Writer's dilemmas

I picked up a Writer's Digest Genre Writing Series How To Write Romances by Phyllis Taylor Pianka at the Goodwill. It has some succinct advice which I am taking to heart. Lo and behold it talks about the too frequently used opening scene "where the heroine is arriving in (some sort of conveyance) and has time alone to think about why she is there and what is about to happen." Unknowingly, I have done that. Can I change it and reflect back to the things that were accomplished in that scene, probably, More importantly, can it get me a many words closer to the first critical scene? Yes. So, back to the drawing board, or the computer. I will give it a try and see what happens. There is a good description of a fellow traveler in there I hate to lose, so I might have her remember her ride while lying in bed? considering her fate? talking with her father? Writing is not for whimps!

Lady Hamilton

While married to William Hamilton, the Ambassador to Naples, Lady Emma was introduced to Admiral Nelson. Though the port of Naples was avoiding involvement in the war between England and France, Emma was able to convince her friend, Queen Caroline, to allow Nelson's ship to resupply there. Damaged from war with a disabled arm and a blind eye, Emma took pity on the admiral and soon that pity led to more as she became his mistress in an odd relationship carried on under Sir William's own roof. Eventually, after Sir William's death, Emma fathered a child by Nelson. Society as a whole did not react unfavorably to the supposed "god child" of Nelson's as his hero status from the victory at Trafalgar stood out in the public's mind.

Emma Hart

It isn’t great to be the second son of an earl.  The first born gets it all; the estate, the title, and the income. After that, a small annuity was all Charles Greville received. After his father, the 2nd Earl of Warwick died, that annuity only got smaller. So when faced with rising debts and a lifestyle beyond his means, a man of the upper crust as Lord Greville definitely was did what men and women did in that position; marry into fortune. It is not easy to shop for a wife with a mistress in tow, and so it was that Emma Hart was shipped off to Charles’ uncle William, his mother’s brother ,who held the position of Ambassador in Naples.  For Charles, his uncle paid the nephew’s debts, saving the family from some amount of disgrace. For Emma, it was a chance to further her schooling in the classics. For Sir William, it was the chance to grace his parlor with a beauty comparable to some of the Greek statues he collected. As time went by and Charles did not find a wife or fetch Emma back, a fondness grew whereupon Emma and Sir William were married subsequent to Sir William’s wife’s death. Thus Emma Hart became Lady Emma Hamilton, but that is still not the entire story of Emma.

Charles Francis Greville

So who was The Right Honorable Charles Francis Greville? He was the second son of the Earl of Warwick,  once occupied a seat in Parliament, was brother to the King's equerry, was a member of several scientific societies, and owner of one of the most extensive mineral collections in the world which would become the basis of the collection in the British Museum. Lord Greville did have that vanilla orchid bloom in his greenhouse, but he is probably better known for having Emma Hart in his bed. He took her in pregnant by another man, moved her to his previous dwelling on Paddington while he lived part time elsewhere, changed her name, and began to instruct her in everything it would take to introduce her to finer society. She was a beauty and painted by George Romney in several different costumes. Romney also did this portrait of Greville. Here it is. Check his features out because I am going to have some questions about him. Yeah, and so what became of this Emma Hart? Why don't I know who you are talking about, yet?

Vanilla comes from an orchid?

When I came across the little known fact that in 1806 Charles Francis Greville had a  vanilla orchid bloom in his greenhouse at Paddington Square just outside of London, I had no idea what an important tidbit that was going to become for me. I had no idea that I would take that fact and run with it. Run with it for about

175, 000 words or so.  All I could say was who is Charles Francis Greville?  and Vanilla beans come from an orchid? Looking back now, I see it was fate that took me on a long journey of discovery from Google to The Gardener's Daughter . I was destined to write the story.

Anne Drake becomes Anne Blake

I had a starting point. Pouring over Jack Kramer's book, Women of Flowers, with all the beautiful illustrations and information, I found an artist, Anne Drake, that Mr. Kramer said little was known about and thought aha!,

she can be my format to create a fictitious female artist. I can fill in the blanks with a story about her life, artistry, and who knew what else.  When I was wandering in Googleville, however, I found that a great deal was known about Miss Drake and that she was indeed not going to be my heroine after all.  I had written a few vignettes by then using her name, so my lazy resolve was to change her last name to Blake from Drake and off I went again! Anne Blake and her father, George, were born.

Botanical drawings

My interest in botanical drawing is really where my thoughts about the story I was going to write began.  I have always loved the look of those drawings. When I started the project I knew little more than that.  The purpose of such drawings, I came to find out,was the identification of plants as they might be used by an apothecary or physician.  The lore of herbs was passed down with the pictures of the plants and their curative characteristics. Though it was often women who made these drawings, if they were not of noble birth or somehow connected to a male of some importance, the artist was either ignored or even ridiculed as the work was claimed to be too good to have been done by the hand of a woman. At best they were only able to sign "Anonymous". Until the time of Linnaeus and his identification premise came forth in the mid 18th century, there was no set rule for identification. Without cameras, botanical drawing was the only way to sort through the new discoveries rushing into England and the continent from explorations around the world.  It was the book, Women of Flowers  by Jack Kramer that opened my eyes to the history of botanical drawing and the hard trail these often unappreciated artists endured to practice their skills. It was the place my journey into writing would begin.