, often for the worst. Are they merely dystopian or social science observations?

Sci-fi subgenres can also include environmental issues, hard science, computing, time travel, comedy, historical elements, biology, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, military sci-fi, space opera, new world colonies, lost in space and/or time, space western, steampunk, alternative history(!), all of which cross different genres.

So we have another gigantic umbrella…

I’m not going into other territories as it would take a book on its own, but the above genres/umbrellas are among my favourites, even though some of the subgenres are not.

I’m really not too fussy about genres. They give a guide when selecting a book, but I never rule one out because of its supposed genre. Ultimately, it’s about the story, the characters and the writing and how that combination takes me on an emotional journey when I might learn something about myself and the human situation. Oh, and enjoy a thumping good read.

Writing challenges so far:

Day 20: Characters’ favourite food (and drink!)
Day 19: Characters’ pastimes
Day 18: Characters’ pet peeves(!)
Days 16 & 17: Favourite outfits (combined)
Day 15: The many-hatted author
Day 14: Show your workplace
Day 13: A funny family story. Or not
Day 12: Early bird or night owl?
Day 11: Favourite writing snacks/chocolate porn
Day 10: Post an old picture of yourself
Day 9: Post 5 random facts about you
Day 8: What’s your writing process?
Day 7: Introduce your ‘author friend’
Day 6: How the writing all began
Day 5: What inspired the book I’m working on
Day 4: The setting for the new Roma Nova book
Day 3: Introducing the main characters Julia and Apulius
Day 2: Introduce your work in progress
Day 1: Starting with revealing information

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, INSURRECTIO and RETALIO. CARINA, a novella, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories, are now available. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. NEXUS, an Aurelia Mitela novella, is now out.

Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines… Download ‘Welcome to Roma Nova’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email newsletter. You’ll also be first to know about Roma Nova news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.

Cathy Helms: Words of wisdom about book cover design from an expert

This week’s blog guest is designer extraordinaire Cathy Helms with some really good advice about covers! Cathy lives with her husband of twenty-eight years in Troutman, North Carolina; the house belongs to their cat, they simply live there to open the cat food cans. She earned her degree in Advertising and Graphic Design in 2008, and founded Avalon Graphics in 2009 to focus on book cover design.

Years before she attended college and gained a formal education in the medium, she taught herself how to create graphics for the web and print media using Adobe Photoshop. Her formal education gave Cathy the technical skills required in order to apply her creative talent in book cover design and marketing materials. Cathy is an avid reader and a massive fan of history. If money were no object, she would be off travelling the world.

You will always find a fresh cup of coffee on her desk and music playing while she works her magic on her computer, and Bella the cat is likely knocking things off the desk too.

We are working together on the historical fiction anthology I keep mentioning…

Over to Cathy!

Thank you for having me, Alison! I am thrilled to be the chosen book cover designer for the upcoming anthology project for Betrayal. I would love to share a little bit about the book cover design process with your readers today, and offer some key advice about cover design as well.

I always begin any discussion about book cover design by making this one important statement – ‘Whoever told you that your book’s cover design doesn’t matter, lied.‘

The old saying ‘Never judge a book by its cover’ is actually misleading at best, because people almost ALWAYS judge books by their covers. Even if you are part of the 1% that does not judge cover designs, your readers are part of the 99% that does. Potential readers pick up books in bookstores based on what they perceive as an attractive cover. If all books were wrapped in brown paper, you’d be forced to make a decision based on the title. But this is not how this business functions. The very purpose of a book cover is to entice – to sell the product, which in this case is your book.

There are exceptions of course, famous and best-selling authors do sell books based on their names alone. But overall, every author out there must rely on an excellent cover, strong marketing, and platforms such as social media, etc. to sell their books. The phrase “Never judge a book by its cover…” is diametrically opposed to the reality we live in today. Bottom line is, your book’s cover design is extremely important in today’s highly competitive literature market.

And if I may further expound on the subject – a typical mistake that I often see made by independent authors is thinking that their cover needs to reflect what they like, and they want to place precise details on their cover that matters to them as the author of the novel. People who have not yet read your book would not know any of the specific details about the characters or plot. A cover does not need to reflect every element of the story itself, but give the potential reader a taste/feel/evoke an emotion so they buy the book to discover those details for themselves.

This is where I come in, as I primarily work with independently and assisted published authors who realize that they need help with their cover.

Where to begin…

I begin by taking in and using as much of the author’s input as possible – often zooming in on key elements that would make a good cover from all of the author’s notes. Then I do my research: look up the book’s genre/sub-genre and see what books are the top selling novels in those genres. I make note of those cover design ‘styles’, and then begin the arduous task of searching for images/illustrations to work with. I spend a good week, on average, doing my research, and then further time compiling a handful of rough design concepts to review with my client. It is also critical that the design follows industry standards, genre trends, and design layout rules no matter the elements within the design or the genre of the subject matter.

Not to get too techie here, but let’s just say that cover design is more than simply placing some type over a pretty photo – if you haven’t heard of InDesign, bleeds, DPI, CMYK, PDF output settings, vector text and kerning, you shouldn’t be doing your own covers. What a graphic designer does entails far more skill and time than most realize.

So, not only do I need to keep up with best seller lists and design trends, I also have to keep up my skill levels in multiple design programs, and stay on top of what all of the printers require as the industry is always changing.

One part of the design process particularly challenging in the historical fiction genre is period authenticity. While there are hundreds of stock agencies and professional photographers offering images to license, many models and sets often have period incorrect pieces in the compositions. For example, I may find a great photo of the White Tower in London to use for a cover layout, but spend hours editing out modern details in the photograph before I can finalize that one part of the design. And more often than not, the model’s hair color is wrong or their eye colour needs to be changed. Long hair verses short hair….and so on.

Hopefully that gives you a taste of the time and skill involved in designing a well-crafted book cover layout.

Overall, my final cover designs are always strong collaborations with the authors while adhering to industry standard practices. As a business professional, I want my clients happy with their covers. As a designer, I want to give the novel its best ‘face’ to help readers pick up the book and read it too – because the bottom line is that a book cover is for your readers, not the author. While book cover design is a process much like walking a tightrope between client demands and buyer trends, it is a very rewarding career for a creative personality with a flair for production and detail.

It was a pleasure chatting about my process and sharing the graphic designer’s perspective in book publishing. Thank you again, Alison, for inviting me! Be safe everyone!

A total pleasure. And thank you so much for such valuable insight, Cathy. The cover you designed for our alternative history collection 1066 Turned Upside Down remains one of my favourite covers ever. It captures the original period and the speculative ‘alternation’ very well indeed.

Connect with Cathy
www.avalongraphics.org
On Facebook: AvalonGraphics
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/Avalon_Graphics @Avalon_Graphics
Blog: https://cathelms.wordpress.com/
On Instagram: www.instagram.com/cathelms/
On Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/cathelms/my-book-cover-design-portfolio/
Email: chelms@avalongraphics.org
Personal website: www.cathyspage.com

Writing Challenge Day 20: Characters' favourite food (and drink!)

Hm, an interesting one…

Let’s start with drink. Carina lives on coffee; she was brought up for her first 24 years in the Eastern United States (EUS) and like many office workers in the early 2000s, she drank industrial amounts of it.

On the way to my desk next morning, I grabbed a coffee from the machine and took another ten minutes to mull over Hayden’s visitors in the light of what Conrad and my grandmother had said. [INCEPTIO]

A few chapters on when she’s in the Roma Nova legation in her new, distinctly higher status, coffee almost becomes a source of discomfort and tension:

Gaia Memmia knocked on the door at exactly ten thirty.

‘Coffee?’ I waved a mug at her.

She looked horrified.

‘What?’

‘You can’t serve me.’

‘I’m not serving you. I’m making you a cup of coffee.’

‘Please, let me do it.’

‘Look, this is my kitchen, in my apartment. Here I’ll act like a normal person. Outside, I’ll go along with what you want. End of discussion.’ I added a smile to soften the sting of my words.

I set the coffee on the table opposite my place and sat down. She hovered for some moments, glanced over at me, but eventually took the chair where the coffee was. She sipped and collected herself. Was it going to be this hard with everybody? [INCEPTIO]

Six years on at the end of a Family Day (all day party), Carina and her grandmother Aurelia share a glass of Brancadorum champagne:

‘Thank the gods, that’s the last of the oldies. Fancy a nightcap?’ She picked up a bottle of champagne from a bucket and two glasses and pulled me along to the small back office. There was some kind of dubious card game going on in the main sitting area off the atrium and rather too much flesh was emerging for her liking, she said. Best to leave them to it.

‘A successful day, don’t you think?’ She shucked off her sandals. They were gorgeous: silver with large pearls and semi-precious stones.

I emptied my glass in two gulps and was watching the drops clinging to the inside surface struggling to join and split from the others. Nothing stayed the same for more than a few moments.

‘Carina?’

‘Sorry, Nonna. Of course, a really good day.’ I set my glass down. ‘I think I’ll go up now. I’m tired.’ I leaned over and kissed her cheek.

‘Everything all right, darling? You look upset, not just tired.’ She scrutinised my face, looking for the least thing. I flushed, but didn’t reply.

‘Well, go and have a good night’s sleep. When they’ve all gone tomorrow, we’ll have a proper talk.’ [PERFIDITAS]

Now, there’s consistently only one favourite drink for Aurelia – French brandy

Back in my Foreign Ministry office, I went straight to the tray and poured myself a stiff measure of French brandy. I should have known better than to rise to Caius’s provocation. Of course, it would be stupid to dismiss his threat but I had my guard and despite being in my forties, I wasn’t a complete pushover if attacked personally. [INSURRECTIO]

Even amongst her colleagues, Aurelia is known to have a fondness for her brandy as a fortifier, but some things are more important

‘I know you mean well, but I cannot ignore the call of going back. Roma Nova is in my blood, my heart and my head. It’s not simple duty. It’s as if Mitelus himself is standing beside me, from the end of the fourth century. He’s wearing his chain mail lorica, gladius in his right hand, gripping his scutum shield in his left. And behind him all the later Mitelae, armed, ready for their battles.’

‘Have you been at the brandy again?’

‘No, and you know it.’ I stood up. ‘Marcella Volusenia, this is my battle in my generation and I won’t shirk it.’ [RETALIO]

Carina tends to stick to salad, pasta or a sandwich at her desk, but loves going out to the Onyx, her favourite restaurant in the city, especially with her husband, Conrad. There they eat Greek-style food. Roma Nova city offers a great variety of food types.

Both Carina and Aurelia, when on military exercise or operation, will eat field rations. Any serving or ex-military personnel knows that however nutritious they are, their deliciousness rating can be variable!

If based at a temporary camp, soldiers eat whatever the unit cook dishes up and sometimes they can be very lucky. Or not.

But Carina does have one favourite…

Beginning the day with a fresh egg and bacon roll – hot, salty bacon coupled with the firm liquid of a fried egg bursting in your mouth – in the quiet of a pine forest with the sun starting to shed its early light on you took some beating. The cook grinned at me, sensing an appreciative customer.

‘Like another one, ma’am?’

I swallowed the last piece and grinned back. ‘No. No, thanks. Nothing could better that.’

‘Coffee and tea are inside, but come back if you want another,’ and he winked.

I pulled the heavy canvas flap of the mess tent aside and found a few other early souls. Passing on the muddy-looking coffee I filled a mug from the tea urn. [SUCCESSIO]

Although including food and drink makes the characters human, too much tea or coffee for the sake of it can become tedious. We don’t need to go through each meal with our characters, especially in a story with a plot going at a smart pace. Like all other elements from day to day life, food and drink should be used sparingly and for either of two purposes: to illustrate something about a character or, for thrillers, to drive the plot forward.

Happy eating and drinking!

Writing challenges so far:

Day 19: Characters’ pastimes
Day 18: Characters’ pet peeves (!)
Days 16 & 17: Favourite outfits (combined)
Day 15: The many-hatted author
Day 14: Show your workplace
Day 13: A funny family story. Or not
Day 12: Early bird or night owl?
Day 11: Favourite writing snacks/chocolate porn
Day 10: Post an old picture of yourself
Day 9: Post 5 random facts about you
Day 8: What’s your writing process?
Day 7: Introduce your ‘author friend’
Day 6: How the writing all began
Day 5: What inspired the book I’m working on
Day 4: The setting for the new Roma Nova book
Day 3: Introducing the main characters Julia and Apulius
Day 2: Introduce your work in progress
Day 1: Starting with revealing information

Judith Arnopp: Evoking grief in historical fiction

Today, I’m delighted to welcome Judith Arnopp to the blog who writes historical fiction novels, mostly set in the Tudor era. In the past, she has written in the voice of women like Anne Boleyn, Margaret Beaufort, Elizabeth of York and Mary Tudor and is now writing from the point of view of Henry VIII during his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. You can find her work on Kindle, paperback and on Audible.

Judith and I are contributing to an anthology of historical stories about betrayal which will be out in November. Watch this space!

Now over to Judith!

“My books are set in Tudor England, usually featuring a known historical figure. I write in the first person so in effect, I assume the persona of someone we all love (or hate) and try to present them as they might have seen themselves. I don’t excuse their actions or try to shift blame. I simply sit down at my desk and pretend I am them. Of course, I have to do an awful lot of research before I begin but basically, I am playing a game of ‘make believe’.

Tudor England was a violent time and the lives of those I write about fuelled with hate, betrayal, treason, love and death – so much death. Of all those emotions, I find the most difficult to portray credibly is grief: an emotion often displayed by physical collapse, tugging of the hair, wailing or doing self-harm.

This might sound over dramatic but it is a known human response to sudden, irreversible loss so much so that it has become clichéd in literature. Sometimes, after reading through my morning’s work, I hate the fact it reads like a melodrama and I have to begin again. I took me a while but I’ve learned to write the scene once using all the instinctive overdramatic, bodice heaving emotion required to allow my character to vent his feelings but I then rewrite it.

Somehow, this second draft, for all its starkness, becomes more poignant. In this short (unedited) extract following the miscarriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon’s first child, Henry is outwardly calm yet inwardly torn. The first draft was very different yet this is the one that will make it to the novel.

—–

We put away the royal crib, the swaddling bands so recently laid out in readiness for our firstborn. Wrapped in furs, Kate sits in a chair by the window and stares despondently across the frost rimed garden. I don’t know what to say to her so instead I call for my horse to be made ready. I escape the cloying air of the castle and ride like a demon across the frozen groun. Brandon follows unbidden at my heels, begging me to slow down, to take care, to give a thought to England.

England. As if I had forgotten her. I ease my horse to a canter, a trot and finally to a walk. My mount lowers his head, his sides heaving, as Brandon comes along side. We halt. I knot and unknot the reins. Never in all my life have I felt less than king, less than a man. Today, I am not simply a monarch without an heir. I am a bereaved father with a wife who cannot be comforted. I shouldn’t be here at all.

I try to say something but my throat closes. I cough to clear phlegm, look up at my friend and wince at the naked pity in his face.

“There will be other sons, Harry.”

I nod silently. Clear my throat again.

“It was a girl anyway. Not a boy at all, and we are young enough, Kate and I.”

But it isn’t just about an heir. Now the fury at the loss of a son is fading, I am left with an overpowering grief for a child I never met. Each time I close my eyes I see again the skinned rabbit that was my daughter’s corpse.

I cannot unsee it.

“I should be with Kate. We’ve hardly spoken since.”

“It isn’t her fault, you know.”

“I know that.” I nod fervently. “I know that but I can’t seem to … speak to her … about it. There is a wall between us. She blames me, I think … you know, all that trouble with Ann Stafford.”

Brandon emits a deep sigh.

“It won’t have been that. Men are unfaithful every day. The queen understands such things. It can only have been God’s will.”

“But why? Why would He not want my child to live? Nobody on this earth is more Godly than Kate.”

He shrugs. I look at him and although he meets my eye I can see it is uncomfortable for him to do so.

“What would you do, if you were me, Brandon?”

He smiles, pushes back his cap and nods toward the palace.

“I’d go home and give comfort to my wife. In turn it will comfort you too.”

“I don’t know what to say to her anymore.”

He puts a hand on my shoulder, something only he has the courage to do.

“You’ll think of something. Come, forget the past and look to the future. It can only get better. Do not waste your time in grief but go to work and beget another child on her!”

(Excerpt from A Matter of Conscience: the Aragon years, due for publication early in 2021.)

Which shows that across the centuries and the classes, grief is an emotion that slays us all. Thank you, Judith.

Connect with Judith
Webpage: http://www.judithmarnopp.com
Blog: http://juditharnoppnovelist.blogspot.co.uk
Twitter: @JudithArnopp
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetudorworld
Instagram: @judith_arnopp

Judith’s latest book
Adored by her parents and pampered by the court, the infant Princess Mary’s life changes suddenly and drastically when her father’s eye is taken by the enigmatic Anne Boleyn.
Throughout her formative years, Mary stands firm against her father’s determination to destroy both her mother’s reputation, and the Catholic church. It is a battle that will last throughout both her father’s and her brother’s reign, until, almost broken by persecution, she learns of King Edward’s death.
She expects to be crowned queen but Mary has reckoned without John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, who before Mary can act, usurps her crown and places it on the head of her Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey.
Furious and determined not to be beaten, Mary musters a vast army at Framlingham Castle; a force so strong that Jane Grey’s supporters crumble in the face of it.
Mary is at last, Queen of England.
But her troubles are only just beginning. Rebellion, and heresy and the subsequent punishments take their toll both on Mary’s health, and on the English people. Suspecting she is fatally ill, Mary steps up her campaign to compel her subjects to turn back to the Catholic faith.
All who resist will face punishment for heresy in the flames of the Smithfield fires.

Amazon UK Amazon US

Writing Challenge Day 19: Characters' pastimes

Pastimes? Hobbies? What are those? These don’t tend to feature in writers’ consciousness; either writing is done in any spare time left after work or at the weekend, or for full-time writers, spare time is when they go and research or grab a book for background reading. The result is that I had to scratch my head to think of the Roma Novans’ hobbies.

Carina, certainly when Karen in New York, enjoyed ‘the movies’ and often makes reference to films, such as when describing her boss:

His old-fashioned sports jacket and pants made him look like a crusty old guy from a black and white movie, but he gave me a human-enough smile. [INCEPTIO]

Or Conrad:

The hard-eyed observer at the client meeting had been replaced by a polite socialite out of a 1950s film. [INCEPTIO]

I was too surprised to say anything – it was such a foreign gesture, like in an old movie. [INCEPTIO]

When they are being followed:

In movies, the character who turned around when told not to instantly regretted it. But we weren’t in a movie. [INCEPTIO]

She even subscribed to a magazine:

Safely back behind the doors of my apartment building, I checked my mailbox and, along with my movie periodical, found an envelope with my name but no return address. [INCEPTIO]

The other character who has a definite hobby is Imperatrix Silvia:

I took the handkerchief she offered. It was exquisite – fine lawn edged with lace. The fragile curls and whorls hardly touched each other except by a single thread – a world away from the blood and brutality of the last few minutes. I couldn’t blow my nose on this piece of delicacy. I sniffed instead. [PERFIDITAS]

We know that Inspector Lurio enjoys hunting and not just the bad guys in his daytime job as a tough policeman:

‘He’s had his main vacation this year, three weeks’ walking and hunting in Italy.’ [INCEPTIO]

Now, I’m stymied about the other main characters. Conrad is very dedicated to his work and very driven by his duty. He enjoys keeping fit and being with his family.

Apollodorus in INCEPTIO and PERFIDITAS had collected beautiful Art Nouveau furniture and pictures, but that was perhaps more of an obsession.

Author photo of roses at the Château du Rivau

Aurelia remains a mystery in this area; she’s very like Conrad in her dedication to her duty. I reckon she has her hands full keeping her family and businesses in order as well as in her role of imperial councillor and minister. Ah, no, of course, she loves her roses apart from red ones which are forbidden in the garden at Domus Mitelorum…

Let me know if you’ve noticed any other Roma Novan characters’ hobbies…!

Writing challenges so far:

Day 18: Characters’ pet peeves (!)
Days 16 & 17: Favourite outfits (combined)
Day 15: The many-hatted author
Day 14: Show your workplace
Day 13: A funny family story. Or not
Day 12: Early bird or night owl?
Day 11: Favourite writing snacks/chocolate porn
Day 10: Post an old picture of yourself
Day 9: Post 5 random facts about you
Day 8: What’s your writing process?
Day 7: Introduce your ‘author friend’
Day 6: How the writing all began
Day 5: What inspired the book I’m working on
Day 4: The setting for the new Roma Nova book
Day 3: Introducing the main characters Julia and Apulius
Day 2: Introduce your work in progress
Day 1: Starting with revealing information