I am the mother of two wonderful young men and the wife of one sweet and thoughtful man.
I am somewhat of a grammar nerd…my two youngest sisters tell stories of me correcting their grammar in letters and sending the letters back to them, but I do NOT remember doing that…I am sure they exaggerate. 🙂
I love to read. I was that kid, under the covers with the flashlight, reading until the wee hours of the morning. My heroes when growing up were authors. I loved what they did. The worlds they could paint with words were (and still are) my favourite playgrounds!
I also love to write.
It wasn’t until 2013 that my love of reading and playing with stories and my love of writing crashed into each other. What happened to cause this collision? I discovered Jane Austen Fan Fiction. I was delighted to learn that there were others that continued plots and varied the stories in their imaginations just as I did.
I started by reading, but eventually, I couldn’t resist the urge to write a few stories of my own. After much encouragement from my dear husband, I began sharing my stories, first on forums and then through publishing.
My writing has expanded from those first Darcy and Elizabeth stories to encompass many of Jane Austen’s characters while adding many of my own. I intend to continue down this path of creating Jane Austen meets sweet Regency romance stories through writing Austen-inspired and original tales, and this blog is a fantastic place to hear about my writing, see and hear what inspires me, and read a few story excerpts as well as a weekly continuing story. To make certain you don’t miss any of the news — hit the subscribe button.
Welcome.
and…
Happy Reading!
Hi
Still remember your visit & stay with me when you only had one boy.
Jeannette
Oh, I remember that, too! 🙂 It was a lovely, time.
I remember staying at your childhood home and telling you the story of the 3 Little Pigs (Melvin, Steve and Dennis) We all got in trouble for keeping your mom and dad awake.
Haha! I don’t remember that particular story — although I wish I did. 🙂 You did like to tell me stories! Mom was never too happy when we kept her awake. 🙂
I got upset with my kids when they kept me up too. Now that it is the grandkids, it doesn’t seem so bad. They do seem to g to bed better then the boys ever did. Maybe it’s because they aren’t with me every night.
Yes, I prize my sleep as well 🙂 Even the husband gets a glare and a snarl occasionally if he is the cause of waking me up. 🙂
I hope you don’t end up with that family curse that makes it so that you can’t sleep for more than 4-5 hours. It stinks. Especially when the ones you love and live with have no problem with staying in bed for 12 hours. And don’t make noise! Do you remember my mom trying to get us up on Saturday mornings by vacuuming her closet right next to my room. Very subtle.
Haha! That’s good! So subtle! 🙂 Well, I seem to sleep in about 4-5 hour increments — did not realize that was a family curse, however. I used to be such a good sleeper.
I have enjoyed many of your stories! Thank you for sharing them. If you ever want final proofreader help before you publish, please let me know. I’ve been working with several other Austen Authors for the last year and would enjoy working with you. Congratulations on the new stories!
Thanks! I have a proofreader right now, but I will keep you in mind if I need one in the future. 🙂
Question of protocol, because I don’t really know. This passage
“Colonel, I would like you to meet my father, Mr. Thomas Bennet. Father, this is the Right Honourable Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam.”
I thought for some reason that the higher ranked person was introduced first- so as the son of an Earl, wouldn’t the colonel be presented first? Or is there a variation because Mr. Bennet is her father? Someone teach me manner!
My understanding is that a higher rank would ask to be introduced to Mr. Bennet (which the colonel has not done in words but by his presence), so Jane should introduce her father to the colonel first and then tell her father who the colonel is. While this might seem like the lower rank being introduced first and not giving precedence, it is actually showing respect for the higher rank by informing them of whom they are meeting first. He gets the intel before the lower rank gets the intel. Think of the unknown name as food. The colonel gets served first. Then Mr. Bennet gets served.
That’s helpful, thanks. I am so glad I don’t have to know this in regular life or I would mess up all the time.
It is confusing, and I have gone to do a bit of doublechecking since this is an easy thing to get wrong. It’s just so foreign to us. This article has some really helpful things in it: https://reganromancereview.blogspot.ca/2016/09/introductions-in-regency-era.html
Down at the bottom of the article, it says:
Third persons introducing…
By introducing two people to each other (which is what Jane is doing), one stands surety for each as being an honorable person. In the situation with Mr. Collins,(the article author is referencing where he introduces himself to Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice) a third person might have introduced them:
“Mr. Darcy, may I make Mr. Collins known to you? He has the living at Rosings.” [Colonel, I would like you to meet my father, Mr. Thomas Bennet. is not a question but follows the same format.]
So, I think I have it right. 🙂
Interesting. The other issue is that it is extreme unlikely that Colonel Fitzwilliam was a Right Honourable. This usually refers to a member of the Privy Council a body of the UK Parliament. Unless you made him a Member of Parliament in your previous book and he rose to the Privy Council then this likely wrong. Really enjoying your work, thanks.
I often refer to this chart for proper forms of address: https://www.chinet.com/~laura/html/titles12.html You’ll notice that Right Honourable is used in some forms of address for various sons and their wives. The error here would be the use of the word right, it seems. I probably looked at the wrong box on the chart and got the eldest son of an earl rather than the younger son. Younger sons should be the Honourable. (We also use the title Right Honourable for certain government officials here in Canada, too. So the term is not unusual to me to be used in that fashion.)
Crikey! What a labyrinth of titles. I’m glad I’m a commoner. Thanks for sharing this interesting resource. Won’t question again!
Hi Leenie, I hope you’re well! I’m writing a paper on fan fiction, and I was wondering whether you could answer the following question: why did you decide to conclude your trilogy with Henry’s wedding? As I’m sure you’re aware, marriage is the conclusion of many of Austen’s novels; was it a conscious decision to stay in line with that, or was there another reason for this specific ending?
Hi, Sanne.
Thanks for asking me to be part of this assignment. However, I do not have a trilogy that ends with Henry getting married. That being said I think I might still be able to help you some, so let me answer as to why (most of) my stories either end in a wedding or an engagement. (Confouding Caroline ends in a courtship. So far, that is my one exception.)
I write in the romance genre and the expectations and definitions for a romance are what guide my choices as to how something should end.
“Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally
satisfying and optimistic ending.” (About the Romance Genre, Romance Writers of America)
Therefore, how I end my stories actually has nothing to do with the fact that Miss Austen ended most of her works in a similar fashion other than, she seems to be following the same “rules of definition” that are still in use.
Most often the emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending is a point where a happily ever after is imagined to begin — with a betrothal or a wedding. However, as is the case in Confounding Caroline in my Marrying Elizabeth Series, the optimistic ending is a courtship and the hope of an eventual betrothal or wedding. Future books in that series might contain stories and endings that happen after Darcy and Elizabeth are married, but these endings will also be emotionally satisfying and optimistic.
In my Other Pens, Mansfield Park series of stories, all the stories, including Henry Crawford’s, are separate and individual romances. They each, so far, have ended with a betrothal, and while a wedding of a previously engaged couple in the series might take place in a future book it will not be the conclusion of a love story as much as just a side happening that is used in moving the plot of the current story forward and in adding to the sense of world building necessary for proper story structure.
I hope this information helps you. If you need more information, please feel free to ask either here or you can email me at leeniebrownauthor@gmail.com.
If you are interested in more details about the romance genre, this is the link to the web page that includes the definition I used above. The page goes into more detail as to what a central love story and an emotional satisfying and optimistic ending are as well as giving information about categories and sub genres of romance.
https://www.rwa.org/Online/Romance_Genre/About_Romance_Genre.aspx
Hello, Leenie.
A couple of weeks ago I downloaded a copy of “Confounding Caroline” (Part 1 of your Marrying Elizabeth series), which I received for free through a BookBub offer. I finally had a chance to start reading it this week. I absolutely loved it! I immediately bought, downloaded and read the next two instalments and have just bought and downloaded the rest of the series!
I am I huge Pride & Prejudice fan and have enjoyed reading different fan fiction stories and published story variations, but your “Marry Elizabeth” series is by far my favourite! Well written and very entertaining. And what I delight to learn that you are a fellow Maritimer!
I can’t wait to read about Mary and Wes. I’m curious to see what you have in store for them as well as the other beloved characters. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful stories.
Oh, yay! I’m so glad you liked the series and that you’re a Maritimer! It’s such a small world at times! Thank you for letting me know you enjoyed these books, and welcome to my writing world. 🙂