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StoriesYou are in: Wiltshire > People > Stories > Mills & Boon and Regency underwear Mills & Boon and Regency underwearLocal Mills & Boon author, Nicola Cornick, talks about sex, romance and Regency underwear..  The stereotype Dame Sally Markham aka Matt Lucas.. They're renowned for their 'tales of helpless heroines swept off their feet by dashing, mildly brutish heroes' but Mills & Boon, this year celebrating its centenary, is still proving the power of love. It might be a love that's been a tad sexed-up, over the last 100 years, but it's still shifting 13 million books in the UK and a jaw dropping 200 million copies worldwide. Each month 70 new titles hit the shelves written by a stable of romance writers from around the world.Ìý  ...and the real romance writer Nicola Cornick Although most prefer to lurk behind noms de plume Nicola Cornick, from Ashbury near Swindon, is not only out and proud but is on her 26th book for the romantic publishers:  When I started writing I didn't have the common sense to use a pseudonym so I write under my own name.Ìý If I did have a pen name though it would be something very historical, something that sounds very sort of Regency… Sophia something.
But to be honest I've never had a negative reaction to my face and I've never pretended to do a different sort of job or hide the fact that I write for Mills & Boon. My husband is very proud of me and what I do.Ìý Which I think is really sweet.Ìý We've been married for 20 years and definitely the type of character I write about is him.Ìý Physically probably not but I write about a man I kind of admire and that is totally my husband. How many pages?I find writing really hard but then every author I know finds writing really hard work.Ìý I'm writing 80,000 words, which takes about six months, and I average about two and a half books a year. My last book took me a whole year. So I don't churn them out, as people put it.  Nicola's latest book "The Last Rake in London" There's quite a lot of sex in my books but in a very romantic way of course.Ìý Occasionally my editor has said to me that maybe we should tone that scene down a little bit but as far as I'm concerned there aren't any boundaries on what they tell you to write. Because the books are very sexy, you really do have to be in the right frame of mind to write certain scenes.
I'm at that point in my current manuscript where, for the last few days, I've thought I just didn't feel very romantic at the moment.Ìý It was like a damp squib with these characters.Ìý There was just no chance of them even kissing each other let alone anything else.Ìý And then suddenly yesterday I thought: 'Yes, I can write that scene now.' Because you write about stuff like that, people think that you're going to tell them your most intimate secrets.Ìý I've been asked in the past if I write from experience and I've said: 'Some experience and a lot of imagination' and they just wouldn't let it go… 'There's a scene in your book where the hero and the heroine are having sex in the snow… did you try that?'  One of Nicola's books was used in a Manga comic Getting out of Regency underwearResearch wise, though, you do really need to know the sort of dresses that were fashionable and what they felt like.Ìý It's lots of fun especially the underwear because of course the underwear was really different then and, in order to write a sexy book, you need to know how to get someone out of their underwear. It's quite easy actually.Ìý You just pull the laces and the bodice comes off.Ìý But, of course, if you want to be really sexy you have someone just cut through the laces. My granny, who only died a few months ago, always read my books first and she was like my ideal reader.  She'd read every book first and each one got slightly more shocking and each time I'd say: 'Now Nana, you know you need to be sitting down very calmly when you read this and you can skip the few pages…' and she'd say: 'Oh that was so shocking but I wouldn't miss any of this for the world.' Nicola has been selected to become Wiltshire's Writer in Residence for the launch of the UK's National Year of Reading.ÌýTo find out about some of the work she'll be doing, with the library authority, to help promote and celebrate reading events or to find out more about Nicola herself click on the link below:Nicola Cornick website The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of external websites last updated: 22/05/2008 at 14:02 Have Your SayYou are in: Wiltshire > People > Stories > Mills & Boon and Regency underwear  Wiltshire above ground, below ground and at ground level....  A round-up of Wiltshire's wildlife... |
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