Sometimes all I have to hear is a word or a hint of a suggestion, and a book
takes shape and flows. Sometimes, all it takes is a challenge.
I was told there was no way anyone would publish a Regency Romance that
dealt with homosexuality. (This was 1985, remember, and a decade ago is a
generation ago in our generation). I was told writing such a book would be
an exercise in futility. Of course, I had to try. I went to the history
books. It turned out people living in the Regency era felt the same way.
Homosexuality was a crime - a capital offense in those days. But it was
only the poor and unconnected that were actually hanged for it.
I had to write the ABANDONED BRIDE. Signet was brave enough to publish it.
I treated the subject carefully. I think it worked. I'd write it no
differently now. I think it's not the subject matter but the amount of
subtlety used in dealing with the subject that marks a Regency novel. Do you
agree?