Category Archives: research

The Faces of World War One

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

This post originated as a guest post for Lust in Time in December, 2008. I rarely use photographs to give me character ideas, though occasionally after the story is in progress, or finished, I realize the character looks like a … Continue reading →

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Of Wolves and Men

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

This post includes some of my research on wolves, for Moonlight Mistress. I particularly liked Of Wolves and Men by Barry Holstun Lopez, because it featured a lot of observations he and others had made in the wild. The book … Continue reading →

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Reading For The Writer

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

One of the most important things I do as a writer is read. I don’t think it’s possible to become a writer unless you’re a reader first, and for most writers, reading is as integral to their development as writing … Continue reading →

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Excerpt from a War Nurse’s Diary: The Operation-Theatre

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Tomorrow’s post is by Crystal Jordan, who’s graciously agreed to visit. That’s her latest book’s cover illustrating this post. Today I have more from the nurse’s diary I’ve been reading. ### Towards the end of November we took over the … Continue reading →

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ANZAC Cookies

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

It is ANZAC Day. These cookies were meant to keep fresh for a long time, to be shipped by boat from Australia and New Zealand to the European front during World War One, but they are also very yummy cookies. … Continue reading →

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Theda Bara in "A Fool There Was"

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

As part of my research into the period of World War One, I watched a video copy of the 1915 Theda Bara movie, A Fool There Was. It’s a silent, intended both to titillate and to warn against dangerous women. … Continue reading →

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Excerpt from A War Nurse’s Diary: The General

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

The following is an excerpt from A War Nurse’s Diary: Sketches from a Belgian Field Hospital, published 1918 by Macmillan and now in the public domain. This sort of first-person account is sometimes more useful than anything else when researching … Continue reading →

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"The Good Old Naughty Days," silent erotica

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Several years ago, I saw “The Good Old Naughty Days,” a collection of silent French pornographic films, mostly from the 1920s. I was foiled in my hope of seeing a period brassiere–the women didn’t wear any, presumably because they were … Continue reading →

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Researching Pirates

Posted on April 9, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

The novel I’m currently writing has pirates! I am very excited by this, as pirates are a classic element in romance novels. Here’s what I’ve been reading so far, as research. Links are to Amazon.com. I started out with this … Continue reading →

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Synergy in Writing and Research

Posted on February 23, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

A good thing about writing several novels one after the other is that it becomes easier to notice patterns in the way one works. Some things I learned are generally applicable. For example, this time I know stretches of rough … Continue reading →

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