Dressed for Success
by Shelley Munro
My name is Shelley Munro. I live in New Zealand and love our casual, outdoorsy lifestyle. Like many New Zealanders I enjoy sports and getting out to play in our beautiful countryside, cycling, walking and sometimes boating or swimming. I dress accordingly, love jeans and have a huge collection of T-shirts. During the summer I live in shorts and a T-shirt. When it’s time to dress up, I go smart casual, which usually means trousers and a fancy T-shirt, although I have a couple of formal dresses in my wardrobe.
Dressing my characters can be a problem because some of them plain demand posh and formal. In other words, they venture into places I don’t. Take Kate Fawkner from The Shadow. She attends lots of balls and wears designer gowns and shoes. Let me tell you it was a relief when she got into the cat burglar business and moved into coordinating black. Much easier for a befuddled author!
It’s no secret to my editor that I have problems in this area. She threatened to report me to the fashion police because I mismatched shoe and dress colors. I write mainly for Ellora’s Cave these days. Yes, there’s lots of sex, which means no clothes a lot of the time. You’d think this would be easier, but no. I get these little notes from my editor. Did he take off his boots? Of course he did, I mutter. But, oops. My wonderful editor is right. He’s doing the deed and he’s still wearing his muddy boots! In my defense characters who whip clothes off and on so often can cause confusion.
Luckily, most of my characters are like me. They like casual or wear casual to fit in with everyone else. Here’s a snippet from my Ellora’s Cave release Talking Dogs, Aliens and Purple People Eaters. Janaya, the alien heroine has stowed away on her aunt’s spaceship and they’ve just crash landed on Earth.
Hinekiri pulled a small control box from her low-slung Earth trousers. Jeans, she’d called them when she’d handed a similar pair to Janaya. “Camouflage on.”
“Something wrong, dear?”
“This damned G-thing you gave me to wear is right up my—”
It seems aliens have similar problems to me with their clothing! I don’t care for G-strings either.
Clothes are giving Nikolai, my hero from Summer in the City of Sails fits as well. He’s promised his friend and next-door neighbor he’ll keep an eye on Summer. Unfortunately, Summer is taking exception to a bossy military man and is exerting her independence while enjoying life in the big, bad city. She wants to seduce him but Nikolai is fighting the attraction.
Son of a bitch.
He did a double take. His eyes narrowed while shock punched him in the gut. What the hell was the girl wearing? He eyed the long expanse of tanned leg beneath the short hem of the tight black skirt, the strappy heels on her feet. Then his gaze lifted and paused to savor the two inches of creamy skin at her waist before he hit cloth again. What had happened to the baggy sack thing?
When Summer turned to face him his mouth emptied of every trace of spit. Her black top was sheer and lacy. And low. His gaze fastened on the swell of luscious curves before he had time to veto the move. She might be nine years younger than him, but she was fully grown. Not a shred of doubt there.
I’ve been watching Murder She Wrote and Charlie’s Angels recently. The clothes and hairstyles have really dated and make me laugh. So my question to you is do you notice clothes and shoes in a book? Do you think about reporting the author to the fashion police? And finally, just because I’m nosy…ah, curious!…what is your everyday style? What clothes do you feel comfortable wearing?
Shelley has recently completed the seventh book in her Middlemarch series. The heroine and hero in LETICIA’S LOVERS are feline shifters. When they’re not naked, they turn into a kitty, which makes clothes less problematic. You can visit Shelley at www.shelleymunro.com
February 3rd, 2009
Hi, Shelley!
I’m very into the erotic romances right now and your feline book sounds super. Will you be sending it for review? If so I’ll beg Heather for it! ;-)
As for clothes, this is something as a writer I don’t think about but when I read this I immediately checked my current WIP and found that it’s fine. I did subconsciously think about them! I just love reading blog posts that make you think.
February 3rd, 2009
OOOOhhhh, Shelley what a great post. I’ve been reading your books for a long time now and you have such an interesting viewpoint. How do you get in the mode to write such interesting feline characters? What gave you the idea to have people turn to cats then into people and have sex?
February 3rd, 2009
Shelley,
I kept thinking of this book I read about this 1800s courtesan playing with her fan while reading this post. It stuck with me because it was a different color for each of her outfits and they were descriptively done. I think adding detailed clothing helps you to visualize what’s going on and get lost into the book.
February 3rd, 2009
Interesting post. Not sure I’ve ever really paid attention to what a character is wearing, well except the Shopaholic book that was out not long ago and is now a movie…what’s with that by the way? Almost all books are now going to movies and they haven’t been doing them justice. Don’t authors have any say?
February 3rd, 2009
Hi, Shelley!
So wonderful to have you with us! I absolutely loved this post. I’ve never really thought about dressing characters. :)
February 3rd, 2009
I loved Summer in the City of Sails, Shelley! I’ve not had a chance to pick up any of the others yet. Did you write any stories related to it?
February 4th, 2009
I’m not into multiple partnered books. Does your feline characters in Leticia’s Lovers have multiple partners?
February 4th, 2009
Wow, I’ve been in my writing cage all day and have only just escaped. Thanks so much for visiting me today.
Alyson – thank you. I had lots of fun writing this book. As for reviews – EC takes care of all my review stuff. I think you need to request them from EC.
Liza – thank you very much. I’ve always had a vivid imagination and I think that helps. The idea for my Middlemarch story came from a newspaper clipping about alien cat sightings and from a life dance that takes place in the real town of Middlemarch. For the full background story take a look at my website for the Middlemarch Behind the Scenes story. You can access it from either my extras page or from the individual Middlemarch Mates book pages.
February 4th, 2009
Rashelle – it sounds like the writer did a great job in her 1800s story. Writers can use clothing like setting, and it almost becomes a separate character. It’s a fine balance between too little and too much though!
Lilly – I’m afraid not. That’s why you sometimes find characters with the wrong color hair on book covers too. It all comes down to marketing these days. :)
February 4th, 2009
Heather – LOL – I think my editor must bang her head on her desk sometimes. I’m a real trial to her. I try really hard these days, and mostly I get it right. I threatened to write a book where the characters don’t have clothes at all. Watch this space. ;)
Bess – thank you so much. It’s funny, you’re the second person to ask me about follow up stories for Summer this week. I’ve always intended to write more stories about the Summer’s brothers and Nikolai’s friends but it’s hard to find time to fit in all my story ideas.
February 4th, 2009
Sissy – yes, Leticia’s Lovers is a threesome book. The rest of the stories in the Middlemarch series are traditional m/f books. If you enjoy a m/f story Cat and Mouse and Cat Burglar might suit you better. They are EC books though so expect some spicy hotness. :)
February 4th, 2009
Zoie – thanks! Talking Dogs, Aliens and Purple People Eaters was my very first book for EC, inspired by my little fox terrier dog, believe it or not. It’s actually on sale at EC at the moment – (the print version anthology called Romancing the Alien) for $3. That’s a bargain, if you’re interested. ;)
There are lots of laugh out loud moments in the Talking Dogs stories.
February 4th, 2009
[...] And finally, I’m guest blogging at We Write Romance. Here’s the link. [...]
February 4th, 2009
Neat post. I laughed right out loud when I read about the g-string!
February 4th, 2009
Morning all! I love your avatar Shelley! I’ve been tinkering with the blog and have added the identicons so that we don’t see the eerie shadow man…
February 4th, 2009
This is a super post, Shelley. I love your alien stories, g-strings and all! Oh and the clothes thing — I always end up pulling my hair out trying to get it right. Since I’m a casual dresser most of the time, it’s not always easy to write about clothing. For some reason time period clothing seems easier than modern, but only after tons of research. Kaye
February 4th, 2009
This is a super post, Shelley. I love your alien stories, g-strings and all! Oh and the clothes thing — I always end up pulling my hair out trying to get it right. Since I’m a casual dresser most of the time, it’s not always easy to write about clothing. For some reason period clothing seems easier than modern, but only after tons of research. Kaye
February 4th, 2009
Sorry about the double comment. LOL
February 4th, 2009
I definitely notice clothes in books, especially since I love historical fiction and ooo and aah over the clothing. Meanwhile, in real life I don’t fuss with clothes very much. Luckily my office is fairly casual as to its dress code – and for me, who does physical work, I can’t dress up too much or I’d wreck my clothes. I require comfort first, then my personal style second – classic yet artsy, funky but not too bizarre.
February 4th, 2009
My comment didn’t take my name – it’s Julia! Hi Shelley!
February 4th, 2009
Heather – thank you. I had to ask my web guru how to make one. I was feeling elft out because so many people had one and I didn’t. :)
Kaye – thanks for visiting me over here. I find historical dressing much easier, too. It’s the modern contemporaries that give me headaches. I need to subscribe to some magazines or something to help me.
Julia – hi! thanks for visiting me here. I have to agree about the comfort thing. I’m definitely all about comfort. I think Janaya takes after me in regards to comfort and G-strings!
February 4th, 2009
Hey Shelley, I really enjoy your books very much. I love how they make me laugh at unexpected moments. And, as a reader and an animal lover, I have to say these are great stories, and the G-string thing was hilarious. I have to say that in some cases clothes do make the story line a little easier to follow but unless they are having wild monkey sex and he has one shoe and sock on and the pantyhose or sweats are hanging by one leg it doesn’t tend to bother me. I mean if they are alone at home or somewhere they can be comfortable. Now on the other hand if they are at formal functions where suits and ties for him and high heels and dressy dress for her are needed, then clothes help make the scene. But like I said I’m a reader so sometimes I really like the details, but sometimes they just clutter everything else for me.
As for my dress code I’m a casual gal, dress casual for going out unless its not, you know what I mean. Then t-shirts and jeans or sweats, then summer shorts and tees. So keep on making us smile and breaking through those clothing barriers, you are a great writer. Thanks for the good books and laughs.
February 5th, 2009
Marina – thank you so much! I think like any part of setting, descriptions of clothes need to be sprinkled here and there to orientate the reader. That’s what I like when I put my reader hat on. Too much description becomes tedious. I do tend to notice when a character makes love, but it’s impossible because of the clothes, because I’m so conscious of the oops I make in my first drafts. I think my brain works to fast for my fingers and my fingers take shortcuts in the typing to catch up!!