Poster Magic

I'm doing a talk — a Girls Night Out, with sparkling wine and chocolates — at Preston Library in Melbourne on the 14th March, and they've made the cutest manga-ish poster to advertise it, using a photo I'd sent them.

The photo was taken by a couple of wonderful friends who were visiting Melbourne, and when I said I had to get a photo — I am so not good with photos — they whipped out the makeup and the camera and posed me in their hotel room. This is the photo I sent to the library.

And then a genius called Dean turned it into this cute, slightly manga-style poster.

Nice eh?

Hope you can come on the night.

And by the way, I have real Japanese Mangas of my books. I wrote a post about them here.

Naming Characters

One of my characters in the current wip (work in progress) keeps insisting I've named him wrongly, so yesterday I went on a search to see if some other name clicked. The trouble is, it has to be a name right for the Regency era (1811-1820)

I found a baby name site that tells you how popular a name was in any decade. It doesn't go back as far as the regency, but is fun and fascinating, nevertheless. You enter a name and it produces a popularity by year graph.


For instance "Anne" hit a peak in 1905 and has been going steadily downhill since. Am I becoming more exclusive... or just more unfashionable?
http://babynamewizard.com/voyager

How did your name rank?

Screenwriting at Trinity College, Melbourne

Last week I did a number of screenwriting workshops at Trinity College, at Melbourne University. It was part of the excellent Summer Film School that's been running here each summer for the last 17 years. I did some of the writing sessions last year and liked them so much I came back for more.

 It's not that I'm planning to become a screenwriter or anything, just that I like doing different kinds of craft-of-writing courses occasionally. It refreshes my writing. And since it's not far from my home, and in my old stamping ground, it's a pleasure to revisit the area.

The pic below is of Royal Parade, which becomes Sydney Rd. I used to catch the tram from this street to and from high school, which is over the road from Melbourne University. So I got a wee bit nostalgic standing under these beautiful trees.

This is Trinity and the wonderful ancient oak tree in the courtyard.

The weather was roasting, but under these shaded colonnades it was cool and peaceful.

And inside the Junior Common Room it was beautifully cool and air-conditioned and we sat in lovely squishy leather seats and couches. Here is some of the class in the afternoon break. This was writing for children's TV.

I also studied writing for short films with Chris Corbett which was excellent. He talks a lot about the architecture of a script, which I find a very interesting concept. I really like his way of analysing/structuring a script. I did a one day course with him last year on writing for TV and found it eye-opening. 

It seems to me that screen writers' process is quite different from novel writers. Every screen writer I've heard speak pretty much plots the events of the story in detail first — the last part of the script they write is the dialogue. 

For me, and for many of the novelists I know, writing the dialogue is when your characters truly come alive. I can write a really solid plot in advance and plan out characters in detail, knowing all about them and their backstory and their motivation, but as soon as the characters come to life on the page (ie speak), they'll reveal themselves as someone a little bit different and take the story in a different direction. And if I try to stick to the characters I planned, they'll be wooden or lacklustre and unconvincing. Maybe that's because in a novel you have to bring the characters to life on the page, whereas screen writers must rely on actors to bring the characters to life on the screen.

I'm not sure, but it's got me thinking.

One of the short movies we studied was this Oscar nominated Irish movie called CRUSH. If you have 15 minutes to spare, watch it — it's sweet and clever and wonderful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1s_5JDgo4E

Dancing shadows

In one of the rooms of my house there are two large windows with holland blinds as their only covering. The holland blinds are old, a bit worn and tatty and deeply unfashionable, but I love them.

The reason I love them is that every morning they give me wonderful shadow pictures, dancing silhouettes of the leaves outside. It reminds me of a book from my childhood, with wonderful illustrations.

Mine are not quite as decorative, but I think they're beautiful, nevertheless, especially since they dance and move constantly in the breeze.

Gives me a smile every morning.

Where do I get my ideas?

I'm blogging at The Romance Dish today, about where my ideas come from, and specifically, what sparked my new book, Bride By Mistake.

Where do you get your ideas?
It's a question often asked of authors, and most writers hate it. Not me.  I get ideas for stories all the time - there's no shortage. They come from all kinds of places — a snippet of overheard conversation, an image, a scene in movie or a book where I think, "No, it wouldn't have happened like that," and an idea is sparked.

(This image is from http://parchmentplace.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/dreaming-about-books.jpg )

But most often stories come to me just as I'm drifting off to sleep, or just as I'm waking in the morning. A scene starts rolling in my head like a movie and depending on my state at the time, I'll either scribble it down into the exercise book I keep beside my bed, or stagger out to the computer and type it up. If it's a scene from my current novel, I'll head for the computer, but if comes out of the blue, I usually use the notebook.

I always write it down, because if I let myself drift off to sleep, I know I'll forget it. I've learned that the hard way, waking in the morning, remembering that I'd thought of a really good scene, but with no memory of what it was, except that it was The Best Idea Evah!  ...          
 Read the rest of this blog here, and leave a comment to be in the draw for a copy of BRIDE BY MISTAKE.

'Twas the Lull after Christmas. . .

Here's a little poem I composed for that period after Christmas.

'Twas the lull after Christmas

And all through the house

Not a creature was stirring

Not even a spouse.

Leftovers are placed

On the fridge shelves with care

With instructions that 

"You all can just graze from there."

"Please do not disturb me

Unless there is blood.

'Tis my time for reading

'Bout a fictional stud."

"Just leave me alone

With my books for a while

I'm a much nicer person

With the TBR pile."

Read the rest of the post that goes with this poem here, at The Season for Romance.
And if you go there, scroll down to the post below mine— they're giving away a kindle.
(That's not my TBR pile, by the way — I borrowed it from www.morbid-romantic.net)

I Visit the Ballroom with my latest hero, Luke. . .

As you know, I'm on a blog tour to launch Bride By Mistake — see below for the dates of each blog.
I've decided to post the beginning of each blog here, so if it appeals, you can click over to the site I'm visiting.

This is The Ballroom Blog, and my hostess is the wonderful Katharine Ashe. She says...

Today I’ve donned my prettiest gown, new kid gloves, and a pair of antique pearl earrings I borrowed from one of my heroines. I’ve even dabbed lavender water behind my ears and on my wrists. Why the extra primping? Because it’s my first time bringing an author as a guest to the ball, and I’m feeling celebratory! 

And what a guest! Anne Gracie – author of deliciously emotional, sexy, captivating stories – enters the ballroom with me. She’s dressed in a flowing purple gown and is wearing a string of glittering beads and a turban with peacock feathers.

Read the rest of the post here.