Interview with a Janeite, with Special Guest Christine La Salle

Welcome back to our monthly feature where Jane Austen readers and authors get to know each other! This month, our special guest is Christine La Salle, one of our newest members. I know you will enjoy her wit as she shares about Jane Austen rescuing the sanity of a new mom, and then chats with Melanie Stanford.

As a hostess gift, Melanie has most graciously offered the choice of an ebook copy of Sway, or a character named after Christine in her next work. I can’t wait to hear what she picks!

And now, pour yourself a cup and relax as we get to know Christine.

1. Tell us a little about how you discovered Jane Austen, and how you keep busy in your spare time.

I’ve been reading Jane Austen for years; my slightly battered volume of Pride & Prejudice is better traveled than most (American) adults, it having been dragged across oceans and through deserts over the last decade(ish). It is only recently that I stumbled upon variations and fan fiction for the same while pulling late night wakeups with my beautiful baby girl. Miss Amelia Anne takes up most of my free time, but it is generally time willingly forfeited. We sing a lot, and read together nearly daily. Between work, household tasks, and baby care, I don’t have a lot of free hours; however, Thursday nights will almost always find me lending my pool of random knowledge to our Trivia team, furthering our quest for intellectual dominance against the rest of the neighborhood, and Sundays (and assorted Mondays/Thursdays) during the NFL season are devoted to my other love: Green Bay Packers Football.

2. Jane Austen is famous for having a scathing wit when she describes her anti-heroes/ heroines. What are some of your favorite Jane Austen burns and/or quips?

My favorite has to be Darcy’s set down of Miss Bingley:
“Undoubtedly,” replied Darcy, to whom this remark was chiefly addressed, “there is a meanness in all the arts which ladies sometimes condescend to employ for captivation. Whatever bears affinity to cunning is despicable.”

3. How would you describe yourself, if the only adjectives you could use were names of Jane Austen’s characters?
Elizabeth Bennet wit
Elinor Dashwood practicality
Mr. Darcy propensity to blame myself for the actions of others and try to “fix it”
And occasionally, Lady Catherine de Bourgh desire to have everything just the way I planned

4. What do you enjoy most here at Austen Variations?
I’m pretty new here, but so far the stories AND the people are just fantastic!

5. If you were giving a party, which Austen characters would you invite for:
a. The Busybody: Emma Woodhouse
b. The Wallflower: Fanny Price
c. The Obliging Musician: Georgiana Darcy (stretching “obliging” a bit, but she plays so delightfully…)
d. The Matchmaker: Charlotte Collins (it’s always the quiet ones…)
e. Some unwilling fodder for the matchmaker (can be more than one prospective couple): Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy; Colonel Brandon/Marianne Dashwood
f. The Life of the Party: Charles Bingley
g. The Partypooper: Mr. Bennet

Christine lives on the American southeastern coast with her Trekkie husband, blue-eyed siren daughter (8 months and growing too fast), and as often as possible, her bonus son (a minecraft/Lego obsessed boy of 9). She is assisted in the care of the blue-eyed siren by 2 semi-large rescue mutts that don’t realize they are NOT lap dogs. In her real life (i.e. when she is not reading Jane Austen and imagining alternate occasions for Mr. Darcy to become a bit forward) Christine is a Navy Chief Petty Officer currently tasked with imparting basic engineering principles into future propulsion plant operators.

And now, it is your turn! What questions do you have for Melanie Stanford?

1. We know it could happen to anyone, given the * ahem * master of that great estates’ penchant for swimming in lakes when cameras are rolling, but how exactly did Mr. Darcy’s beautiful grounds at Pemberley draw you in?

So I walked into the room and my sister was watching this movie. It was actually after the lake scene, but right when Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth are talking on Pemberley’s grounds. Keep in mind, I knew NOTHING about Pride & Prejudice at the time. I’m seeing this guy being polite while the girl just looks confused and then freaks out after he leaves. So I asked my sister what was going on. She paused the movie, explained the basic plot, and I thought, hmmm, sounds interesting, and then watched the rest of the movie with her. I think the double wedding HEA clinched it for me.

2. You’ve written a number of books that borrow various themes and character types from Jane Austen’s work. What inspired you to explore this avenue?

My original inspiration was the movie version of Persuasion. The story just lends itself to a modern setting SO WELL and I knew I wanted to write it. After that, the wheels start turning and you start to think, what other stories can I retell? What other characters inspire me? Jane Austen’s books—the characters, the plots, the themes—can live on in any time. And there’s something really fun about taking a character you love and mixing things up for them.

3. If you had to spend to spend six weeks visiting your favorite Austen character (in their world), whom would you choose and how well do you think that would end?

So, if I WASN’T married, I’d probably say Tilney. I’d totally want to squeeze myself in there before he meets Catherine and try to catch his eye. It probably wouldn’t work out so well, but a girl can try right?
Since I am married, I’d choose Marianne and Colonel Brandon. I am super interested in knowing how that marriage turned out. I would hope that I wouldn’t be disappointed.

4. Which of the Regency rules or customs are you most glad has changed (not counting the whole running water and electricity thing)?

Definitely anything to do with the rules surrounding women. Chaperones and the notions of propriety. How women can’t work or earn their living—they just get to sit around and knit or play piano or go on walks. How they’re expected to marry and looked down on when they don’t. And my least favourite—the whole “ruining” thing. Like, why is only the woman ruined? Why not the man, too? Ergh, makes me angry.

5. What is your favorite part about Jane Austen fandom?

How awesome everyone is. It doesn’t matter how old you are, where you’re from, your gender, race, religion, what “level” of fan you are, nothing like that matters. The whole community is so welcoming and kind and fantastic, and I love being a part of it!

Melanie Stanford didn’t get into Jane Austen until, as a teenager, she walked in on her older sister watching Pride & Prejudice right in the moment where Elizabeth first sees Mr. Darcy’s beautiful grounds at Pemberley. She was hooked on all things Austen then and there. Her first novel, SWAY, is a modern-day retelling of Persuasion and was shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. Sway, Clash, Collide, and an as yet untitled work-in-progress are all part of her Romance Revisited series.

Melanie also writes YA of different genres, reads too much, plays music too loud, is sometimes dancing, and always daydreaming. She would like her very own TARDIS, but only to travel to the past. She lives outside Calgary, Alberta, Canada with her husband, four kids, and ridiculous amounts of snow.

Visit Melanie’s website at melaniestanfordbooks.com. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter @MelMStanford