Guest Post with Author Jenna Jaxon

Today I would like to welcome to RFTC author Jenna Jaxon. Jenna is celebrating the recent release of her book Only Scandal Will Do and has stopped by to chat. Before I give the floor over to Jenna let's get to know her a bit.

Jenna Jaxon is a multi-published author of historical and contemporary romance. She is currently finishing revisions to her third full length novel, As Long As You’re Mine, set in Victorian London and Richmond, Virginia. Her Georgian novel, Only Scandal Will Do, the first in what she hopes will be a series of five interconnecting novels, will be released in May 2012.

Jenna has been reading and writing historical romance since she was a teenager. A romantic herself, she has always loved a dark side to the genre, a twist, suspense, a surprise. She tries to incorporate all of these elements into her own stories. She lives in Virginia with her family and a small menagerie of pets. When not reading or writing, she indulges her passion for the theatre, working with local theatres as a director. She often feels she is directing her characters on their own private stage.

She has equated her writing to an addiction to chocolate because once she starts she just can’t stop.

Places to find Jenna:

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“Don’t Let That Cull Lib Your Frigate;” or 18th Century Slang

We’ve all used slang in our speaking, haven’t we?

“That’s groovy, man.” or “He’s one righteous dude.” or “They’re making whoopee.”

The list goes on. Slang is defined as non-standard vocabulary. It has a couple of characteristics that make it unique: it’s regional and it’s fleeting. Slang words and phrases evolve in particular places, so unless it spreads across the country or around the world--and some words do become recognized nationally or even globally--for the most part people speaking slang on the West Coast won’t be understood by the people speaking slang on the East Coast. And when we hop “across the pond” to Britain, slang is completely different.

And because slang changes very quickly, by the time you’ve used it a couple of months, it’s out of fashion and something else has taken its place. I mean, who says “groovy, man’ anymore?

So, take slang back almost 300 years and how hard is it to write convincing and understandable dialogue using words and phrases from the 18th century?

My answer, pretty darn hard. Now, there are some wonderful sources for slang of the period: The Memoirs of Pascal Bonenfant Website has a very helpful canting dictionary as well as other period material helpful to the novelist; a ‘1736 Canting Dictionary of Thieves Language”; and Jack Lynch’s “A Guide to Eighteenth Century English Vocabulary.”

The latter is much more for slang terms or simply period terms that have gone out of use in today’s society, such as “abigail”--a female servant, often a maid; “corn” meant any grain, including wheat and barley; and “divert,” meaning to entertain or amuse.

The two former sources, speak of “cant” which is a vulgar speech usually spoken by the lowest denizens--like thieves and cutthroats and all unsavory underworld characters. The use of cant, therefore, by upper class characters can be an indication of their character. While it was a form of speech most people would have been familiar with, the upper classes would seldom if ever have used it in polite society--women and children never.

Yet, if properly used, it can lend lots of color to your story and characters. The title of this post is in cant and means “Don’t let that man lie with (or tumble) your woman.” The cant words and phrases are fascinating: a “fiddle” was a writ to arrest you, to “nim” was to steal, the word “rum” meant “fine, rich, best or excellent.” When used as a pre-fix to other words, however, the meaning changed drastically. A “rum-diver” was a clever pickpocket, a “rum-Bob was a sly trick, a “rum-Doxy” was a beautiful woman.

So the line between using and not using historical slang is a fine one to tread. Use too much and your reader will be lost; use not enough and you lose the flavor of the period. In Only Scandal Will Do, I tried to ease in enough slang terms to keep the reader in the period. One character refers to Duncan as a “Martin Marplot” after a character in a fashionable play, the same character uses “’sblood,” a period contraction of the oath “God’s blood,” and the term “pay his vowels” was period slang for paying an IOU. I tried to sprinkle the phrases and words throughout the book, hopefully with context clues that would lead the reader toward an understanding of both character and action. A fun and challenging part of the writer’s craft and one I look forward to with every book I write.

Scandal bought him the woman of his dreams; now he will pay any price to win her heart.

Lady Katarina Fitzwilliam—kidnapped, sold at auction inLondon’s notorious House of Pleasure—must pit her wits against the masked stranger who purchased her. Although overwhelmed by her attraction to the man, Kat returns to her senses before he causes her utter ruin, bashes him over the head and escapes.

Duncan Ferrers, Marquess of Dalbury—rake and master swordsman—is one scandal away from social ruin when he discovers his latest romp has compromised a lady. He seeks out the fiery Katarina, intending only to scotch the scandal and gain the wife he needs to carry on his family line. Instead he finds his heart ensnared by the beauty who wields a sword as well as he. Determined to marry her, Duncan uses desperate measures to convince Katarina that what began in scandal can become the marriage of her dreams.

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