Happy Birthday, Return to Longbourn

Many of you were kind enough to wish me a happy birthday last week, but did you know that I share my birthday  with one of my book babies? That right! Return to Longbourn turned twelve years old on February 23rd, and I turned… Well never mind.

My third book, Return to Longbourn is the sequel to my Pride and Prejudice sequel, The Darcys of Pemberley. Or as I like to describe them, book 2 and 3 of a Pride and Prejudice Trilogy.

Although it was over 12 years ago, I still remember how exhilarated I felt writing Return to Longbourn, because I experienced something completely unanticipated, almost magical in the process.  You see, although some authors plot their entire story in detail before actually beginning to write, I do not. I fly by the seat of my pants – dangerous, but can also be a lot of fun! This time the trip took me somewhere completely unexpected.

I set out to continue the Pride and Prejudice saga, following up on The Darcys of Pemberley by jumping about five years ahead in time. I wanted to finally answer the question first raised by Jane Austen herself more than 2oo years ago. What will happen to the the Bennet women when Mr. Bennet dies, seeing that the Longbourn estate is entailed away from the female line? That’s the basic problem posed at the outset of Pride and Prejudice, and it’s only partially resolved by the end of the book.

In The Darcys of Pemberley, I unceremoniously knocked off Mr. Collins (sorry, folks), but that changed nothing (except freeing Charlotte); the Bennet girls still could not inherit. So when Mr. Bennet does (sadly) die, what happens to Mrs. Bennet, her two unmarried daughters, and the Longbourn estate? Are they forced to rely on the charity of their rich relations – Mr. Darcy and  Mr. Bingley – or are they able to devise other means of support?

Well, as it happens, Mr. Collins had a brother, one who emigrated to America as a very young man, and he is the new heir to Longbourn. With Mr. Tristan Collins on his way to England to claim his property, Mrs. Bennet  immediately decides that the gentleman must be single… and he simply MUST marry one of her daughters; nothing else will do.

So, will it be Mary or Kitty chosen for the dubious honor? As you can imagine, neither one of them is too excited by the prospect at first. But, when the man in question turns out to be quite a catch after all, the contest between the sisters is on. Which one do you think will have the upper hand for ending up as the next mistress of Longbourn?

Oh, but wait. There’s a dark horse (or possibly more than one) entering the scene to muddy the picture. That’s the part I didn’t expect when I began writing this book: the dark horse contingent. First, one showed up in the story… then another… and even a third!

What was going on? What I had envisioned as a simple love triangle had morphed into a much more complicated geometric design right before my eyes. The next thing I knew, one of my characters flatly refused to confine himself to the supporting role I had assigned him; he unaccountably went charging off into “leading man” territory instead! Although, with the way he was behaving, he certainly didn’t deserve that honor. Suddenly, the entire anticipated ending of the book was in jeopardy!

How had it happened? After all, I am the author, right? It’s my book. Wasn’t I supposed to be in control? But that’s the magical part of writing. Sometimes the story takes on a life of its own. It gallops off in an unexpected direction, and the author just has to go with it and hold on tight!

So now my secret is out. You probably thought that, in my genius, I always knew exactly where I was going. You assumed that I carefully planned every intricate twist and turn of the plot, that, like the great chess masters, I could see 25 moves ahead and make the correct adjustments so that I ended exactly where I had envisioned all along. But the truth is, I only head off in the right general direction and keep my eyes wide open, ready to take advantage of unexpected opportunities and every scenic detour that presents itself. In the case of Return to Longbourn especially, it made for a far more interesting ride… and a much better novel too!

If I hadn’t been hooked on writing before, I certainly was after that. In fact, I just came across a Facebook “Memory” from 12 years ago that expresses that very idea: “I said I wasn’t going to start writing another book yet. In fact I sort of promised my husband that, after the release of RETURN TO LONGBOURN, I’d take a break and get caught up on some other things. OOPS! Guess who was up at 3:45am getting the germ of a new Jane-Austen-inspired novel down on paper. What can I say? I’m addicted. I can’t NOT write!”

That next book became The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen. And ten others have followed since, each on a new challenge and a joy to write. But what became of the birthday book?  Return to Longbourn has gone on to make thousands of friends and acquaintances out in the world since that day twelve years ago. Are you one of them?