During my trip to England in 2012, I was stymied on several issues in the new book I was trying to write. Cassandra Grafton took a fellow writer and me to Fountains Abbey, where toured the spectacular ruins, then walked around the lake at the neighboring Studley Royal Water Gardens and talked plot. We …
Pardon our construction dust! A week ago, this website was just an idea in the minds of three writers. We pictured a small experimental blog where we could talk with our readers about our writing and readers could get a look at our writing process. It was just going to be a few of us, in …
Welcome to Austen Variations! We’re a group of writers of Austen-inspired fiction who love to interact with readers about our stories and to share our experiences and love of Jane Austen. You’ll find plenty to read, including excerpts from our books and tales of our Austenesque adventures, and even some free stories you can download for …
Sometimes art, or at least my books, imitates something in my life. And sometimes my life imitates my books. That’s what I’ve been experiencing lately. In my recently released novella, The Darcys of Derbyshire, I wrote about the courtship of Darcy’s parents, including this discussion of things one feels impelled to do: “Lieutenant Darcy,” she …
I’m preoccupied with revisions on my next book, which comes out in late May. Much of the inspiration for Mr. Darcy’s Noble Connections came from my trip to England in September. Not only did I steal many of my settings from places I saw, but I also found plot inspiration in many of them. Usually …
Writing fiction is a continual learning experience. This month my muse has deluged me with ideas too good to ignore, so instead of my usual two works in progress, I have no less than four. I was going to give you an excerpt from the WIP that I’m trying to focus on, but then my …
Middlethorpe Hall at dusk I’m travelling through England as I write this, finding inspiration and learning lots of useful information for future books. I now know how to recognize coaching inns, market towns, moors, and much more; I understand better about parsons and parsonages and why Mr. Collins’ first duty was to collect tithes. I …
This post is a follow-up on the Jane Austen Happy Hour workshop at last weekend’s RT convention where fellow Austen Authors Karen Doornebos, Marilyn Brant, Sharon Lathan, C. Allyn Pierson and I discussed regency-era alcoholic beverages, complete with taste-testing. I provided ratafia, and since I’d forgotten to bring the recipe cards, I volunteered to post …
In my little writing world, I live two different lives: one in Regency England for my Pemberley Variations series and the other on modern-day Cape Cod where my Woods Hole novels, The Man Who Loved Pride & Prejudice (aka Pemberley by the Sea) and Morning Light, take place. For contemporary novel month, I’m going to …
One of the things that never ceases to amaze me in Jane Austen’s writing is how many different ways I can view the characters. Developing different sides of a character is part of the fun of writing Austen variations, but I’ve also found that my opinions of the original characters has changed over the years …
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