AUTHOR GUEST POST + GIVEAWAY : MEET MARY CHASE, READ OUR AUSTEN CHAT & WIN ONE OF HER BOOKS

The author

Mary Chase is the author of several Regency Romances (as Mary Chase Comstock), as wells as a new mystery/thriller--The Fool's Journey. She is also an educational consultant with a Ph.D. in Literacy and Schooling from the University of New Hampshire. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her Scottish Terrier, Irish Wolfhound and Brazilian husband.

The guest post


Like most Austenphiles, I have long been strung out on the intermittent drug of Jane Austen sequels for sustenance between re-readings of the real thing. They are only occasionally satisfying, however. Sometimes they get the tone, but not the humor. Other times, as in Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austen Mystery series, they seem more gothic. Some are just regencies that use Austen characters.

Even I have had the first chapter of a sequel, Mary Bennet, fluttering about for several years. My impossible goal was to write as closely to Austen’s style as possible (sort of like trying to write with an embroidery needle). Chapter I was a good start. My critique group and my family wanted me to finish it, but I had been slogging through the bog of writers block as well for several years. There was no interest from publishers, and I find it is as hard to write without an audience as it is to listen without ears. And so, Mary Bennet, Chapter I sat in a file for about five years.

I began to creep slowly out of the mire when I first started my blog, Nulla Dies Sine Linea. It was nice to write anything I wanted and find a sustaining readership at the same time--even though there was no payment.  I began to loosen up, think more clearly and whine a good deal less. It was then it occurred to me that I might finally finish my P&P sequel if I used a blog approach, a serialization.

I’ve always felt sorry for Mary Bennet. Nobody liked her, not even Jane Austen. She cannot have cared much for Kitty, either. Both characters are mere sketches, defined more by their weaknesses than anything else. And yet, whatever Austen may have felt about them and regardless of her remark that Kitty “was satisfactorily married to a clergyman near Pemberley, while Mary obtained nothing higher than one of her uncle Philips' clerks,” I have learned many times that one you begin writing a novel, the characters take over and do what they will. I can’t imagine that any girl in any novel wishes to be merely settled satisfactorily.

I took out my old chapter, furbished it up a bit and found Kitty intruding on the Mary’s story. So here she is as well and I’ve renamed the novel (for the moment anyway) Mary and Kitty: A Tale of Two Sisters. I’m almost considering Pedantry and Peevishness,but that might be a bit much.

At the moment I have completed four online chapters and the fifth will be posted soon. They each have fears and flaws to overcome, realizations to make, and love to be awakened. That much I know for sure and the how is developing.

READ MARY AND KITTY: A TALE OF TWO SISTERS

Mary Chase

The interview


Mary Chase accepted to answer some questions about Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice and here is the resulting interview.

You are right when you say that Mary and Kitty have been rather neglected by sequels and spin-off stories written by Austen Authors. What do you particularly like in each of them?

I identify with them more than like them. I was a middle child in a family of six, somewhat lost in the shuffle. Like Mary, I was a show off in terms of my reading and marks in school. I wasn’t a “cougher” like Kitty, but I was given to feigning illness for a variety of reasons.  I feel sorry for them, left in their unfinished, unresolved state.

Who of them may be the romantic lead in your novel I really can’t imagine, but I’m sure they’ve got chances to improve and grow now that their elder sisters are married and away from home. Can you tell us a little bit of what you’ve figured out for them?

Mary will be at Lydia’s throughout the book – surely an opportunity for dramatic tension! – and Kitty will have a few run ins of her own with Lady Catherine de Bourgh. The book will jump back and forth between the two stories. Each of the girls will be challenged by her circumstances to break out of her usual pattern and each will have a romance.

    What was the most difficult task in writing an Austen sequel?

I spend a lot of time searching for just the right word. First, I’m American, so writing in British English is a big challenge. Then, too, the language has to be accurate to the period to the degree a modern reader will feel comfortable. And of course, it needs to be witty and true to tone. There are times when it flows – usually in dialogue—and times when it flags, just as in any writing.

I must ask you this. Does Mr. Darcy appear in your story any way?

Mr. Darcy and possibly Mr. Bingley will appear at the end of the story, probably in a deus ex machina scenario. As you might expect, Mary and Kitty can find their way into trouble but may have some difficulties extricating themselves.

Do you like reading Austen fan fiction prequels and sequels yourself?

I haven’t done much—perhaps I need some recommendations.

And what do you think of modernizations or mash-ups?

I’m not particularly fond of them, regardless of whether it’s one of Jane Austen’s titles or Shakespeare’s. They seem forced. Besides, I like reading in an historical period.

What’s your opinion on TV and film adaptation of Austen novels? Do you think they can popularize Austen work and lead more readers to approach the books or is it more a way many people avoid reading them? (I mean they watch the films but never actually read the book?)

I really love them, for the most part, but I always want to recast one or more characters. I loved Colin Firth’s Darcy, but I don’t think they’ve found the perfect Elizabeth yet. I also hate it when directors take liberties with the plot and dialogue

.

Who’s your  favourite Austen hero/heroine and why?

Pride and Prejudice was my first Austen novel and I think Elizabeth and Darcy will always be my favorites. I recently wrote about my early love for Darcy in my blog, and the phenomenon of falling in love with a fictional character. Not uncommon, I suspect, especially those of us who lead “rich mental lives.”

     Which of the major six have you most often re-read?      Certainly, Pride and Prejudice.

     Is there any Austen character – Mary and Kitty apart – whose destiny you’d like to change      

     somehow?

I am playing with the idea of seeing what happens with Mr. and Mrs. Bennet after the girls are married off. I don’t like to think of them driving each other into an early grave. They may need a little rescuing.

Thanks a lot Mary for answering my questions! 

Read about Mary Chase and her work at her Mystery Website: http://marychasecomstock.com/ and  her Educational Consulting Website: http://renegadeducation.com/ . You'll find Mary's Regency Romances  here. 

 Book Giveaway Contest 

Signs and symbols surround us. No one knows that better than poet, Deirdre Kildeer. She's hidden for most of her life, and now the signs are her again: Run! 

Danger is everywhere, but this time she has reasons to stay and fight, something she's never considered before. With the help of handsome detective Manny Ruiz and his psychic Aunt Rosa, will Deirdre at lat prevail? Or will she continue to tread the long haunted trail of the Fool's Journey? Signs and symbols surround us. No one knows that better than poet, Deirdre Kildeer. She's hidden for most of her life, and now the signs are her again: Run! 

Danger is everywhere, but this time she has reasons to stay and fight, something she's never considered before. With the help of handsome detective Manny Ruiz and his psychic Aunt Rosa, will Deirdre at lat prevail? Or will she continue to tread the long haunted trail of the Fool's Journey? (Read an excerpt from the book here and watch the book trailer here)

Win The Fool's Journey, Mary Chase's mystery novel.

2 paperback copies for US readers

2 e-book versions for readers from the rest of the world

Leave your comment + e-mail address, add what country in the world you live in (or if you want to be entered for the paperback or e-book version of the book). 

This giveaway contest ends on March 3rd when the winners are announced.