Shannon Winslow's "Jane Austen Says..."

Much Left to the Imagination – part 2

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Shannon Winslow

When I wrote “part 1,” I didn’t intend a follow-up piece. But now I find that I must retract part of what I said then.

“I have to thank you, Miss Woodhouse, for a very kind forgiving message in one of Mrs. Weston’s letters. I hope time has not made you less willing to pardon. I hope you do not retract what you then said.” (Emma, chapter 18)

My original Much Left to the Imagination post was about how Jane Austen tells/shows us very little of the proposal scenes in her novels. For whatever reason, she leaves much (or in some cases, nearly ALL) to our imaginations. It works for her, and I don’t question her genius. But my contention was that a modern writer probably couldn’t get away with this, that readers today expect to be given all the juicy details.

Turns out that I’ve copied Jane Austen’s techniques more than I realized. I refer to the proposal scene I wrote (or didn’t write) for The Darcys of Pemberley.

Since it’s a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, Darcy and Elizabeth are already married. But the book also tells the story of the courtship of Miss Georgiana Darcy, so it’s the proposal to her I’m referring to. (As for who’s proposing, I wouldn’t wish to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t yet read it ;))

It’s a few years since I originally wrote this novel but, in the process of producing the audio version, I have now re-read it twice in the last week! That’s when it struck me how much I also left the reader’s imagination. Here’s a slightly edited version, also censored as to the gentleman’s name:

Whilst the contest for her future joy was being waged int he library, Miss Darcy sat at her pianoforte and played on, completely unaware that her whole world was about to change. She noticed when Mr. X entered the room yet she did not stop. She knew he liked to listen to her, and she was more inclined to play for him than talk to him just then. With that thought in mind, Georgiana felt her misfortune at being very nearly to the end of the piece. She soon finished, accepted the gentleman’s praise without a word, and was about to begin again when he prevented her. He took both her hands in his and gently turned her toward himself. To her total astonishment, he then dropped to one knee beside her.

“Dear Georgiana,” he began, “I am now at liberty to tell you that which has long been in my heart. Will you hear me?”

Although too overcome to speak in any case, Georgiana had not the slightest objection to hearing whatever Mr. X might wish to say to her on bended knee. She nodded her acquiescence, and he was sufficiently encouraged to go on. He commenced by describing the major revolution he had experienced in his feelings toward her over the last several months. He concluded with the fervent hope that she could in some measure return his earnest affection and consent to becoming his wife.

To suddenly find herself the object of Mr. X’s love was so wholly unexpected that Georgiana hesitated in her answer, not from indecision but from disbelief… Whilst her heart told her to consent instantly before she awoke from the dream in which she found herself, her mind called for a point of clarification.

“You say you have been in love with me for some time now, sir. If I am to believe you, you must explain something. Why have I never seen any sign of it, any change in your manner, any gesture or word of peculiar regard?…”

“Oh, my dear girl, if you only knew how difficult it has been for me to show so little when I felt so much. But I was honor-bound to speak to your brother before giving you any idea of my true affection… Now tell me, dearest Georgiana do you think in time you could learn to love me? Please say that I have some chance of winning your heart.”

With her one and only reservation very satisfactorily overcome, Georgiana gave the gentleman to understand that her heart in fact already belonged to him and to him alone.

Can you just picture it? I hope so, although not knowing the proposer’s identity may leave a pretty big hole in the image. As to how the modern reader has accepted this very-Jane-Austen treatment of a proposal scene, I can’t say that I’ve had any specific complaints about it. There are some who have commented that they wished I hadn’t wrapped things up so quickly at the end of the book; perhaps that’s what they meant in part.

Since then, I’ve written much more complete proposal scenes in For Myself Alone and Return to Longbourn. But there’s still something about the one above that I especially like. Maybe it’s because it IS so very Jane Austen in leaving something to the imagination!

Update 5/18/16: For anyone stumbling on this post, the update is that I have now written a more complete version of this proposal scene in Miss Georgiana Darcy of Pemberley, the companion book to The Darcys of Pemberley.

Posted in Jane Austen, Jane Austen Quotes, Shannon Winslow, Uncategorized, writing | Tagged Emma, Georgiana Darcy, Jane Austen, Jane Austen quotes, proposal scene, Shannon Winslow, The Darcys of Pemberley | 2 Comments

Spring Garden Tour

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Shannon Winslow

Spring is my favorite season of the year. After a long, dreary winter – this past one made even darker by the loss of my father at the end of November – there is finally the promise of improvement ahead. The gloom has lifted, and the days are longer and brighter.

I don’t know what your weather has been like so far this spring, but we’ve had some stellar days here in Seattle, with temperatures actually making it into the 80’s a couple of times this past week! I think the contrast with the status quo (cool, gray, wet) makes us appreciate a sunny day in May all the more, which reminds me of a passage I wrote in a yet-to-be-published contemporary novel called First of Second Chances (Update: This book is now published as Leap of Faith):

No one could resist an unseasonably warm March day, with everything bursting into bloom at once, least of all sun-starved Seattleites. It seemed outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds had only been awaiting this engraved invitation to emerge from their winter hibernations. Gail could appreciate the feeling. She had certainly weathered harsher climates elsewhere, but no place with more sodden, steel-gray days. It wasn’t so much the total quantity of water that fell from the sky, she decided, but the number of weeks and months it took to reach that total. That’s what grated away at your spirit. If the Inuit people had a hundred different words for the snow that constantly surrounded them, then the same should be true for the variations of Pacific Northwest precipitation. She’d noticed the forecast wasn’t given in black and white – rain, or no rain – but in more shades of gray: “partly cloudy, scattered showers, patchy morning fog,” and, her personal favorite, “drizzle.” No wonder that a clear blue sky was celebrated like a national holiday, especially in early spring.

Likewise, in Mansfield Park, Fanny Price only learns to truly appreciate the natural glories of spring provided by her adopted home when she is deprived of them by being sent away to Portsmouth.

It was sad to Fanny to lose all the pleasures of spring. She had not known before what pleasures she had to lose in passing March and April in a town. She had not known before how much the beginnings and progress of vegetation had delighted her. What animation, both of body and mind, she had derived from watching the advance of that season which cannot, in spite of its capriciousness, be unlovely, and seeing its increasing beauties from the earliest flowers in the warmest divisions of her aunt’s garden…(chapter 45)

Nothing says spring to me like the early flowers: daffodil, camellia, magnolia, and rhododendron. And, when the threat of frost is gone, even my tropical house plants get to move outdoors. My potted Plumeria tree and Bird of Paradise plants will spend the next few months on my patio, near my goldfish pond.

So, please make yourself at home, and take a virtual stroll though my garden. Hope it brightens your day!

Posted in gardening, Shannon Winslow, Uncategorized | Tagged Fanny Price, First of Second Chances, flowers, garden, Jane Austen, Jane Austen quotes, Mansfield Park, Shannon Winslow, spring | 6 Comments

Much Left to the Imagination

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Shannon Winslow

Progress Report: Yay! I’m happy to say that I have officially broken out of my “analysis paralysis (see previous post).” I’ve made momentous decisions this past week about my audio books, the result of which is that I now have two amazing narrators under contract and three of my books in production. So, sometime this summer, you will be able to read Mr. Collins’s Last Supper, The Darcys of Pemberley, and Return to Longbourn in audio format! How cool is that?

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Speaking of audio books, I’m currently rereading Sense and Sensibility in that format, and I’m nearly to the end. I have to admit that I’d forgotten how much Jane Austen left to the imagination in what should be the climactic scene – Edward’s proposal to Elinor. Here’s what she writes about it:

His errand at Barton, in fact, was a simple one. It was only to ask Elinor to marry him… How soon he had walked himself into the proper resolution, however, how soon an opportunity of exercising it occurred, in what manner he expressed himself, and how he was received, need not be particularly told. This only need be said; that when they all sat down to table at four o’clock, about three hours after his arrival, he had secured his lady, engaged her mother’s consent, and was not only in the rapturous profession of the lover, but in the reality of reason and truth, one of the happiest of men.

So, she tells us exactly nothing, leaving everything to our imaginations! As I said, I’d forgotten this, although I’ve read the book at least half a dozen times. The proposal scene I remember, exists only in my mind (and in the movies). In Northanger Abbey, when Henry Tilney bears his soul to Catherine, it’s the same – strictly narrative generalities. And we aren’t given much more to go on with Darcy’s proposal (the second, successful one) and Elizabeth’s acceptance. He simply says, “My affections and wishes are unchanged.” Then, we are told, Elizabeth…

…forced herself to speak, and immediately, though not very fluently, gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so material a change, since the period to which he alluded, as to make her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present assurances.

In Persuasion, Captain Wentworth isn’t even in the room when he makes his profession of love to Anne, since it’s done by letter (although, what a letter!). The most completely portrayed proposal scene in all Austendom come courtesy of Mr. Knightley in Emma.

“My dearest Emma,” said he, “for dearest you will always be… I cannot make speeches… If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more…But… you understand my feelings and will return them if you can…”

Even though Mr. Knightley expresses himself pretty completely, Emma – What did she say? Just what she ought, of course. A lady always does.

I don’t know if Jane Austen truly believed these intimate moments were often better left to the reader’s imagination, that the rest “need not be particularly told.” Or was it that she had so little experience in this area that she felt she could not write it convincingly. She was famous for never attempting any kind of scene of which she could have no personal knowledge. And, although she was proposed to once – by unappealing family friend Harris Bigg Wither – perhaps he botched the job and left her with no suitably inspirational source material!

Somehow we don’t mind these omissions in Jane Austen, but I don’t think a contemporary author could get away with leaving so much only to the imagination. Today’s readers generally expect to be privy to all the details, to be eyewitnesses to the big moment when the hero and heroine finally get together, to revel in every glorious word and expression. We can probably all agree that being invited to the wedding is nice too. The more difficult question is how much to show beyond that, how much of what goes on behind closed doors. On that topic, opinions range far and wide.

But that is a subject for another day.

What’s your opinion? Have you ever wished Jane Austen had given us a little more to go on? Would you be satisfied (or feel cheated) if a modern author showed you no more of the romantic climax than we see in Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility? How much do you think should be left to the imagination?

PS – Since I originally wrote this, I’ve discovered I copied Jane Austen’s technique more than I realized. For an update, read Much Left to the Imagination – part 2.

Posted in Jane Austen, Jane Austen Quotes, Shannon Winslow, writing | Tagged Jane Austen, Jane Austen quotes, Pride and Prejudice, proposal scenes, Sense and Sensibility | 11 Comments

Analysis Paralysis

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Shannon Winslow

The blog tour for my recently released novel is winding down. It’s been a challenge to do it, but every one of these posts has been different, so that anybody following me all the way through will be spared the annoyance of reading a rerun. My latest contains an introduction to the men of Return to Longbourn, as well as a new excerpt. Don’t miss a stop at Barbara Tiller Cole’s Darcyholic Diversions, where I visited a couple of days ago. If you haven’t yet found your way on your own, here’s the link.

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As I told you two weeks ago, I’ve begun working towards getting my books into the audio format – very exciting, yes! But also a lot of difficult choices to make, important questions to decide. Which narrator would do the best job? What payment terms should I offer him/her? Should I sign on for an exclusive publishing contract with better royalties, or hold on to my rights? The pros and cons of each option have been chasing round and round in my mind for days to where I’m totally stymied. I think I’ve officially achieved the state of analysis paralysis.

Analysis paralysis – The condition of being unable to make a decision due to the availability of too much information, which must be processed in order for the decision to be made.

So, once again, I turn to my role model and ask what Jane Austen has to say on the subject.

On first perusal, her characters seem remarkably decisive. Marianne Dashwood made instant judgements about what she wanted, and Elinor never wavered about what was right and wrong (one guided primarily by sensibilities, the other more by sense). Elizabeth Bennet didn’t hesitate to reject Mr. Collins’s proposal, even though (as he scrupled not to point out) her other prospects were limited. Even Anne Elliot, despite the years of suffering it had caused her, proclaimed in the end that she had been right at age seventeen to submit to Lady Russell’s persuasion and break off her engagement to Captain Wentworth.

But, if you’re looking for someone who absolutely never doubted her decisions, Lady Catherine de Bourgh takes the cake:

There was little to be done but to hear Lady Catherine talk, which she did without intermission till coffee came in, delivering her opinion on every subject in so decisive a manner as proved that she was not used to have her judgement controverted.

In Mr. Bennet, we find lack of good judgement, but no lack of confidence when deciding to allow Lydia to go with the Forsters to Brighton. Emma falls into this same category by virtue of her bad advice to Harriet to reject Robert Martin’s offer of marriage. Other standouts in the “bad judgement” classification are Lydia Bennet and Isabella Thorpe – for their monstrously poor taste in men – but here again we don’t read that they had any difficulty making up their minds on the subject.

No, I could only think of one instance where someone in a Jane Austen novel truly agonized over a decision. That was when Mr. Darcy debated within himself if he should turn his back on his pride, his will, his reason, and his family obligations – all to offer for Elizabeth Bennet’s hand! Fortunately for her (and for us!), he finally came to the right conclusion.

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

So what has any of this to do with my current situation. Probably nothing. But, after a day of reading legal contracts and evaluating complicated royalty payment structures, this little ramble was a pleasant diversion. Tomorrow, I swear, I’ll face up to the business at hand and break through the log jam somehow. If all else fails, I may resort to the flip of a coin. Too bad I can’t call Lady Catherine; I’m sure she’d be happy to tell me what to do.

Posted in guest blog post, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Quotes, Shannon Winslow, Shannon Winslow's writing, Uncategorized | Tagged analysis paralysis, audio books, Elizabeth Bennet, guest blog, Jane Austen, Jane Austen quotes, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, Mr. Darcy, Return to Longbourn, Shannon Winslow | 7 Comments

Books Read Aloud

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Shannon Winslow

First, for those of you who missed it earlier this week, you can read my newest blog tour post here, complete with a never-before-seen excerpted passage from Return to Longbourn. It’s high time you met Mr. Harrison Farnsworth, master of Thornefie… I mean Netherfield. He’s Mary’s employer and man of considerable mystery.

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Next, let me tell you about my new adventure. This week, I’ve started the process of publishing The Darcys of Pemberley and Return to Longbourn as talking books! Since I do much of my reading in audio myself, I always hoped to have the chance to see…er…hear my books translated into that format too. Now that it’s underway, I’m fascinated by the process.

Some authors narrate their own books when they go audio. I seriously considered it. After all, who could possibly understand the material better than I do? I alone could know exactly how (according to my imagination) a line ought to be read – where to place the emphasis, where to pause for effect, etc. And, when I’ve done a reading from one of my books, it’s been well received.

But in the end I got cold feet. Three problems, basically: 1- new technology that I don’t have time or patience to learn. 2- my questionable British accent (according to the faces my sister makes when I use it). 3- I am no actress, and a trained actress/actor can probably provide a better experience for listeners. It comes down to knowing your limitations.

“To know [Shakespeare] pretty thoroughly is, perhaps, not uncommon; but to read him well aloud is no everyday talent.” … “Even in my profession,” said Edmund, with a smile, “how little the art of reading has been studied! How little a clear manner, and a good delivery, have been attended to!” (Mansfield Park, chapter 34)

Therefore, I’m in the process of selecting a professional voiceover artist for the job. The first four sample auditions came in today! Let me tell you, it is a surreal experience hearing your own words – your own story – read back to you by a stranger’s voice. It’s weird and wonderful at the same time.

It made me ponder whether or not Jane Austen might have ever had a similar experience. Obviously, there were no “talking books” then, but people did sometimes read to each other as a form of entertainment. And since Jane Austen wrote anonymously, the reader might not have known that the author was actually in the room in her case. Can’t you just picture it? – a group of acquaintances gathered round the fireplace in the evening, and someone pulls out a volume of Pride and Prejudice, offering to read a portion out for the others. Jane sits back and smiles demurely, never letting on.

I found this passage as part of a biographical note introducing a complete collection of her works:

Most gratifying to her was the applause which from time to time reached her ears from those who were competent to discriminate. Still, in spite of such applause, so much did she shrink from notoriety, that no accumulation of fame would have induced her, had she lived, to affix her name to any productions of her pen. In the bosom of her own family she talked of them freely, thankful for praise, open to remark, and submissive to criticism. But in public she turned away from any allusion to the character of an author. She read aloud with very great taste and effect. Her own works, probably, were never heard to so much advantage as from her own mouth; for she partook largely in all the best gifts of the comic muse.

If Jane was widely known to “read aloud with great taste and effect,” perhaps, in a scene like the one above, she might have been asked to take the book herself. As the story flowed from her lips, the others must have been amazed at her understanding and the feeling with which she read. Wouldn’t you have loved to be sitting in that circle as she began… “It is a truth universally acknowledged…”

Posted in guest blog post, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Quotes, Shannon Winslow, Uncategorized | Tagged audio books, Jane Austen, Jane Austen quotes, narrator, Pride and Prejudice, Return to Longbourn, Shannon Winslow, The Darcys of Pemberley | 1 Comment

Double-Header

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Shannon Winslow

Opening day of baseball season is just around the corner, and I can hardly wait. The Seattle Mariners are my team, and like most fans, I live in perpetual hope that, at long last, this might be our year! For a real baseball enthusiast, the only thing better than one game is two : a double-header.

That’s my not-so-subtle segue for introducing my own double-header, because today I’ve got not one, but two new posts for you. Up first is a guest appearance over at Austenesque Reviews – part of my book-launch blog tour. It’s titled “Whose Line is it Anyway?” Can you tell the difference between a genuine Jane Austen quote and one of my respectful imitations? Take the quiz. And while you’re there, register to win a free copy of Return to Longbourn!

It is no secret that I adore the work of Jane Austen. Her subtle stories of love triumphant and her witty, elegant prose suit my taste exactly. They have influenced my own writing more than anything else. With Jane Austen’s stories so deeply entrenched in my mind, I often find myself thinking of and alluding to various passages from her books as I write… (continue reading here)

For the second game of your double-header, see my new post at Austen Authors. This one also begins with a question: “Care to Take a Turn?”

Would you care to take a long ramble round the expansive park at Rosings? Or how about a little three-mile scamper across fields and over stiles to Netherfield? Or must I call you a carriage? We all know how Lizzie Bennet would answer these questions…

Continue reading here about how Jane Austen used activity level as a clue to character, why it was so shocking that Lizzy Bennet walked all the way to Netherfield, and my own philosophy on this questionable business of “taking outdoor exercise.”

Hope you enjoy your Jane Austen double-header! And just in case you think I’m way off base (pun intended) to pair Austen with America’s pass time, that there’s no common ground between the two, I offer in closing this quote from the first chapter of Northanger Abbey:

It was not very wonderful that Catherine, who had by nature nothing heroic about her, should prefer cricket, BASEBALL, riding on horseback, and running about the country at the age of fourteen, to books – or at least books of information…

Posted in Austen Authors, guest blog post, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Quotes, Shannon Winslow, Uncategorized | Tagged baseball, Elizabeth Bennet, exercise, Jane Austen, Jane Austen quotes, Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, Return to Longbourn | 2 Comments

View, ReView, & InterView

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Shannon Winslow

Maybe it’s because it was snowing this morning. But, when I thought about what “View” I might choose for this post (to go along with my cleverly themed title), my thoughts drifted to a warmer climate. This is a photo my husband took when we went to Maui a few years ago. I thought it so delightfully picturesque that I later did a painting from it. Looking at it now, I can almost feel the warm breeze blowing through my hair again, hear the crash of the surf below, and smell the salt air and plumeria blossoms. Ahhh. Lovely!

They were three days on their journey… [Marianne] sat in silence almost all the way, wrapt in her own meditations, and scarcely ever voluntarily speaking, except when any object of picturesque beauty within their view drew from her an exclamation of delight… (Sense and Sensibility, chapter 26)

How surprised (and delighted) Marianne Dashwood would have been to see this tropical view out her carriage window! – especially since she was on her way to London, not traveling the road to Hana.

Hope you enjoyed the “View.” Now it’s on to the “reView” – in this case the first high-profile review of my new book, Return to Longbourn. Book maven Kimberly Denny-Ryder uses superlatives such as “beautiful…astounding…best.” *blushing profusely* Modesty prevents me from continuing. Please read it for yourself:

Ever since Shannon Winslow debuted with The Darcys of Pemberley (DoP) in 2011, she’s been an Austen fan-fiction author that I’ve kept on my radar. In the two years since she published DoP I’ve not only read everything else she’s written, For Myself Alone (2012) and Mr. Collins’s Last Supper (2012), but have shared countless conversations with her about life, Austen, and everything in between. She is a woman that truly understands people and deep feelings. It’s easy to understand this without knowing her when you read her latest novel Return to Longbourn. The depth of feeling that the characters go through by the end of the novel is nothing short of (continue here)

Lastly, as part of my current blog tour, I gave and “interView” this past week for Maria Grace at “Random Bits of Fascination.” She asked about how I got my start and the challenges of writing historical fiction:

Please join me this morning in getting to know fellow Austen Author, Shannon Winslow!

Writing is such a challenging endeavor. What got you started on it and what keeps you doing it?

I’ve always loved books and reading, but I had no clue that I was a writer at heart until about ten years ago… (continue reading here)

My sincere appreciation to both Laurel Ann Nattress (Austenprose) and Maria Grace (Random Bits of Fascination) for featuring me and my books. And thank YOU for following my progress – view, review, and interview.

Posted in guest blog post, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Quotes, my books, Shannon Winslow, Shannon Winslow's writing, travel, Uncategorized, writing | Tagged a view, blog tour, Hawaii, Jane Austen, Jane Austen quotes, Marianne Dashwood, Sense and Sensibility, Shannon Winslow, writing | Leave a comment

Bits and Scraps

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Shannon Winslow

Dear Readers,

I must do my best to apprise you about all that has been going forward in the last week or two since the publication of the new book.

My dear Cassandra… I will give you some account of the last two days… We met only the Bretons at Chilham Castle… My brother and Fanny thought it the pleasantest party they had ever known there, and I was very well entertained by bits and scraps. (from a letter dated November 6, 1813)

I am very pleased to say that sales of the new book have been brisk, especially on Kindle. There, Return to Longbourn quickly passed by its esteemed parent (The Darcys of Pemberley) in the overall rankings and has been hanging out in the top 100 best-selling “fiction classics,” hobnobbing with the likes of Anne of Green Gables, The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, and Dracula – pretty distinguished company!

I’ve been busy too, making personal appearances in cyberspace and in the real world. I had the honor and pleasure of being a featured speaker at a Jane Austen Tea last Sunday – the culmination of a series of local events celebrating the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice. Meanwhile, my blog tour continues:

Today’s the last day to enter the drawing for a copy of Return to Longbourn at Austenprose. Return to Longbourn is in the “Spotlight” at Maria Grazia’s Jane Austen Book Club. And today I’m the guest of author Colette Saucier here, with a piece about why I write what I do, and my heart for the perennial underdog Mary Bennet. Excerpt:

Yes, Elizabeth is the lively, pert, popular, and beautiful one. She’s the Homecoming Queen type, and it’s easy to see how she wins over the handsome and aloof Mr. Darcy. But does that mean there isn’t any hope for those of us more like Mary – socially awkward, somewhat plain, and bookish? “Nonsense!” I say. “Plain girls unite!” I say. “We too deserve our day in the sun!”

I hope you find these “bits and scraps” entertaining. There are several more scenic stops on my blog tour to come!

Posted in contests, guest blog post, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Quotes, Shannon Winslow, Shannon Winslow's writing, Uncategorized | Tagged blog tour, book give-away, Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Austen, Jane Austen quotes, Mary Bennet, Return to Longbourn, Shannon Winslow, The Darcys of Pemberley | 1 Comment

Baby Blues or Blog Tour

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Shannon Winslow

Months of intensive effort have come to fruition; my “darling child” Return to Longbourn is finished, published, and successfully launched. Phew! It was a lot of work, and I feel a real sense of accomplishment. I suppose there could also be some danger of experiencing a let down at this point, now that this labor of love (bringing a new book into the world) is over. But I have no time for the literary equivalent of postpartum depression (or “baby blues” as my mom says it used to be called). I’m going on blog tour!

Upon the whole, therefore, she found… that an event to which she had been looking with impatient desire did not, in taking place, bring all the satisfaction she had promised herself. It was consequently necessary to name some other period for the commencement of actual felicity – to have some other point on which her wishes and hopes might be fixed, and by again enjoying the pleasure of anticipation, console herself… Her tour to the Lakes was now the object of her happiest thoughts. (Pride and Prejudice, chapter 42)

By using this quote, I don’t mean to imply that the publication of Return to Longbourn has failed to bring satisfaction, only that there is still much for me to look forward to! Blog tours (the modern-day substitute for book-signing tours) are a lot of fun. And I’m starting my tour with a visit to Austenprose – a Jane Austen Blog… where supposedly “There is a monstrous deal of stupid quizzing and common-place nonsense talked, but hardly any wit” (Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra in a letter).

Begin reading my guest blog post here, and then please follow the link to Austenprose. I’m giving away three more books there too!

Thanks, Laurel, for having me here today. It’s always a pleasure to visit Austenprose, especially when I have a new story to share!

Following last year’s publication of For Myself Alone, I longed to return to my first love, to the world of Pride and Prejudice. Even after tying up lots of loose ends in The Darcys of Pemberley, there were interesting avenues left to explore.

Yes, Elizabeth and Jane are well settled, and it would be pleasant to visit them again. As for Lydia… well, that’s another story. But I was chiefly intrigued by what lay ahead for the other two Bennet daughters… (continue here)

Posted in guest blog post, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Quotes, my books, Shannon Winslow, Uncategorized | Tagged blog tour, book give-away, Jane Austen, Jane Austen quotes, Pride and Prejudice, Return to Longbourn, Shannon Winslow | 1 Comment

“Return to Longbourn” Launches

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Shannon Winslow

Whoohoo! Debut day has finally arrived!

Ever since I finished writing Return to Longbourn, I’ve been dying to get this story out there. The creative process isn’t complete until the resulting work is shared. And the wait to share a new book can be excruciating – like having a tantelizing secret to tell and no one to tell it to!

One reason I’m so anxious to share this book is that I want to know if it intrigues and surprises you as much as it did me when I wrote it. 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 at times, but also a lot of fun! This time the trip took me somewhere 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 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 uncerimoniously knock off Mr. Collins (sorry, folks), but that changes nothing; the girls still cannot inherit. So when Mr. Bennet does (sadly) die, what happens to Mrs. Bennet, her two unmarried daughters, and the Longbourn estate?

Image result for Mrs. Bennet Well, as it happens, Mr. Collins has 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? At first neither one is too excited by the prospect. 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 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. And yet, 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 the horse in the right general direction and keep my eyes wide open, ready to take advantage of unexpected opportunities and every scenic detour.

In this case, it made for a far more interesting ride… and a much better novel too. At least that’s what I think. I hope you agree. After a brief prologue, the book begins like this:

Chapter 1

It is a truth universally acknowledged that every mortal being must at some point face the certainty of death and the day of reckoning. Despite his every effort to avoid it, this reality at last bore in upon Mr. Bennet, a gentleman who had long resided near Meryton in Hertfordshire. He had managed to live in tolerable comfort for nearly seven-and-sixty years, his contentment at least partially owing to the fact that he was rarely incommoded by bouts of serious introspection. Yet, in his final hours, he did at last pause to reflect upon the questionable quality of his earthly pilgrimage.

The traits of idleness and self-indulgence suggested themselves straightaway. Whereas these are not generally touted as virtues, Mr. Bennet reasoned that it would be outright hypocrisy to condemn in himself that which he freely forgave in so many others of his acquaintance. With his conscience clear on that head, his two remaining sources of potential regret as he prepared to meet his maker were these. First, he had married unwisely and in haste. Yet he hardly thought it likely he would be chastised for that above, having already paid more than thirty years penance for the folly below. Likewise, he knew the consequences of his second regret – not having produced a male heir – would soon be meted out on the terrestrial rather than the celestial plane.

Finally, the dying man considered that perhaps he should have taken his domestic responsibilities more seriously – disciplined his five daughters with some diligence when they were young and made better provision for his widow. But this belated remorse proved as transitory as it was ineffectual. Thus, being serenely satisfied with his deportment in this life and, therefore, confident of a favorable reception in the next, Mr. Bennet breathed his last.

(For more excerpts, check the bottom of the Return to Longbourn page)

I truly hope you enjoy reading Return to Longbourn as much as I did writing it. The book is now available at Amazon (Kindle and paperback and audio) and B&N (Nook) online stores.