My relationship with Jane Austen began on
T.V. In fact, when I finally read Pride
and Prejudice and university, I wrote a paper complaining how the 1995 BBC
version got it better. How
embarrassing. However, I still hear
people bemoan the language of Jane Austen, and Shakespeare for that
matter. For those of us who read either
writer for pleasure, this can be difficult to understand,
but as a teacher and fan, I often encourage struggling students to start with
the movies.
My
own foray into Jane Austen fan-fiction was inspired by a PBS marathon of Jane
Austen adaptations. Every Sunday night
for several months, once my babies were tucked into bed, I settled into the
couch in the middle of a long Canadian winter to indulge in the fantasy of a
flower-speckled English countryside filled with lively characters and plot
twists. At some point, I thought to
myself “What if there were a sequel to Pride and Prejudice?” I had no idea at the time that hundreds of
Jane Austen-themed books already existed, or I probably would have just bought
one, but I was between novel projects and thought I’d write a sequel as a short
story for my sister’s upcoming birthday.
Shortly
into my “short story”, I realized I would need a lot more space that a short
story offered. I wrote furiously,
daydreaming about the book when I wasn’t writing. I could only offer my sister the first volume
by her birthday, which I printed off my computer with a cover featuring photos
I copied and pasted from the internet. I
was able to give her the second and third volume within a year, but I was
already thinking others might like to read the book I was calling
“Expectations.”
