Romance fiction is mainly defined as the imaginary story of love between people. This imagination is put down in writing to form a romance novel or romance literary work. Romance fiction is one of the oldest genres and definitely one of the most distinguished. People who are responsible for creating this kind of fiction are called romantic authors. It is pretty amazing thinking about some of the work that has been brought forth by the authors. The best thing about fiction is that all things are possible. Writers are able to bring twists to a tale and bring out not only the entertainment but also the lesson that is hidden. Love has a way to inspire a lot of fiction and, if you feel you are one of those people who love the fiction, you can easily try your hand at it. There are so many fictions for romance available for your to read. If you desire to read some classic tales for love, you will be in a position to do so easily. There are also modern fictions which cannot be compared to the old kind but, certainly with the unbeaten edge and twist of the modern life. A typical romance fiction might be anchored in an exciting setting. The historical aspects and others might feature prominently. Two people from the opposite sex will have their story of love told. Drama is the best word to describe how the fiction will play out. All fictions will have a certain plot. However, one common thing or sure thing in the romance fiction is that there will be love. The people will be used to communicate undying love to readers; love that is able to surpass all other things that you can imagine. People have been inspired to enter into relationships while others have been encouraged to work things out in the relationships. Sometimes, critics say that the fiction will exaggerate the emotion of love an present some unrealistic play outs in the fiction or drama. This is an aspect that makes the story more exciting but, it might not have real or practical application. Romance fiction can be viewed in various categories. You will find modern or contemporary fiction. You will also find fiction that is historical. There is also one that is paranormal. This is where the writer incorporates some superhuman or extra terrestrial occurrences in a love story. There is science fiction romance. It is closely related to time travel fiction. This is where the imagination goes wild and some of the things that are not common to science actually come to be. There are many lovers of this kind of romance. It is definitely entertaining as you celebrate love in all spheres. You will also find multicultural romance which is one between several cultures. The most common fiction of romance is erotic. This is the one that contains lots of sexual content which is made very obvious to the reader. It is also known as romantica therefore, the next time you want to read a love story, use the above knowledge to buy something you love.
Archive for December, 2009
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Researching The Historical Novel, Part I
As I have intimated in previous offerings, the research that goes into writing a historical novel can be almost minimal, or can entail weeks and months of endeavor. If one wishes to write about something as remote as the caravans carrying silk in the ancient days over the Silk Road through China, Tibet and associated areas, the work required could be substantial. One of the best novels set in similar surroundings was Thomas Costain’s The Black Rose that sold over six hundred thousand copies in its first printing. Costain had a long and varied career as an editor and for several years as director of 20th Century Fox’s story development department. He retired at 57 years of age to devote his time to writing, and his fiction was notable for its reliance on historical facts, but always pertinent to his story. My first novel, El Tigre, at times could be considered pretty much at the other end of the continuum. It is the saga of the growth and maturation of a young Prussian aristocrat from school days through his ensuing world-wide travels. The early material of Johann’s school days was easy to write because my grandfather was a graduate of the Kriegsakademie, or government military school, and fought in the Franko-Prussian war. Listening at length to stories he would tell provided me with much basic information with respect to both the civilian and military customs of the times. Research on the political situation in Europe, and more especially Spain, preceding and during the 1st Carlist War, was another matter. A number of factors were heavily influential in the particular period of Spanish history surrounding Carlos pretension to the throne. Napoleon and his brother had made numerous political as well as military moves affecting Spanish rule. There was the on-again, off- again ascendance to power by the Spanish monarch, and there was the Influence of England and Portugal lurking in the background. Offering additional overriding problems, were the King’s personality traits. The researcher must read all of this material, but he must then carefully select the most pertinent facts and weave them, and only them, into the story. The manner of including them also must be done in a manner that keeps intact the history, and yet, does not overpower the reader. The selection process is the toughest part. You will find so much of the material to be fascinating that it is most difficult to decide what to, and not to, include. As an interesting aside, in an area further along in the book, I was dealing with Santa Anna. I discovered he was the man who introduced chewing gum to the United States. Fascinating, but certainly the fact had nothing to do with the plot so it was, with reluctance, discarded. In a manner similar to the problems of selection of material for the Carlist period, was an examination of the factors leading to Texas’ fight for independence. The factors involved in this matter are so convoluted as to almost make Europe’s problems simple. It is so involved that before researching El Tigre, I had read much about it, but never understood the roots of the confrontation. After several days of reading copious material, I finally understood the complexity of the situation. However, the next, and most important, step was to attempt to reduce it to a readable form that could retain the basic facts and still be included in the body of a novel without slowing down the pace of the story for the reader. Here, I can only say that you must write and rewrite, and constantly keep in mind what is pertinent to the plot and what is not. If you like history, and if you do not, I am not sure why you are writing historical fiction, there is so much material you feel important, that the decisions you must make may be some of the toughest you ever have to make. So actually, there is no easy way to research a historical novel. If you are fortunate enough to have a grandfather, other relative, or a friend from the period, at least part of the job will be easy. The rest is plain hard work of finding the material. Fortunately, thanks to the web, this endeavor is a much easier task than in the days I still remember well. However, once you have gathered the material and assimilated it, the really difficult part of your job begins. You must then make the horrendous decisions as to what you can keep and what must be discarded. And you must remember above all else in these decisions, if you keep it, it must be pertinent to the plot.
Fiction Books With Thriller, Suspense and Fantasy
Books are full of information which the users can read to pass their leisure time. They provide accurate information to the reader. There are many types of books available in the market like fiction books, fun books, romantic books, horror books, etc. If you purchase these books online, they are available at low prices with discounts. We can find various books in the market, but fiction books have their own reputation in the market. These books are full of fun, thriller, suspense and imagination. Fiction books have loads of imaginations and fantasies. These books can be defined as short story books. Science fiction is one of the most appreciable position. It has inspired many well known directors to make films such as Terminator, Matrix etc. Fiction books deal with a wide variety of fantastic imagination which readily incite the curiosity of the readers to know more. Romantic fiction books attract all ages readers like youngster, children and old people. These kind of books also deal with tragedy and comedy stories that are filled with variety of emotions and expressions in them. Fiction Books are preloaded with creativity and imaginary skills to provide great interest to their readers. These books helps a reader to show their hidden desires. The famous fiction books are Individual man and Time Machine that include suspense, fantasy and thrill. There are various websites on which fiction books are available online. These online book store are very beneficial to the readers and they are easily available at low price. Publishers some time provide discounts on purchasing books. Fiction books contain amazing stories that come in strange character and imaginary thinking. These books are the most interesting books for book lovers. These books can be enjoyed by anybody because they themselves are full of suspense. Fiction book writers use their emotions and express their thinking, so that book can maintain the suspense till the end of the story. Popular fiction books have scary stories and thriller elements. In the market, we can find many popular books like romance fiction, crime fiction, and fantasy fiction books.
The Mystery of the Headless Emperor
The Mystery of the Headless Emperor By Roy Bates © Anybody who has been to the Tower of London[1] will know that King Henry 8th chopped off the head of his wife Anne Boleyn because she did not produce a son for him. It is said that the ghost of Anne Boleyn walks at midnight the building known as the Bloody Tower, “with her head tucked underneath her arm,” as the song says. Some people believe that you might see the ghost of the Qing emperor, Yongzhen, walking around his mausoleum, Tailing (??), at the Western Tombs (???), near Beijing, with his head tucked under his arm. If you are ever lucky enough to see this awesome spectre grab it quickly, for the head that he carries is made of solid gold. However, in this article I am talking about mysteries, and the first mystery about the Yongzhen emperor is why, against tradition, he ignored time-honoured protocol and chose a tomb site 100 kilometres away from that of his grandfather, Shunzhi (Fulin), and his father Kangxi. One theory that seems feasible is, having unscrupulously manoeuvred himself onto the throne and mercilessly persecuted his royal brothers and insiders, Yongzheng was loath to face his forefathers in the nether world. Does that seem reasonable? Yongzheng was the most controversial of all the Qing emperors. The circumstances surrounding his enthronement and death are still a mystery and a matter for conjecture. His father, Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722), ruled for 61 years, and from more than 50 concubines had fathered 20 daughters and 35 sons, 24 of whom survived into adulthood. Kangxi’s wealth of male issue made choosing a crown prince a difficult matter for not many of the 24 surviving sons seemed to be of the stuff that emperors are made of. Of these sons, only the second (the Crown Prince Yunreng), the fourth (Prince Yong) and the eighth (Prince Lian) and possibly the fourteenth were considered competent successors to the throne. Prince Yunren and Prince Lian actively formed their respective cliques, but Prince Yong maintained a modest stance and a low profile. He kept his distance from official circles, using spies to keep him up-to-date on his rivals’ activities. The first to fall in the struggle for the throne was the Crown Prince of the previous three decades. He had a strong clique to support him and was overly aggressive in his intent to succeed Kangxi, but he upset his father who eventually deposed him. It was then Prince Lian’s turn to conspire, and he did so in a manner no less ruthless than his brother. Enraged, Kangxi put him under house arrest and executed his main conspirators. In an effort to contain the power struggle, he restored the Crown Prince, but was forced to depose him a second time. The old emperor then considered his fourth and 14th sons – both full-blood brothers – as imperial candidates. Kangxi died in the Changchun Garden in western Beijing in December 1722. Seven days later, Longkedo, commander of the capital garrison, made an announcement claiming that Kangxi’s last oral decree before expiring was that the competent character of the fourth prince, Prince Yong, made him suitable to be his successor and to rule the empire. Days later, he produced a written decree to the same effect, claiming that the deceased emperor had actually written the decree a few years previously. Hmm! Beijing buzzed with rumours: some said that Longkedo had fabricated the imperial decree; others said that the fourteen son had been selected and that Yongzheng, or at least Fig 26.2 The Yongzhen Emperor. somebody, had altered the decree to read the “4th son,” rather than “14th son.” (Fourteen ?? shísì) to “to four” (?? yúsì). This is doubtful especially considering that the character ? wasn’t widely used on official documents during the Qing Dynasty. Instead the character ? (y?) was used more often. Secondly, Qing tradition insists that the will be executed in both Manchu and Chinese, and Manchu writing is much harder, and in this case impossible, to modify. Furthermore, princes in the Qing Dynasty are referred to as the Emperor’s son in the order which they were born. For example, “The Emperor’s Fourth Son”(???) Therefore, there is much doubt to the theory that Yongzhen changed the decree stating that he was the one to ascend to the throne. Even so, precisely how Yongzhen succeeded to the throne is still a mystery. Immediately after his ascension, Zhongzhen imposed martial law, which forbade anyone from entering the capital. The 14th prince was thus unable to attend his father’s funeral, or contest the accession. It is not appropriate to discuss Yongzhen’s reign here, but it is more appropriate to jump to his death, which was sudden and unexpected and occurred under mysterious circumstances. The imperial court did not specify the cause of his sudden demise, and consequently rumours were rife. Many of these suggested that he had been murdered. However, the most popular of these rumours was that because Yongzheng had ordered a considerable number of executions during his rule, he had made many enemies, one of whom being an old foe named Lu Siniang. A story arose that Lu had assassinated and beheaded the emperor. The rumour was a juicy one. However, it went further. It asserted that when the emperor was buried at the Tailing Mausoleum an artificial head had been placed on the mutilated cadaver so that he could enter heaven with a whole body. Furthermore, it was alleged that this artificial head was made of solid gold! If you are going to spread a rumour you might just as well spread a good one. A survey of the Western Qing Tombs made in 1980 indicated that Yongzhen’s burial chamber, Tailing, had been plundered. Relevant departments reported this to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, requesting restorative excavation. When digging commenced, reporters from various agencies excitedly [...]
Alternative Sources for Book Reviews
Often I am asked how does one go about getting reviews for a novel. Most authors I have met over the years have been under the impression that the only valid reviews are found in the newspaper or in a trade periodical. While such reviews can be a feather in an author’s cap, particularly if they are positive, they should not be considered the only source of PR for a book. An author can find a wealth of resources for obtaining book reviews, if one knows where to look. Yet, before you send those books out for review, it is important to consider this question: when should a book go out for review? Too soon, or too late? How soon is too soon for a book to be distributed for review? Depending upon the review source and the marketing schedule of a publisher, advanced review copies of books (also known as ARCs) may go out to reviews as early as four months before the books release. There may be many reasons for the advanced promotion. A reviewer’s schedule may be such that it may take four months to get to a particular book, and this way the publisher is ensuring a timely review. Other reasons may be seasonal: if a novel is written for the Christmas season, for example, the publisher may want to garner advanced reviews to tantalize readership during the peak of holiday shopping. Whatever the reason for sending out ARCs, the message is clear: a book does not necessarily have to be released and for sale for the author to start collecting reviews. If words of praise are collected early enough, the publisher may want to include them on the front or back cover to entice readers to buy. Just make certain the ARC sent out for review is clean, free of errors and bound in a font size that is easily read. Once you have the best draft available, it is time to distribute to reviewers. Here are just a few suggestions that are not necessarily limited to the media. Professionals in the field: If your book is non-fiction, be it about politics, self-help topics, or a biography, it would be to your advantage to have an endorsement from an expert in your book’s topic. If you have written about an event in the Civil War, considering approaching an historian specializing in that era. If your book is religious in nature, seek endorsement from a noted clergyman. Authors of similar works: Take a look at the fiction shelves of your favorite bookstore. You may notice that some novels include endorsements from other authors of the same genre. This is especially true for romance and mystery, communities so tightly knit considering the annual conferences these authors attend for networking purposes. If you have written a romance or mystery novel, you may wish to seek other authors for a word of praise. A cordial letter to the authors of your choice may yield good results for you. You might find some authors are willing to read your work, if it means extra PR for them in the form of their names on your cover. Don’t feel discouraged, however, if an author you have contacted declines or does not respond. Authors who write for a living often have busy schedules, and may not be able to afford the time needed for an unbiased endorsement of your work. Organizations relative to your work: So you have written a mystery with a dog theme. Does this mean you are limited to mystery reviewers? Not necessarily. If a dog show is the setting for the story, you may want to consider approaching professionals on the dog show circuit to read your book. This can be especially helpful in generating word of mouth publicity for your book as well. People interested in dogs who don’t normally read mystery may be curious enough to buy your novel. Think about the settings and occupations featured in your novel. Is there a corresponding organization that would make a good target audience for your book? Foster that connection by bringing in some potential reviewers. Book Review websites: A quick Internet search for book review websites will yield a number of resources available to you. Many such sites have been cited on author’s book covers and in advertisements on the web and in print. It is important to note, however, when you research these websites that they are suitable to review your work. Study each website. What genres do they accept? Do they offer a turnaround time on reviews? Do they charge a fee? A reputable reviewer will not charge, so check! Regardless of the review source you approach, it is imperative to treat each one with the proper courtesy. Query each potential reviewer first. Do not send the book immediately, lest a reviewer feel you are imposing on him. Learn what the reviewer wants: an attachment in mail, a finished product, or an ARC. Once it is sent, a good rule of thumb is to contact to acknowledge receipt of the book, but do not send constant e-mails about progress unless an inordinate amount of time has passed without word from the reviewer. If, after a month or so, you have heard nothing, follow-up with a polite note. Taking care to find alternative resources for reviews can not only boost prominence of your book on shelves, but may also broaden your target audience. Don’t wait for your release to get reviews. Start the buzz now!