Doing edits isn't my favourite way of spending my time, but it has to be done. I write in two genres - historical romance and paranormal romantic suspense, and sometimes, when I get edits in for a book in each genre, it's interesting to note the differences.
My contemporary romances are sexier, and they have heroines who know what they want and how to get it, both in and out of the bedroom. But my historical heroines have to behave appropriately to the period - they're more restrained, less likely to be experienced and sometimes more of a challenge to write, because they can come across as wimps to a modern reader.
I love writing in both genres, I think it keeps me fresh, but this week, when among a slew of edits I received edits for both "Red Heat" and for "Yorkshire" (the latter is the historical) it brought home to me just how different my style is, too.
In my contemporaries I often write American heroes and heroines, so the obvious difference in language is there, and it filters through to the narrative. My point of view in the contemporaries is often much closer and intimate, whereas I like to step back a little in the historicals, even though "Yorkshire" is written in the first person. Rose sees the world around her, and it affects how she feels about everything else, including her beloved Richard. And the reader needs the details. When I write a contemporary, I can take it that the reader knows about certain basic things, like how to operate a computer or a TV, so I don't have to spell it out, but in a historical, things my characters would have instinctively known aren't obvious. In the early chapters of "Yorkshire," there is a carriage accident which is one of the centres of the plot, and I find I have to describe the workings and how the accident happened in more detail, because the modern reader doesn't come across horse drawn carriages every day (unless they live near Central Park!)
Anyway, more about "Yorkshire" nearer the time, but for now, I've put the cover art for "Yorkshire" and the the recently released "Moonfire" just to demonstrate the differences between the genres! Kudos to the artists, I have very little to do with the cover art, but the artists always produce superb covers for me. So Les Byerley ("Moonfire") and Natalie Winters ("Yorkshire")
"Moonfire" is currently available at Ellora's Cave, here:
http://www.jasminejade.com/p-5043-moonfire.aspx
"Yorkshire" is coming to Samhain in December:
http://samhainpublishing.com/coming/yorkshire
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