Here are some words and phrases that did not exist in 1810, or did not carry their modern meaning.
heck
shut up
hump
hangover
sugar cube
What I have learned is that you will discover 'shut up' is not authentic Regency-speak only after you are in the galley stage of production and only if you have used it fifteen times.
One more run through the draft. Just wish I had ...
Just read The Spymaster's Lady last week and I LOVED it. Extremely engaging and I loved the smart heroine. Can't wait until the next releases.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhy, thank ye kindly. I am so glad you enjoyed my Annique and Grey.
ReplyDeleteThe next book is out in July, if all goes well. I have my fingers crossed on that one.
Snort! Hey at least you caught the errors or is galley stage too late? I hope it's not too late, I do get peeved when modern slang is used in historical novels.
ReplyDeleteHi Linda --
ReplyDeleteI've marked it on the galleys, but I think they aren't going to do all the corrections I've marked.
I won't know if these got fixed till I see the actual book.
Life is so exciting.
jo,
with a fever of 102,
just a little bit wonky
Dear Wonky,
ReplyDeleteSorry you're sick. Hope you feel better real soon. {s}
On a side note: Why is July so far away when I want to read MLSM now? (Okay, that's rhetorical, but still... {g})
Linda
Hi Linda --
ReplyDeleteI know that they stop messing with the galleys altogether on April 8 and that it gets stocked on the shelves on July 1.
So that's 82 days in between.
I'm not sure exactly what happens in that period. It gets printed and put in boxes and shipped to stores. That's kinda the extent of my knowledge of the business.
Shameful, isn't it, that I've never bother to research how it's all done?
Jo,
ReplyDeleteNot shameful at all. You have much better things to do with your time. Writing the next book, f'rinstance. {g}
Linda, who wants to read _that_ one, too. (Yes, as a matter of fact, patience is not my long suit.{g})
P.S. I see there's another Linda here. Can you tell us apart, or shall I start adding a "G"? Or "Gr," if the G isn't enough?
Hi Linda --
ReplyDeleteG would do it.
Or Gr.
Or 'the masked avenger'.
So many choices ...
Yeah, I learned about hangover at that stage too, and it's not easy to come up with a word to use in it's place!
ReplyDeleteHi Gina --
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the Laws of Writing.
It's Law 47: 'You Will Find Out Just After the Last Possible Moment to Change the Manuscript.'
See Also Law 103: 'Everybody's going to Jump On You For Changing 172 Words Even If You Have Left 116,793 Words Entirely Unchanged'
Jo,
ReplyDeleteOoooh, I like it. Mysterious. Strong. Essentially corny. Sounds just like me. {g}
--The Masked Avenger
Okay, I think I've got way too much of Spymaster's Lady committed to memory, because... didn't Grey tell Adrian to "shut up" at one point? In the carriage, during Annique's opium haze? How come the line editors didn't catch it then? (and the opium scenes are so beautifully written, by the way. That line about words melting like snowflakes on her skin... gorgeous.)
ReplyDeleteI know this is borderline heretical, but I don't so much care about this stuff. Sugar cube, hangover, whatever. There's such a thing as "close enough," in my book. If it doesn't jump out at me (e.g. a character saying something like "Get a life"), I'll go with it. Sometimes I get the feeling that many readers of historicals are just looking out for anachronisms, so they can... feel superior about their more accurate knowledge of the period? I don't know. It makes me cranky, anyway.
Looking forward to MLaS!
Yep. That's where it turned up, and why it was pointed out to me.
ReplyDeleteI used 'shut up' in TSL.
The copy editor isn't going to catch this kinda thing. It's too specialized.
I try hard not to use anachronistic words ...
by accident. But heck, sometimes there's just not any replacement.
I mean ... 'hangover.' Sometimes the only way to say hangover is 'hangover'.
I am so utterly tickled you can pick up that line. I mean, how cool is that?
Jo, just reading that makes me want to say 'shut up!' Very happy you has dem galleys.
ReplyDeleteHi Lynne --
ReplyDeleteGalleys all finished. Done, done done.
Yeah!