We have lots of excitement brewing here at Austen Variations with not one but two big coming attractions!
First, we’ll be starting a new group writing project for your reading pleasure! Our Pride & Prejudice: The Untold Stories project will be coming to an end in December, which means it’s time for something new! We’ve had such fun retelling our beloved story in real time, so in January we’ll be doing something similar – but with a new twist. We’re going back before the beginning. Yes, it’s going to be a real time Pride & Prejudice prequel! Have you ever wondered why Georgiana was taken from school? Why was an establishment formed for her in London, rather than having her live at Pemberley? How Wickham found out she was in need of a companion? What really happened at Ramsgate? And we won’t be neglecting the Longbourn side of the story either, as we discover how Lydia managed to come out in society at fifteen and how Lizzy dealt with the aftermath. And we’d love to know what questions you have about the story-before-the-story!
As for our second item…. drumroll, please!
Four NEW authors are joining Austen Variations, and we couldn’t be more excited! But who are they? That’s a secret we’ll be revealing in just a few weeks! Each brings a fresh voice and captivating tales inspired by Austen’s beloved characters. Trust us—you won’t want to miss this!
I could tell you who they are, but what fun would that be? Instead, we’re going to give you hints over the next few weeks with a grand reveal in mid-November. Let’s start with a puzzle for the really sharp-eyed among us! These four images came from the covers of books by each of our new members. Yes, I made this deliberately very hard!
Hints: All of them have written at least one story touched with magic, but only half of them have written JAFF fantasy novels. Two of them have children named after characters from P&P!
Now some obscure facts about our new stars:
Author A is one of eight children and made these adorable pumpkins pictured below!
Author B met Herman Wouk as a kid and has an autographed copy of The Caine Mutiny. She’s lived in 12 different cities and towns.
Author C provided these provoking mystery photos associated with her.
Author D, not to be outdone by Author A, made crocheted dolls – and actually loves teaching math! And she has a secret pen name that no one knows (and you’ll be excited about when you find out!).
I’m so excited for our new members – and for our new prequel writing project! I’d love to hear your guesses – and your questions and ideas about what happened before P&P started.
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Will the Untold Stories project be gathered and published as a book? They are so good it would be nice to be able to read them in sequence all at the same place.
Author
We haven’t made a firm decision yet, but that’s our intention. We’d like to publish it and donate the proceeds to a Jane Austen-related charity, which we’ve done in the past. So glad to hear of your interest!
I’d like to see Bingley in the prequel. Supposedly he was always falling in and out of love quickly, but we’ve never seen this! How he and Darcy became friends is probably too far back to make it into your prequel series, but I think he probably had a couple flirtations in the year before he met Jane. 🙂
Looking forward to it!
Author
I love the idea of having Bingley falling in and out of love! I’m adding that to my list.
Very excited, both about the new project and the new authors reveal! What a fun way to get us readers intrigued!
Author
I’m really excited, too!
So many questions-
The nice questions…
Why was Lizzy not fond of horse riding ?
Why was Lizzy so fond of walking and being outside?
Author
Those are good questions!
Warmest welcomes to the new authors!
And how exciting for the new project! I have loved reading P&P: TUS (yes, please publish a book form!) and am intrigued for the prequel stories.
Some interesting plot lines to consider include the love stories behind the various parents/couples: The Bennets, Gardiners, Phillips, Darcys, de Burghs, Collins, Lucas, Fitzwilliams(Matlocks) – goodness, even the Wickhams would be interesting; Mrs. Reynolds’ thoughts on watching/helping Darcy/Wickham grow up; same thing for Mrs. Hill watching the Bennett girls age; what shenanigans cousins Anne, Darcy, and Fitzwilliam got into as kids; Darcy aspirations for his future prior to his parents’ deaths; Elizabeth and Jane’s relationship growing up; how Mr and Mrs Bennet reacted to each daughters’ births/when did they give up on having a son; and the list of possibilities goes on and on… I look forward to reading each story as they come.
Author
That would be really fun, to explore all the beginnings of the families! I can see lots of ideas for those. Thanks!
Looking forward to the next project. I will have to look more closely at the photos later to see if I can figure it out
Love the creativity and cleverness of introducing our new members, Abigail! 🙂