Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh!
You can't put Braveheart on there! 
I forced my husband to watch Princess Bride! I kept whining and complaining until he agreed! About ten minute in he was a fan! Haha!
151 2015-01-10 06:22:10
Re: Favourite romance movies (28 replies, posted in Romance Inc.)
152 2015-01-10 04:19:28
Re: Favourite romance movies (28 replies, posted in Romance Inc.)
Ah so many to choose!
You've got Mail. Which (surprise, surprise) I liked more then Shop around the Corner and In the Good Old Summertime.
153 2015-01-10 04:16:22
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Janet
You are too funny! 
154 2015-01-10 04:11:17
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
njc wrote:
Well, if this particular Pendragon had Merlin, then your friend might be right.
So ... Great King, King, Low King?
You could also use King, Low King, Tribe's King.
In the US Navy, one of the flag (Admiral) ranks has an Upper Half and a Lower Half, to provide five peacetime grades matching the Army's five peacetime grades.
Cool! I had no idea!
155 2015-01-10 03:31:20
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
KHippolite wrote:
janet reid wrote:* copied the reply in the romance group to here *
And the ugly beast known as TNBW groups rears its head and bites yet another multi-genre story.
My story doesn't fit in either group. I just joined these groups because the people who were reading my work and (most) of the people whose work I am reading are in these two groups.
I did actually have an acquaintance who, when he heard that my novel was called "The Pendragon", insisted that I was writing about "the acult" and that I was too embarrassed to admit it...
156 2015-01-10 03:25:55
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
njc wrote:
So there are four grades, High/Pendragon, Great, Middle, and Low?
Oh! Yes! That is correct!
Sorry I wasn't clear. I misunderstood...
There are four levels of kings. But the top one is the Pendragon/High King.
157 2015-01-09 23:49:14
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
njc wrote:
So ... King and Low King? How it works depends on how often the distinction must be made in direct address.
Which raises another question: are they styled differently?
For Great King, I had people call them "king", like "King Gurgust" or "King Moilmut".
For Middle King, I had people call them "lord", like "Lord Tedig" or "Lord Peredur".
And for Lesser/Low King, I had people call them "chieftain", like "Chieftain Sæfugul".
I made the distinction all the time, because I thought it was easier for readers to understand the hierarchy of Late Ancient Britain. If I change them all to "King", I fear a lack of consistent distinction will further confuse readers who will be wondering why King Tedig can't just be happy ruling his own spot of land and has to encroach on King Gurgst's territory. Or why King Peredur has the say in Pengwern that would keep Drech from being allowed to rule it. If I changed all of the "lord"s and "chieftain"s to "king"s, I would thus feel compelled to put "Middle-King" and "Lesser-King" (or "Low-King" as you suggested) all the time in the narration so that the reader does not get confused.
158 2015-01-09 22:20:04
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
njc wrote:
Wait, I thought that High King is the Pendragon. Or have others claimed the title?
Yes, the "High King" of Albion is the Pendragon!
No one but Vitalinus has dared claim the title. Vitalinus is thus Drech's only real challenger for supreme power over Albion. Everyone else who is against Drech just doesn't want to have to submit to authority.
159 2015-01-09 19:47:05
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
KHippolite wrote:
Rebecca Vaughn wrote:King was easy (direct translation)
Lord came from Lord of Man who was the supreme ruler of that little island at one time.
Chieftain from Celtic clan system.
For simplicity's sake of their wives were called "queen", all of their sons call "prince", and all of their daughters "lady".
"You know my wife, Queen Tegeingl," Lord Artglys said introducing them
Okay, super... I can finally stop stumbling on these parts. No more backwards scramble through the spreadsheet to find out if Artglys owned any kingdoms. Those 4 important lines you posted there perhaps they should go as a glossary in book 1?
So many this comes down to I need to post a glossary of characters, places, and titles... ?
160 2015-01-09 19:45:45
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
amy s wrote:
What about mid-King? The translation would still be accurate this way. What are the welsh words for high, middle and low/lesser? Just curious. Are there other translations for these words that you might use?
Great King might be Nerthol Rhi but there are a lot of terms for "great" "mighty or "powerful" so I would have to do some Welsh Language research before I felt confident in a choice.
Middle King would probably be Canol Rhi (as Janet TP pointed out to me)
Lesser King would probably be Leiaf Rhi
161 2015-01-08 01:00:39
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Okay. Cool or not, Rhi is off the table.
It seems anything I use, I have to explain.
I'm going to have to think about this.
162 2015-01-06 21:28:07
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
K
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!
What you are telling me is that I didn't make an error! My titles are just too confusing!
Sigh.
I'll check them anyway. I had a few people who changed titles over the different drafts, so I need to make sure I didn't mess them up.
163 2015-01-06 21:25:17
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
NJC
Low would definitely work in place of Lesser! Good suggestion!
164 2015-01-06 20:01:12
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
K
I did a word search for "King Find" and didn't get anything. So, I must have already corrected that error. ... Or it was another "Lord" who got magically changed to "King"?
I'll check all of my titles.
I do have some people changing titles on purpose. (Lady Anna married and became Queen Anna, and Lord Cadell is made King of Powys and thus becomes King Cadell.) Maybe I need to explain title changes better?
165 2015-01-06 19:48:18
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Janet R
If I changed all the titles to Welsh they would probably all turn into "rhi"
King Gurgust = Rhi Gurgust
Lord Hywel = Rhi Hywel
Chieftain Saefugul = Rhi Saefugul
So now I have the problem that Rhi Gurgust rules over Rhi Hywel who rules over Rhi Saefugul.
Now I'm confused!
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
166 2015-01-06 19:38:19
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
K, Janet R, NJC
"High King" is the Pendragon. So I don't actually use that term in my stories.
What if I used "Great" Middle" and "Lesser" on kings and queens both:
King Moilmut becomes Great King Moilmut
Queen Benadel becomes Great Queen Benadel
Lord Find becomes Middle King Find
Queen Gweldyr becomes Middle Queen Gweldyr
I can't add "great" "middle" or "lesser" to "prince" or "lady" as that would be inconsistent with the Brythonic titles and mess up one of my major plot points.
167 2015-01-06 19:21:51
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Janet R
In trying to be consistent with ledgends which called the daughters of kings "ladies" but the sons of kings "princes", I reserved the title "princess" for women who are married to "princes". So every "Princess" is married (or widowed). And every "Lady" has never been married.
I see what you mean about being unique. Would it not be to confusing having rulers of different "levels"?
"But why was that not told to King Gurgust?” Drech asked.
“It is Lord Tedig who said fever,” the princess said.
would become:
"But why was that not told to Great King Gurgust?” Drech asked.
“It is Middle King Tedig who said fever,” the princess said.
168 2015-01-06 19:12:03
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
KHippolite wrote:
I'm probably catching more of these because of all the nostes I've been taking.
When A is named a king then B is married to A but B calls her husband a lord, I don't normally have any problem. But due to the important differences between lord and king, it really jumps out at me (eg imagine Lord Tedig as King Tedig).
So no, it's not the number of titles that's throwing me... it's consistency issues. All easy fixes.
Yikes! If I call some one "Lord" and then "King" or the other way, it is probably in error! I will double check my titles!
169 2015-01-06 19:10:14
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
njc wrote:
High King, King, and ??? . 'Baron' is a modern title and likely wouldn't work.
Whatever you use, you'll need to introduce it repeatedly in the early chapters of each book.
You might be able to get away with introducing the system and the ranks in each volume, and identifying a King's rank each time he comes into the story, and thereafter calling him 'King' until he drops out and returns, as though you were reminding us of a person's last name.
Yes, like "count", "baron" screams Old French.
Maybe I need to work on title introduction... ?
170 2015-01-06 19:07:52
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
amy s wrote:
Rhi as a pleural sounds like a name to me. However, I like the idea of changing lord to Rhi. If you added their name after, it would distinguish between them.
Most American fantasy readers will understand 'High King' as a title because of Arthur. Middle and Lesser King is cumbersome (so I agree with you on that)
Is there a comparable term for 'Middle King'? Otherwise, could you call them magesties or something like that?
FYI, I like how you've given examples in the story to put this choice in perspective.
Hmmmmmmmmmm. You are right about "rhi" sounding plural. With so much Latin around it would just be confusing.
I think t the concept of "middle king" and "lesser king" was lost with the Anglo-Saxon conquest. The Teutons replaced the hierarchy structure with their own.
171 2015-01-05 20:29:25
Topic: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
I have had a lot of questions/corrections about my use of titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan. So I'm now wondering if I should change them.
Originally I wanted to use Brythonic titles but found that the majority are lost. (And I felt that having a much of strange words mixed in with all the strange names could spell disaster!) So I put English ones that were not too tied to French or Anglo-Saxon cultures. King. Lord. Chieftain. But now these seem to be giving me more trouble then they are worth.
King was easy (direct translation)
Lord came from Lord of Man who was the supreme ruler of that little island at one time.
Chieftain from Celtic clan system.
For simplicity's sake of their wives were called "queen", all of their sons call "prince", and all of their daughters "lady".
I thought it worked. Haha! It seems I am so wrong!
I guess the Question is: Change titles? Or hope that a general readership accepts them as is?
The most "culturally correct" would be: great king, middle king, lesser king. But it sounds too long.
"Prince Ritegern," Middle King Amlawdd said, "we shall wait."
"She is coming," one of the middle kings said.
...
"We have heard the words of the elder middle king," said another...
...
"I am aware of my tardiness, Middle Kings," Lasy Esshylt said...
-I just don't feel that "correct" works well here. Seems too long and cumbersome.
I could also use the Old Gaelic titles instead. Although I will have the problem of more strange words added into strange names. Also Gaelic and Brythonic are actually divided so the titles are same (and thus spelled differently).
I could also just change "lord" (which seems to be the problem word) to the Welsh "rhi" and thus only have one strange word added.
"Prince Ritegern," Rhi Amlawdd said, "we shall wait."
"She is coming," one of the rhi said.
...
"We have heard the words of the elder rhi," said another...
...
"I am aware of my tardiness, Rhis," Lady Esshylt said...
-To me this works better then using "middle king" but I am a little concerned about having it alone. If I put "The rhi entered and bowed to Drech." would the reader remember that it is a ruler and start thinking it is some kind of animal or a druid or something else?
Any thoughts?
172 2014-12-31 18:39:43
Re: romantic gesture (3 replies, posted in Romance Inc.)
Every person and circumstances is different
My husband cleaned the punching bag for me so I could use it without getting dirty. Not the most "romantic sounding" gesture but I was thrilled to bits.
173 2014-12-19 17:39:51
Re: Northern Skies - Janet! (520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
A shot to the neck could break the neck which can although might not make death very fast. A shot to the neck will likely make the wounded unable to breathe. The wounded would then pass out in 30 seconds to about a minute. Once the wounded is out cold, actual death would come from suffocation or bleeding. For a lot of blood to come out of the mouth the arrow might need to be removed from the neck. This would likely speed up death.
174 2014-12-19 17:11:51
Re: Most unusual setting for a romance novel (14 replies, posted in Romance Inc.)
Janet
I have the same problem with Enhinti. Half of my early readers wanted to turn her into some kind of Xena. The other half said she was annoying and hoped some one would kill her off so Drech could marry some one else.
Don't sweat people not getting a character. That is part of the art. Not all characters are supposed to be easy to get. They challenge our assumptions, stereotypes, and ideals.
No one wants to read about cookie cutter people. If you change Alain to a "good ol boy" or a "country bumpkin" everyone will get him and be dead bored with the book.
175 2014-12-12 18:00:57
Re: Most unusual setting for a romance novel (14 replies, posted in Romance Inc.)
By setting do you mean location or basic plot?
With location I am certain everything has been done. Forest, mountains, bitter cold, scorching hot, bar, hotel, high rise... Maybe not specifically the Penguin Hotel by the beach in Miami Florida but I certain someone's locations gets pretty close. I don't think it is a unique location that makes it interesting any way. The best novels in the English language are set in rather mundane places. What could be more mundane then the English country side? But that served as a background for nearly everything Jane Austin wrote!
I think it is really the author's ability to bring out the locations' individuality and make it a personality of its own.
This is really hard to do. But I think the more we strive for it the better we get...
