Comments on: Copyedits, The Heyer Binge, And Headhopping

By: Susan Simko

Susan Simko — Fri, 22 May 2009 21:03:35 +0000

The recipe for the Bolognese sauce is my style. I use reciopes as guidelines and tend to have a hard tiome writing anything down because the measurements are like: enough salt to cover the bottom of the well in your palm. I can pretty accurately measure teaspoon and tablespoon (and gradation of them) by how much is in the palm of my hand. *laugh*

I have started to try to come up with some kind of written record of a lot of my recipes since my son lives in CA now and is always asking me, “Mom, how do you make” X. Obviously managed to inspire in him a love of food made from scratch as he wants to go back to school to become a chef.

By: writtenwyrdd

writtenwyrdd — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:42:11 +0000

I adore Georgette Heyer! I own all of her romances. And my favorite is Powder and Patch, with a close second being Devil’s Cub. I hope you enjoy your binge!

By: incandescens

incandescens — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:59:35 +0000

Besides being a Heyer-addict myself (well, not her crime fiction, I find that rather artificial), your comment about knowing the rules before breaking them reminds me of a passage from Caroline Stevermer’s _A College of Magics_.

[The heroine is at etiquette lesson and doing poorly.]

“There’s nothing to be good at. It’s just an arbitrary set of standards. Why should I waste time learning to point my toes in a way that went out of fashion three hundred years ago? Why shouldn’t I set my own fashions?”

“You must form your own fashions in a way which demonstrates that you flout the standards from knowledge, not from ignorance,” replied Dame Brachet. “When you leave Greenlaw College, you may or may not be able to practice magic. That is a matter of talent and skill. But you will certainly be a witch of Greenlaw, and that station in the world carries expectations with it. You will be expected to speak with those of high degree and to speak fair to high and low. Your manner will be as vital as your matter, and in some sad cases, your matter will not amount to much. So you had better learn a manner to make up for your other shortcomings.”

From the first words, Faris followed this speech with eyes narrowed. “But I may flout the standards?”

“Of course,” said Dame Brachet, with some asperity. “What do you think standards are for?”

By: Jess

Jess — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:20:13 +0000

Interesting link. I agree with the comments, it’s more a continuum, sort of. Also, the headhopping thing, gah, the headhopping! Even when well done I tend to dislike it. I get really involved in my reading and I don’t like being jostled like that.

By: Angela

Angela — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:57:15 +0000

The main problem I have with “headhopping” in books is when the author seems to be doing it out of laziness. Like, they will use it as an excuse to tell us what each character is feeling because they’re being too lazy to show it. So annoying! In the right story, with the right writing style and for the right reason, though, it can really work.