Today I welcome fellow Fantasy and Romance author Margaret McGaffey Fisk to Romance Spinners. I've asked her some deep questions and she's come back with some thoughtful and rather interesting answers.
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| Margaret McGaffey Fisk living the wild life. |
Margaret McGaffey Fisk is a storyteller whose tales often cross genres and worlds to bring the events and characters to life. She currently writes romance, science fiction, and fantasy but will go wherever the story takes her.
A daughter of diplomats, her early years were filled with many cultures, both very much alive and long turned to dust, and people who both pondered the great thoughts and were grand pranksters. Whether from wild adventures into the desert to climb sand mountains, poking around little known archeological sites, or visiting bazaars and inner cities, she came out of that time with a love of culture and an all too sharp awareness of culture clash.
She currently lives in a Nevada desertscape with her husband, and a rotating collection of cats and sons. When not exercising her creative muscles, she has been known to tame the relatives of beasts in the wild–feral cats.
In a different time, you’d find her before a bonfire or with a mug of ale and a lute spinning tales for all who are in earshot. Now, though, you can read her explorations of loyalty, love, and cultural conflict wherever you might be.
Darn tooting she's got some stories to tell.
HWK: You and I share a love for Sweet Regency Romance. What do you love about this
genre?
MMF: I was a bit of an Anglophile growing up, in
part because I had many British teachers, but it's the contradiction of the
Regency Era that draws me. On the one hand, you have strict, rigid rules of
society and position (though not as strict as the Victorian Era), and you have
a heavy drinker/partier as Regent, following on the heels of a king gone mad.
The rules were broken left and right, but if you did it within the wink and
nod, there were no consequences and even approval. Someone like Beau Brummel
could rise from the rank and file to drive society, and could just as easily
plummet back down. It's upheaval with a veneer of civility. Young women raised never
to let a hint of scandal touch their names while lovers climb out of their
mothers' windows in the night and their fathers are off watching lewd shows.
But that doesn't answer the sweet, and to
be honest, I don't have a good answer for that beyond reading a ton of Georgette
Heyer and having Pride and Prejudice as
my one consistent reread. I enjoy visiting the period whether or not the novel
is sweet or explicit in nature.
As to why I write it, the answer is a
little different and yet much of the same. When I first started the Uncommon
Lords and Ladies series, Beneath the Mask
met the contemporary romance expectations, but there was so much to explore in
their social situation that ultimately the sex brought nothing to the table. I
cut the scene during edits and have never looked back.
HWK: In BENEATH THE MASK your heroine Lady Daphne chooses to pursue a career on the
*gasp* stage! How terribly scandalous. Why did the theatre arts such as acting
and dancing have such a bad reputation in Regency times? Today, they are considered
rather respectable crafts. Why do you think this changed?
MMF: I believe the scandal had to do with
performance and exposure, both physical as the costumes were often revealing
(at least for the times) and social in putting yourself on display for any
comer. The strictures on acting and dancing by the 19th century were most
likely in part a reaction to earlier excesses, such as the queen performing
partially nude in the 17th century, but could also be a simple consequence of
the low salaries. Those who were attracted to the arts would come from the
lower classes, and their best hope would be to find wealth and elevation by
catching some nobleman's eye either to become an accessory or a lover. With
randy noblemen on the hunt for light skirts, no father would consider it an
appropriate occupation even for a spinster or widow, nor would a husband.
Though wealthy widows might have had some aspects of freedom, the men
controlled the women in most of English society.
The theatrical arts themselves, especially
acting, were quite appreciated and often an anticipated part of a country
visit. The guests would take parts and perform a play, but their audience would
be the guests themselves and perhaps the household staff. Certainly no
strangers would be invited off the street to observe.
A feminist (and well supported by the
evidence of the times) view would say the wives and daughters of the wealthy
were bargaining chips worth too much to expend on a stage open to the masses. A
wife's reputation and contacts among the upper class and nobility could open
doors, but even with mistresses from the lower classes accepted into some parts
of society, a wealthy or noble woman could only reduce her reputation by
associating with such outside of the constraints of society itself.
In terms of the modern impression of the
arts, I'd have to say all the scorn of the 19th century is still alive and well
for any who do not achieve the spotlight, as are more questionable venues for
both dance and theater. Few children are encouraged to pursue a love of the
theater or dance, and often pushed to see it as a hobby with a more stable
career as the main even when they are. Unless gaining early fame and fortune,
that is. At the same time, there is more opportunity in the arts, and more methods
to find a viable audience now than there ever were. The main difference is that
a man is not considered a wastrel and a woman of loose virtues now. Instead,
the focus is on income.
HWK: In your Uncommon Lords & Ladies series, you feature heroes and heroines who
balk social conventions. What is so appealing about this kind of rebellion?
MMF: Aren't we all rebels at heart whether or
not we act on those desires? The status quo offers two approaches for
interesting stories: someone outside who comes in or someone inside who moves
out. That's a simplification, but it's what creates the larger than life drama
that feeds both the romantic and adventurous hearts.
To be honest, though, I didn't set out to
choose these characters. Daphne told me what she was up to and I was hooked.
Rebellion opens the possibility of mystery, adventure, and the chance to let
the characters stumble so they can learn more about themselves than a normal
life offers. Sometimes, they're balking as much from the modern perception of
the era than the actual, but it lets me talk about the conventions without
conforming to them. Which is more interesting? Having Lady Scarborough tell
Daphne dance is scandalous or having Daphne cross that social line to
experience the trials and expectations faced by the dancers?
HWK: What modern societal convention do you think needs to be rebelled against?
MMF: There are half a dozen specific conventions
I think have gone sideways, but the biggest weakness I see in modern society is
the decline of personal responsibility. You might think that's not a convention
per se, but it is something being supported by what society encourages and how
it responds to those not taking responsibility.
It is, I believe, almost single-handedly
responsible for the runaway nature of personal injury lawsuits that are
crippling the United States and why medical malpractice insurance is so high
doctors cannot afford their own practices. There is a place for both those
legal actions, but when a person running down the sidewalk on an icy day can
sue the shop owner for negligence over a patch of ice with no consideration to
their deliberate failure to adopt a good speed (whether or not they win),
everyone loses. It's the same on the medical side where doctors can be sued for
less than optimum results in risky procedures instead of using the action to
remove those who don't take the proper care. Then you have parents who are
afraid to have their children's friends over because if they get hurt, as kids
do, the other parents might sue.
If people would take responsibility for
their own actions, then these legal remedies could be used to improve things
rather than making everyone afraid of their shadow, while it becomes harder to
separate action from consequence and therefore to cast blame where none
belongs.
HWK: You're a hybrid author (published both traditional and indie). Why did you
choose to go hybrid?
MMF: I have been making inroads on the
traditional side in short form, and I appreciate every editor who gave my
stories a chance. However, though I have had some encouraging responses, I
never got past the barriers set up between readers and the stories they could
enjoy with my long works. When the indie road opened, I ignored its call and
continued submitting to the gatekeepers. I got frustrating responses about how
even though the agents liked the book, they couldn't sell it among the
"not for me" responses, but no one was willing to champion what I was
sending out. Then one day I became fed up. I took a manuscript I had never sent
out, but one which resonated with my creative spirit, put it through the
wringer with edits and editors, and threw it out onto the court of public
opinion.
Though none of my novels has broken out so
far, as an indie, I can look to the long haul rather than those precious first
three weeks. The response from readers has been good, so my stories clearly
resonate. They just need time for the word to spread. That's something I would
never have been given in traditional publishing because of how that model is
set up, which is exactly why the agents passed on stories that resonated with
them.
I'm not saying I would never consider a
traditional contract should one be offered. What the indie path offers is what
works for me at this point in my career and life. Should that change, or the
right contract come along, I'd be happy to hybridize more than just my short
fiction.
HWK: Eco-terrorists take over the government and pass a law banning all automobiles.
What do you do next?
MMF: Cry? You have to understand, I am still
driving my very first car some 25 years later. She's getting on in years
(eligible for classic status here in Nevada), but she still gets better gas
mileage than many new cars, is lovely to drive, and doesn't let me down.
Seriously, though, when I was in my late
teens, I was working full time and didn't have a car. I went everywhere with
bicycle, and mass transit when available, so I know it's possible in the right
circumstances. Even eco-terrorists would quickly learn, however, banning
automobiles without providing a viable alternative is unsupportable between the
many rural areas without mass transit service and the trend, at least in the US,
for suburban living. The economy would grind to a halt, resulting in people
making worse decisions just to survive, so I don't think it would last all that
long.
HWK: Preach it! If you could convince the world of ANYTHING, what would you want
them to know?
Of all your questions, this is the
easiest...and the most difficult at the same time. I would like to convince the
world that negativity begets negativity. People wonder why everyone is getting
more distrusting and isolated with each generation, but to me it's obvious. The
media focuses on the negative while relegating the "feel good"
stories to the inner pages if they warrant a mention at all. Do-gooders are
scorned rather than held up for emulation while a slow news day searches out
minor disasters in distant lands rather than looking at some of the good
happening locally.
Know that old saying "you are what you
eat?" Well, in my experience, it's the same with what you consume in other
ways as well. Multiple studies have shown that even forced smiles produce the
chemicals to improve your mood while I don't know anyone who can deny if you
focus on the negative you start to see everything as negative. Why can't the
same be true of positives?
I'm not saying everyone should go around
rescuing people from burning buildings. I'm talking about the steps every
single person can take on their own that don't require money or power. They
require choice. Say hi to the commuter you pass on the street every morning or
even just smile. If nothing else, their startled reaction will offer a chuckle
to improve your mood.
I like the gratitude memes that have been
going around. They encourage people to take stock of all the good that's in
their lives no matter how dark might seem. Sometimes the good is a stray cat
who lets you pet him or a sunshine day after three rainy ones (or vice versa).
It does not take success, money, position, or any of those things people strive
their whole lives for while trampling the flowers that would have offered joy
for nothing. All happiness requires is you choose to see it in the little ways
joy exists all around you.
You did say preach it, right?
HWK: Absolutely!
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Margaret's second book in the Uncommon Lords and Ladies series is A COUNTRY MASQUERADE.
A Country Masquerade is the second in
Uncommon Lords and Ladies, which began with Beneath the Mask.
Lady Barbara Whitfeld’s dreams are
shattered when she overhears a harsh condemnation from the one lord she’s set
her heart on. If he thinks her frivolous then she’ll show Lord Aubrey St.
Vincent just how frivolous she can be. Despite popularity with the ton, and the
gossip an absence will provoke, Lady Barbara is banished to her uncle’s farm in
the hopes she’ll learn maturity.
Lord Aubrey believes in true love, but
finds none among the season’s debutantes who provokes even the slightest
interest. No one, that is, until Lady Barbara gives him a cut direct in Hyde
Park. After fruitless searching, he learns she quit London before he could discover
how he offended her. Lord Aubrey heads to the country to escape the season only
to find himself drawn to a young farm girl, none other than Lady Barbara in
country guise.
Can Aubrey overcome his qualms about her
unsuitability before Barbara’s plans to teach him a lesson destroy any chance
they might have?
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