There's more difference between historical and contemporary books than the type of clothes the characters wear. My agent just sent back the edited copy of the contemporary I recently finished. With seven historicals to my credit and only three contemporaries, it's obvious I'm quite comfortable writing historicals. But even though there are no corsets or cage crinolines, there are thongs, demi-bras, sports bras and other garments worn by the contemporary heroine. And all kinds of oils and lotions to use when making love that weren't around two hundred years ago.But the difference between the two genres goes deeper than clothing. Speech, for example.
There are contractions in a person's speech. In my historic world, American Indians don't use contractions, but they are used sparingly by others. My contemporary didn't use enough contractions. It does now. And I used several phrases in my contemporary which I thought were in common use, but my agent didn't know what I was talking about. Maybe I'm showing my age.
But, through my agent's diligence, every place a contraction was needed, it's there now. And every sports bra is ripped off the correct way. One final read-through is all that's needed before I send it back to her, and it gets sent out again. I hope it sells and that I can finish the trilogy. I like the family I'm writing about. And I had an idea yesterday for another contemporary story. About bourbon. Don't ask for details. It's still at the simmer stage.
How about you? Is it thongs or cage crinolines for you? I'm taking a poll.
I like contemporary. But that's just me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting, Sheila. I like contemporary, too.
ReplyDeleteContemporary. I like the idea that love can be happening here and now. For me, historicals just don't ring true. There was a lot of muck and waste, stink and cruelty that we have to ignore when writing historical romance. But...this is just my take on things, Becky. All the best to you.
ReplyDeleteI do find it funny that when writing historicals, we do tend to gloss over the lack of indoor plumbing.
ReplyDeleteI love both genres!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sophia. Obviously, I love both as well. I think each offers the reader and the writer a different set of challenges, and I find that refreshing.
ReplyDeleteContemporary all the way but I'd like to tackle a time-travel some day. Fun post!
ReplyDeleteI love the concept of time-travel, but I find the modes to transport to be a problem with most of them. I'd like to tackle one, too, but I need to figure out how to get my heroine to travel back 200 years.
ReplyDeleteI love them both! I'm currently writing in both genres and love to read both, but in the end I think historical has a slight edge for me. Cute post! Love the thongs!
ReplyDeleteIf I had to choose--at gunpoint mind you--between a thong and crinoline, I'd take the crinoline. I'm into maximum coverage these days.
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