Jane in January – Shannon Winslow, Inspired!

This month we’re looking at inspiration for our novels. But it’s hard to separate inspiration from motivation. It’s kind of a chicken-or-egg question as to which comes first. When I’m excited about an idea, that motivates me to write. And when the creative juices start flowing, the ideas come. I would never have made it through the daunting task of finishing my first novel (let alone the seven others that have since followed) if I hadn’t been super excited about what I was writing!

Obviously, considering what I write, Jane Austen and her stories are the overriding inspirations. Beyond that, though, the inspiration/motivation for each novel has been a little different. I think it boils down to two things: 1) the overwhelming desire to spend more time in the company of characters I count as my dear friends, and 2) to satisfy my curiosity by discovering the answers to my own niggling questions about them!

The question, “Yes, but what happens next?” inspired chronological P&P sequels The Darcys of Pemberley and Return to Longbourn.  “What’s Georgiana’s story (or Anne de Bourgh and Lady Catherine)? What are they up to all the time they’re ‘off-camera’ in P&P and TDoP?” These smart and savvy ladies would only surrender their secrets if I agreed to give them their own books! That’s why I wrote lateral expansions Miss Georgiana Darcy of Pemberley  and The Ladies of Rosings Park. “What kind of a story would Jane Austen have written next, I wonder?” That question inspired For Myself Alone. And most recently, “What would it be like for a modern girl to drop into Regency England, looking for her own Mr. Darcy?” That’s Leap of Hope!

I’ve saved the inspiration for The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen for last, because it stands apart for how it developed, taking the most time and the most twists and turns by far.

I suppose the seed of inspiration was first planted more than a decade before the book was published – even before I started seriously writing. When I was well into my love affair with Jane Austen’s novels, I couldn’t help thinking how sad it was that she apparently didn’t experience the same kind romance and happy ending she wrote for her heroines.  I also remember reading comments like this from others, as well as people being surprised Austen could have written so convincingly about things she supposedly never experienced. Hmm. Perhaps we didn’t know the whole story? That seed of inspiration lay dormant in the ground for a long time.

Then, along about February or March of 2011, conditions smiled and that forgotten seed finally began to germinate (see Germ of a Novel). It was only a title (see My Darling Exile) and a partially formed concept for a story about Jane Austen herself and the possibility of giving her the romance (and dare I propose it? a happy ending?) she deserved! Something along the lines of Persuasion, perhaps. But I knew I would need to do quite  a bit of research, and besides I was already in the middle of other projects. So I dashed off a prologue to capture the idea, and then I put it on the shelf to ruminate a while, occasionally turning the idea over in my mind.

Fast forward to 2013, when I began work on the book in earnest. My goal all along was, weaving in and around the known facts, to supplement Jane Austen’s life with a passionate romance, then find a plausible, preferable, alternative outcome for her. A rather tall order! But once I resolved the question of why we would never have heard about the man who was her one true love – why the need for secrecy surrounding him and these events (the inspiration for that answer came to me from North and South, btw) – I was off and running!

A lot of work, a few more delays/twists/turns, and a title change followed before the eventual publication of The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen.

The premise of the book is that Jane Austen’s Persuasion was inspired by momentous, parallel events in her own life, and written to pay private homage to her one true love : Captain Devereaux (Captain Wentworth’s counterpart). It’s the story behind the story, her private journal of real-life events written alongside her final, most-poignant novel.

Since I’m particularly proud of TPoMJA, and since it is dedicated “...to every fan who has wished Jane Austen herself might have enjoyed the romance and happy ending she so carefully crafted for all her heroines...”, I decided it was high time I found a way to share it with more of the target audience: YOU!

So, 1) I will begin publishing weekly chapters here on Austen Variations beginning this Friday, February 1st!  2) I am giving away a copy of the book here to a random winner – your preference of e-book or signed paperback in the US, e-book for an international winner. (A different book will be substituted if you already own this one.) Just leave a comment about any aspect of this post below. I’d love to know if you’ve had a similar experience – an idea that rolled around in your brain for months or years and then finally came to fruition.

Thanks for reading! Look for the winner January 31st (announced here and on our Facebook page), and watch for chapters of The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen beginning Friday!

IMPORTANT UPDATE 2/12/20:  It was never my intention that the entire book (The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen) should be available free online forever. Now that a year has passed, I have  reduced the chapters posted here at Austen Variations to the first five. Begin your free sample here!  SW

Update 1/31/19 And the winner is Sheila L. Majczan! Please contact me (FB message or email me at shannon(at)shannonwinslow(dot)com