A Bittersweet Conference

 

This past weekend Regina and I were both happy and sad to attend Regency Fiction Writers’ 2021 Virtual Conference. We’re sad because it has now been two very long years since we were able to have our annual “girls’ week” together at a conference, the one time in the year where we get to see each other in person. But happy because it was an amazing learning experience!

To backtrack: you may remember Regina’s post last fall about the opening of a brand-new organization for writers of fiction set in the Regency period. Regency Fiction Writers grew out of the now-closed The Beau Monde chapter of Romance Writers of America. And rather than being limited to Regency romance fiction, RFW is open to writers of all fiction set in the “Long Regency”, a period of time from 1780-1840 that saw enormous changes in the world as a whole, not just in Britain. Writers of mysteries, thrillers, fantasies, science fiction (there’s some very cool Regency steampunk out there!) and general fiction set during those years are welcome in the organization.

The workshops reflected that broader mission. Nile Green presented a workshop entitled “Mr. D’Arcy’s Persians: Exploring Regency England through the Eyes of Six Muslim Students”, based on research from his book The Love of Strangers (which I’ve already ordered!) C.S. Harris, author of the Regency-set Sebastian St. Cyr mystery series, was a keynote speaker. And author Tracee Garner gave a wonderful, informative workshop in “Happily Ever After for All: Inclusivity in Your Writing."

Of course, there were more traditionally Regency topics discussed as well. One of my favorite workshops was by Jayne Davis and past NineteenTeen guest Gail Eastwood on Regency Language, and I was attacked by a plot bunny the size of Harvey during Susan de Guardiola’s workshop on Masquerades and Fancy Dress Balls.

There were several other workshops, all excellent, and even a Regency dance party, the Soiree, that included video clips of Regency dancing to replace the dancing that usually takes place at in-person conferences…which will (hopefully) be able to resume next year. But I think RFW will try to continue to present a virtual conference alongside a live one. If you have the least interest in writing about the Regency era, I highly recommend it.

Even though I didn’t get to see Regina. *sigh*

The Rural Regency: Life in a Small Village, by Guest Blogger, Gail Eastwood

[Nineteen Teen is thrilled to welcome back traditional Regency author, Gail Eastwood, to the blog. Thank you, Gail, for sharing about your delightful village.]

We do love the grand London ballrooms, beautiful gowns and elegant lords and ladies of Regency romances, don’t we? But far more people in England during the early nineteenth century lived in the countryside than in the few major cities, most often in small villages. (The Industrial Revolution was only just starting to create the big changes that were yet to come.)

Romance can happen in a small village just as well as in an elegant ballroom, can’t it? What about all those popular “small town” contemporary romances? I wanted some of those rural Regency folks to find love, too. Welcome to Little Macclow!

My new Regency series, “Tales of Little Macclow,” is set in a tiny Derbyshire village well off the main roads and quite backward, especially by fashionable standards. The warm-hearted characters who live there, or pass through, have become quite real to me as I work on Book Three and prepare for the other books to come. I hadn’t intended to start a series when I invented the village. I just wanted to write a story set during the twelve days of Christmas and to strand a fashionable lord in this adorable small place still practicing ancient customs! I wanted a place with plenty of snow, but still not too far to the north, so I chose Derbyshire in the Midlands and fell in love with that setting.

The resulting tale, Lord of Misrule, is Book Two in the series, even though I wrote it first. Readers wanted more of Little Macclow, so for Book One, Lord of Her Heart, I went back eight months earlier and told the story of how the village seamstress, Sally Hepston, found her soul-mate (who isn’t an actual “lord”, by the way).

Little Macclow is full of features you would find in most typical small villages. The people aren’t wealthy. There’s a communal village well where the folks with no other source for water go to fetch it (and exchange gossip, of course). Many don’t even have an oven in their little cottages, so they depend on the village baker for bread or even cooking a roast for them! They are very dependent on the goodwill and care provided by the local squire and his wife who own the whole village. Little Macclow is very lucky, for Squire Hammon and his wife Lady Anne (who everyone knows was an earl’s daughter, so she is much revered) are benevolent, good-hearted people with a genuine fondness for all of the villagers.

Who are some of these other people? The heroine of Book Two is the vicar’s daughter, and her father is a crusty widower, so will he ever find love again? Sally Hepston’s sister Ellen works at the local inn, as does the innkeeper’s oldest daughter, Becky. Everyone thinks Ellen will marry her childhood sweetheart, Peter, the innkeeper’s oldest son, who works across the street at the livery stable. But will she? And who will Becky find, when a few more years have passed? There are plenty of tales to be told in a small village, and interesting people to meet!

Would you like to visit Little Macclow? Dip into Books One and Two in my Tales of Little Macclow series. To know when new books in the series come out (and get a free short story), please sign up for my newsletter! (or visit my website). Thanks, Regina and Marissa, for inviting me to visit the blog!