Identity theft?

How far should a novelist go in researching the names she gives her characters? Of course character names should be appropriate for the time and place the book is set.  Should a novelist investigate any further?

Recently, I was reading a review of a romance novel set in London in the 1830s. The hero was the Duke of Lennox. Lennox is a real Scottish dukedom that has been around, on and off, since the sixteenth century. The present line descends from an illegitimate son of Charles II. The holder of the title at the time the novel was set was the fifth duke, who had served with Wellington in the Peninsular campaign and subsequently entered politics. The character in the novel was not him.

Another time, I came across a Regency romance in which the hero was Philip Stanhope. There was a real Philip Stanhope. Several of them, in fact. Stanhope was the family name of the earls of Chesterfield and the earls Stanhope. Four earls of Chesterfield and three earls Stanhope were called Philip.

Philip, fourth Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773) is best known for his letters to his son.

Philip, fourth Earl Stanhope (1781-1855) was a somewhat eccentric, well travelled man - characteristics he shared with his much more famous half-sister, Lady Hester Stanhope. But again, the character in the novel was not him.

The Stanhopes who entered politics did not rise to very high office, but they were well connected with those who did. Lady Hester's maternal grandfather was William Pitt the Elder, first Earl of Chatham. Her maternal uncle was William Pitt the Younger. Until his death she lived with him and acted as hostess for him, as he was unmarried.

The third Earl Stanhope's second wife, Louisa Grenville, was stepmother to Lady Hester and mother to the fourth earl. She was niece to one Prime Minister, George Grenville, and cousin to another, William Grenville.

Dukedoms and earldoms are unique; they can only be held by one person at a time. A writer cannot, therefore, say that her character just happens to have the same name as a real life aristocrat. None of this information is hard to find, especially when someone is already researching the period.

These people may not have been especially great or heroic or distinguished, but they lived their lives and had their achievements. Novelists have plenty of names to choose from. Why take one away from a real person?

Twitter and Daffodils

I've started  a Twitter account. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but anyone who wants to can find me there @WriterVictoria. If I've set things up properly, my Tweets will appear below the posts here, and links to my posts here will be Tweeted there.

This photo was taken in York a few years ago, but following the warm weekend we've just had, daffodils seem to have come into bloom everywhere almost overnight. Hosts of golden daffodils indeed.

The cover that wasn't

In discussions about self publishing, a widely held view seems to be that the cover of the book is of paramount importance. Self-publishers, it's said, should be prepared to spend money on professionally designed covers for their books.

It's true that the covers of some self published books do look amateurish. But then mainstream publishers don't always get it right either. How often does one see a cover on which the heroine has the wrong hair colour, or is wearing a dress that  is quite wrong for the date at which the book is set?

For various reasons I didn't go for a professional cover for Inheritance of Secrets, but designed my own. Having made the decision to publish on Kindle, I had limited time in which to do it, and finding a cover artist and conveying what I wanted would have taken too long.

Also, I was approaching this as a learning process and thought it would be useful to start at a point from which I could tweak or change everything to see what worked best.

I wanted to feature a young woman on the cover, to represent my central character. I went looking on the internet and found a picture that was just what I wanted. The woman in the picture is prettier than my heroine, but everything else is just right.

Then I discovered that it's a portrait of Emma Hamilton by George Romney. I thought potential readers might recognise it as Emma and be misled into thinking the book was about her. With regret, I abandoned it.

I chose instead an image I had of a suitable house. Not as good as a person, but the house is important to the story. I wanted to establish that it is not a mansion. 

I think the picture I used establishes the mood and setting of the story quite well. But I still wish I could have used Emma.