I was born in 1940 in Sidcup
Kent, England. As a child, when I was not making up stories, my head was
‘always in a book’.
While working in a travel agency,
I met my Hindu husband. He encouraged me
to continue my education at Westminster College. In 1961 I and my husband, now a barrister,
moved to his birthplace, Kenya, where I lived until 1982. After an attempted coup d’état, I and four of
my five children lived in an ashram in France.
Back in England, I wrote
historical fiction and joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Historical
Novel Society and Watford Writers.
Apart from writing, I enjoy
classical Indian literature, reading, visiting places of historical interest,
vegetarian cooking, growing organic fruit, herbs and vegetables and creative
crafts.
My bookshelves are so crammed
with historical non-fiction which I use to research my novels that if I buy a
new book I have to consider getting rid of one.
Time spent with my children and
their families, most of whom live near me, is precious.
Show Don’t Tell
If you are thinking
about writing a novel, are a new or experienced novelist or someone who likes
reading about an author’s thoughts on writing, I hope you will find this brief
blog post interesting.
To write quality
fiction it isn’t enough to have a good idea for a story. Whether we write
literary fiction or popular fiction we need to understand how to write
effectively and hold our readers’ interest.
For the novice and
experienced writer there are numerous non-fiction books about How to Write.
These include subjects such as creating believable characters, viewpoint and
show don’t tell. Although Books We Love have published nine of my novels, I
still enjoy dipping into copies of my ‘how to write books’.
My advice is don’t
tell the reader anything at the beginning of a scene to ensure it makes sense.
Find a livelier, more interesting way to explain it. Show the main character in
each scene through what he or she says, does and thinks. This admits the reader
onto the stage and allows him or her to experience the protagonist’s emotions
and reactions as though watching television, a film or a play.
In fiction, showing
is usually a blend of dialogue and narrative. Telling is undiluted exposition
about something your character does not know.
Since the action
arises from the characters, by dramatizing them they can demonstrate essential
information and give hints. Ask yourself
what the characters want and feel. You can show through specific details,
thoughts and action, what is important or relevant to them. This can also be
shown by the reactions and thoughts of other characters.
Was, were, had, feel,
felt and feeling are words that tell instead of showing. They should be used
sparingly. When I am editing a novel I always check to see if I can replace
them.
In fiction a main
character should be introduced immediately, and the scene should be set.
I hope you will agree that the
first sentence in my published novel, The Captain and The Countess, achieves
this.
“London
1706
Edward,
the Right Honourable Captain Howard, dressed in blue and white, which some of
the officers in Queen Anne’s navy favoured,
strode into his godmother’s spacious house near St James Park.”
I had researched costume and the
area, but resisted the temptation to write a long description which would have
been exposition.
Also, I avoided using the word ‘was’
because it often tells instead of showing. e.g. Captain Howard was dressed in
blue and white tells instead of showing; so do the words were, had, feel, felt
and feeling, which should be used sparingly.
Fairy Tales continue
to have a glamour and grip on readers, whether young or old. Previously ‘Once
Upon a Time there was…’ often began the story. Today, a writer needs to cut
right into the core of the book.
Modern-day readers
are not prepared to read page after page of descriptive prose to reach the main
point.
The beginning of a
story needs to show the character.
Your comments would
be appreciated.
The
Captain and The Countess – Back Cover
Why
does heart-rending pain lurk in the back of the wealthy Countess of Sinclair’s
eyes?
Captain
Howard’s life changes forever from the moment he meets Kate, the intriguing
Countess and resolves to banish her pain.
Although
the air sizzles when widowed Kate, victim of an abusive marriage meets Edward
Howard, a captain in Queen Anne’s navy, she has no intention of ever marrying
again.
However,
when Kate becomes better acquainted with the Captain she realises he is the
only man who understands her grief and can help her to untangle her past.
The Captain and The Countess
Chapter
One
London
1706
Edward, the Right Honourable
Captain Howard, dressed in blue and white, which some of the officers in Queen
Anne’s navy favoured, strode into Mrs Radcliffe’s spacious house near St
James Park.
Perkins, his godmother’s butler,
took the captain’s hat and cloak. “Madam wants you to join her immediately.”
Instead of going upstairs to the
rooms his godmother had provided for him during his spell on half pay—the
result of a dispute with a senior officer—Edward entered the salon. He sighed.
When would his sixty-one-year old godmother accept that at the age of
twenty-two, he was not yet ready to wed?
He made his way across the
elegant, many-windowed room through a crowd of expensively garbed callers.
When Frances Radcliffe noticed
him, she turned to the pretty young lady seated beside her. “Mistress Martyn,
allow me to introduce you to my godson, Captain Howard.”
Blushes stained Mistress Martyn’s
cheeks as she stood to make her curtsey.
Edward bowed, indifferent to yet
another of his grandmother’s protégées. Conversation ceased. All eyes focussed
on the threshold.
“Lady Sinclair,” someone
murmured.
Edward turned. He gazed without
blinking at the acclaimed beauty, whose sobriquet was “The Fatal Widow”.
The countess remained in the
doorway, her cool blue eyes speculative.
Edward whistled low. Could her
shocking reputation be no more than tittle-tattle? His artist’s eyes observed
her. Rumour did not lie about her Saxon beauty.
…Continues
5*
Review by Mrs. Jennifer M. Black
Rosemary Morris lives and breathes the late Stewart period of
history. The world she describes, in which Morals and Rules were known and
adhered to, has vanished now, but her characters speak and behave in keeping
with what we know of the customs of the well-born of the time, which makes a
refreshing change to the huge amount of historical fiction where young girls
behave and think as they would in this century.
The Right Honourable Captain Edward Howard, a handsome young
naval officer and artist is at something of a loose end when he visits his
godmother – and ignores her attempts to marry him off to an empty-headed young
thing. Twenty-two years old, he meets Kate, Countess Sinclair, who is nine
years older than him and hides a terrible secret from her past life behind a
beautiful face and a formidable façade. Edward is at first intrigued and then
falls heavily for the lady, but she swears she will never marry again.
If you enjoy sentences put together with care and grace, dialogue
that sparkles without falling into clichés, slang and platitudes; if you want a
storyline with genuine twists and turns and a happy ending that comes as a
surprise and does not jar against the habits of the time, then this book will
give you, as it did me, great pleasure.
Novels
by Rosemary Morris
Early 18th Century novels
Tangled
Love,
Far Beyond Rubies, The Captain and The Countess Courtship.
Regency Novels
Sunday’s
Child, Monday’s Child, Tuesday’s
Child, Wednesday’s Child
Mediaeval Novel
Yvonne
Lady of Cassio. The Lovages of Cassio Book One
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