An interview with Heidi Ashworth

Posted by Johnna | May 8, 2009 | 7 Comments

Heidi Ashworth is the author of Miss Delacourt Speaks Her Mind, and writes the popular blog Dunhaven Place.

Johnna is the webmaster for Segullah’s websites, and recently sat down with Heidi to have this conversation.

Johnna, for Segullah: I’m a reader. Besides loving lots of books that I read in college or met through NPR writer interviews, I read a lot genre fiction, science fiction in particular. I was so interested in your novel before it came out because of your blog, and it may be my first Regency Romance. What exactly is a Regency Romance? I’m assuming novels written in the Regency don’t count.

Heidi Ashworth: Exactly–novels such as those written by Jane Austen in the Regency were considered what we call “mainstream fiction” and are now considered literature (though there were plenty of “rubbishy” romances in that era as well as ours). Regency Romance is such a fascinating genre because it has the more widespread appeal of mainstream fiction in that, with all of its factual tidbits, it could be considered historical fiction. Because it is “sweet” romance it isn’t truly “historical romance”, either. (Most regency-set historical romance is riddled with pornography and does not have the well researched background that a true Regency Romance supplies its reader.) Regency Romance was wildly popular in the 60′s and 70′s but as the more addictive sex filled pornographic novels sold in bigger and bigger numbers and more and more regency authors switched to historicals (otherwise known as “bodice rippers”) to garner the bigger paychecks, traditional regency romance died.

Miss D was written as a traditional regency but was completed during the death throes of the genre and didn’t find a publisher. Avalon Books publishes only clean books so even though it is published as a “historical romance”, it is cleaner than even some traditional regencies I have read. Sadly, I had to take out a lot of the language that true regency fans love since most readers of “historical fiction” generally aren’t familiar with many of the “regency” terms.

J for Segullah: There were some elements in your book that seem like they might be part of what makes a Regency what it is. Like referring to society as the “ton” (is that the town?), and the “Abigail,” and the (threat of) gypsies.

HA: Yes, those are all things that are part of what a “regency” is. It’s a very narrow world with lots of rules, both having to do with the rules and customs of the day as well as the book genre. The “ton” is the upper ten thousand of society, those that were considered people of “quality”. This could be due to your title, your wealth, your talents or your sense of style. One did not need to have a title to be considered “quality” but it certainly helped. An “abigail” is a woman’s body servant who took care of her clothes and did her hair, etc. One could not get into the regency fashions on one’s own (a man had a valet or what is perhaps better known now as a “gentleman’s gentleman”). Buttons existed but were very expensive and were rarely used and of course there were no zippers at that time. Most dresses were tied together with what were called “tapes” and went all the way down the back of the gown. These were impossible to tie on one’s own. If you had lots of sisters and no money like Elizabeth Bennet, you could manage that way, but if you were rich, you had an Abigail. The English had a tradition of naming their servants with a generic name. The coachman was always “John” regardless of his given name, and so on and so forth.

J for Segullah: When reading the novel, the game “Hide the Slipper” surprised me–It reminded me of spin the bottle or that other game where they shut two kids together in a closet–not what I imagine proper behavior in a bygone age.

HA: The Regency era was much looser than the Victorian era which followed. One would generally expect it to be the opposite b/c as time goes by, morals seem to go more and more downhill. However, the Victorians were very big prudes, probably partly because of the fall out of the gay old times during the regency. In fact, 30% of all regency era brides went to the altar having already “started” their families.

J for Segullah:Have you been reading Regency romances for years, is that how you became familiar with its forms. It reads like you enjoyed writing it–is it a way of talking back to books you’ve read and enjoyed?

HA: Yes, I think a lot of the answer to this question is in the answer above. I read my first regency when I was 25 (before that I was all about fantasy novels though fantasy and regency have a lot in common–they are both fantasitical worlds that take you out of yourself)and within a few years I had probably read about 400 of them. I had always known I wanted to write books and had attempted a few fantasy novels but once I decided to write regency, it just flowed. Like you said, it was great fun! In the end, the book ended up being a bit of a caricature or a fond parody of the genre, a sly winking of the eye at all the important elements that make a regency a regency. I think some found this to be “unoriginal” but it was actually meant to be a tribute.

J for Segullah: Let’s talk about Ginerva “Ginny” Delacourt. It struck me at one point that Ginny with her auburn hair and height and multilayered green clothing, sent on her errand to take care of the roses, sort of looks like a rose herself. What goes into deciding what a character looks like?

HA: Absolutely yes! She does! Ginny and Sir Anthony both appeared to me with complete looks, personality and back stories. They are very much their own persons. However, I must admit that when I wrote this book, I was writing it for a class and was merely having fun with it. I decided to make everything the epitome of what I love best about books, romances and regency romances in general. I put everything I loved into the story and the characters. Ginny is a huge reflection on me and Sir Anthony is very much like my husband in certain ways–but that part of things was all very subconcious. I didn’t realize how much of the central conflict revolved around the central conflict of my marriage until I read the book again after not having read it for ten years. They say “write what you know”. It works!

J for Segullah: There’s ink given over to describing clothes in this novel. As a reader I was thinking some of that is for characterization–you call attention to the expensive fabrics and tailoring of Sir Anthony’s clothes. But also I got the sense that a Regency enjoys clothes. Can you talk about writing descriptions for the enjoyment of yourself and the reader?

HA: It’s true that Sir Anthony is more into his clothes than your typical regency hero however, the dressing of one’s character is definitely a regency novel characteristic. A regency romance is really a fantasy novel. It’s true that people really did live this way but they were merely the “upper-crust” of society. The closest modern day analogy I can think of are the Hollywood types. The “ton” were the arbiters of fashion and those who had the resources to “ape” (mimic) them happily did so. Another reason why so much time is given over to clothes in a regency romance is because the fashions were so unique to the time period. It was only a nine year time period but
they had their own fashions and words for clothing items that were used only during that time. Also, the regency was a pivotal time period for men’s clothing. Prior to the regency, men wore bright colored long frock coats (think Benjamin Franklin), knee breeches and lots of lace. Then Beau Brummell, the famous fashion icon, came along and introduced the basic black suit with long pants–basically the same suit of clothes men wear today. So, fashion is a huge part of the regency world.

J for Segullah:Dowager Duchess of Marcross, reminds me of Lady Bracknell, particularly in her dialogue with Sir Anthony. How did her character come together for you?
HA: The dowager duchess is almost 100% based on the writing teacher who was mentoring me when I was writing Miss D. Except for the fact that Louise was tall and the Dowager Duchess is short (I had to change something–I didn’t want her to guess–though I’m sure she knew full well the Dowager Duchess was she!) everything else from the red hair and attitude is pure Louise!

J for Segullah:and Lucinda Barrington’s lisp…
HA: I will never get tired of Lucinda. She is a force of nature, her own person, totally and completely separate from me (or a subconcious side of my nature, one or the other). I never know what she is going to do and am having so much fun with her as I write the sequel to Miss D. On the surface, she is based on a favorite character of mine from the fourth season (I think–don’t quote me) of Jeeves and Wooster starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Her name is Honoria Glossup, she is a vapid blonde with huge blue eyes and a lisp (she is played by a brunette in the other seasons and not nearly so much fun–no lisp, for one thing–however, Lucinda is much more complex than Honoria and full of surprises at every turn!)

J for Segullah:A lot of reviewers have commented on how cleverly you’ve woven in a subplot with a secondary romance, from which I’m gathering that’s unusual. I haven’t found that again in other romance books I’ve looked into since I read yours. It sort of reminds me of comic opera, how there’s a serious couple and a more lightweight couple. Would you talk about that?

HA: I love that you use the words “comic opera” as Miss D was intended to be a bit of a French farce. I just knew that I wanted it to be funny. I did not write this book the way it “should” have been written; with me sitting down and plotting things out and determining how this character would play against this character, etc. It was written wholly via instinct. Having read many many books in the course of my lifetime and in a broad range of genres, I think this really helped me to be able to just reach into my subconcious and pull out fully-fleshed characters. I am also a keen observer of life and a huge people watcher which I think truly helped. Honestly, Lucinda and Lord Avery just “appeared.” I never knew what would happen in the course of any given chapter–all I knew about the book was that I wanted it to be a regency, I wanted to fill it with all the aspects I loved, I wanted my hero to be somewhat like the Scarlet Pimpernel in that he wears a “mask” of some kind and that was it! One day a week I would sit down with a bowl of chocolate (truly my muse) and write a chapter. It was always great fun to find out what would happen by the end of the day.

J for Segullah:I was caught by Heidi’s chance comment that she wrote the book for a class and asked her about that.

HA: When my oldest was about nine months old, he suffered from ear aches and would wake me up at night a lot. One night, every time he woke me up, I would remember the dream I had–it was one long dream, all night long. It became the plot of my first regency which I wrote in about six months–it is non-publishable at this point. A few years later, a friend of mine (Shirley, one of the people to whom I dedicated the book) asked me to take this adult education class with her. She had been writing Star Trek books

J for Segullah:Star Trek books, I know those…

HA: and when we decided to give each other our manuscripts to read, she fell in love with the whole regency thing and started to write those. So we took the class and when the eight weeks were over, a group of us accepted the teachers invitation to continue what we were doing over at her house once a week. I wrote a chapter a week and the book was done in 24 weeks. It took me a while to get up the courage to submit it to a publisher (I entered it into a couple of contests for unpublished writers first and did well in them).

J for Segullah: But Regency Romances were no longer being published…the publishers were closing their divisions or those doors about the time you were submitting your manuscript. And wasn’t it around then that your family faced a series of significant challenges that demanded great attention and dedication?

HA: It was getting really painful to be constantly pulled away from the writing in order to deal with all the special needs. At that point made the decision to give up the writing for good. I had wanted to write a book since I was 7 years old but the way things were with my family, I couldn’t conceive of things getting any better in my lifetime. I put my manuscript in a box and it stayed there for a very long time.

Then, my friend who I took the class with called to say she had found a publisher for one of her contemporary romances which she had switched to when the regency lines all died out (the last hung on for a few more years and they sometimes reprint some of the more popular authors still). She published two contemporaries with them and then published a regency—set historical. It took her a while to convince me to submit mine because I had so firmly decided it was never going to happen for me. I finally submitted it about two years ago thinking that since it was already written, it would be fun to have a book to hold in my hand.

J for Segullah: And now you do. I remember your blog post when the book arrived at your house from the publisher.

So, I was hungry for more when I finished your book. I understand your next
book is being written? I went looking for more romance novels and it’s hard to find ones that are good, which more me means light and entertaining, and not going to offend my sensibilities. How do you find a good book in this genre?

HA: I love that you were hungry for more! I am writing the sequel to Miss D and though I got the go-ahead from my editor to attempt it (a sequel to a stand alone romance novel using the very same couple just isn’t done) I think my editor is going to like Miss D Two just as well, if not
better, than the original.

As far as finding a good book in this genre . . .well, it would be tough now that they are no longer being published. Though Avalon is a good place to start since they do publish clean regency set historical romance by a number of authors. The mother of the regency romance genre is Georgette Heyer whose books I love (a few more than others and there’s a few that are not amongst my faves). The early works of Joan Smith (start with Dame Durden’s Daughters or The Hermit’s Daughter) and a number of others who were writing in the heyday of regency are amongst my favorite. I also love Barbara Metzger–she is so funny and had the generosity to read my book in manuscript form to provide a quote for the cover jacket. Sadly, the cover went to print too soon for the quote!

J for Segullah: I also wonder, now that you’re a published romance writer, if you find
yourself cast in the position of defending romance novels, if you’d want to talk about that. I read quite a bit of science fiction and some fantasy, and I am a person who rents Romantic Comedies to watch, so I feel almost like I’m being asked to justify entertainment or downtime when I get cornered on this.

HA: Romance has gotten a bit of a bad rap over the years. Back when I was actually writing Miss D (about 15 years ago) an acquaintance of mine made a deragatory comment about whether or not that was a good use of my time. I do not agree with the idea that books should only be about bettering yourself as a person (and if not, they are a waste of time). All human beings need rest, recreation and respite from the challenges of life. Our minds need this as much as our bodies do. Humans have always been a story-telling race from the very beginning of time. Whether it is an oral story passed down through the generations or one written down in a book, one acted on a stage or on a TV screen, they are all stories. I feel “stories” are essential to the human condition. It is true that it is better to read good and uplifting books (which is one reason I choose not to read books that are filled with violence or pornography) but there is no reason to eliminate books that are merely brain candy simply because you aren’t “learning” anything from them.

J for Segullah: I know that I love stories. I’m glad you wrote yours.

Comments

7 Responses to “An interview with Heidi Ashworth”

Heidi Ashworth
May 8th, 2009 @ 11:12 am

Johnna, it was so fun to sit down and chat with you! Thanks for all of your support!
Emily M.
May 8th, 2009 @ 1:29 pm

Heidi, I’m excited to read your book–it’s been on my to-read list for a while.

Johnna (and all who are looking for regency romances), I really enjoyed _Seeking Persephone_, by Sarah Eden, which was a Whitney finalist last year. She’s written other books too, self-published but available on Amazon.

Great interview–I enjoyed this. Heidi, I love that you were able to rediscover writing after so long.
Justine
May 8th, 2009 @ 2:45 pm

This was lovely to read, thank you for sharing it! I’m going to check out the book. It’s a little out of the norm for me, but you’ve gotten me interested.
Shelah
May 8th, 2009 @ 5:18 pm

Ooh, I feel like I learned so much about a corner of the literary world I didn’t even know existed. Thanks, Heidi and Johnna!
Melissa
May 8th, 2009 @ 10:18 pm

I had no idea that regency was such a well-defined genre. Thanks for all of the insight! I’ll have to check out the book.
Maralise
May 9th, 2009 @ 1:32 am

lovely interview, ladies. I’m excited to read the book as well (and am now googling Regency Romance).
Leslie
May 9th, 2009 @ 10:29 am

Thank you Heidi- I love reading about people’s motivations, their life as it relates to their creative works, and also glipmsing greater insights into their work/process. Thank you too Johnna- nicely done!