Cheers!

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Shannon Winslow
 Today I sold my first copy of my first novel!  I listed  The Darcys of Pemberley with Smashwords (offering most e-book formats) and half an hour later I noticed I had a sale.  You might think that’s a small step (after all, it’s only $2.99), but symbolically, it feels like a huge triumph.
 
What better way to celebrate than kicking back with a nice hot glass of negus.  That’s right, “negus.”  I know your mouths are watering at the mere mention of that perennial favorite.  At least it used to be in great favor a couple hundred years ago.  Not so much anymore, I suspect.

As Tom Musgrave was seen no more, we may suppose his plan to have succeeded, and imagine him mortifying with his barrel of oysters in dreary solitude, or gladly assisting the landlady in her bar to make fresh negus for the happy dancers above.   

FYI, negus is a hot wine drink invented in England by Colonel Francis Negus in the 18th century.  He died in 1737, but his namesake beverage lived on, remaining a popular fortifier on cold evenings throughout the Regency era – as expected at a ball as white soup. Though Jane Austen only mentioned it once by name as far as I could discover (above, in her unfinished manuscript, The Watsons), it would undoubtedly have been served at the ball at Netherfield and the Christmas party at the Westons, among other events she described in her six novels.

So, in the name of academic research, I set out to discover what the fuss was about. I was not content to simply read about this mysterious drink.  No, I decided I really should go the extra mile and taste it for myself, so that I could write about it with more authority.  I gathered the ingredients and determined tonight was the night.

Recipe: To one pint port wine, add the grated zest and strained juice of one lemon, 1/4 lb. sugar, one quart boiling water, and grated nutmeg to taste. Cool to a comfortable a temperature and serve.

Here’s my review:  Although a hot toddy might be appealing on a cold winter night, especially in a drafty old stone house with no central heating, I didn’t really care for it at first – at least not served hot and in July.  Two sips and I was ready to dump the rest.  But, to give it a fair test, I pressed on and was surprised to find that, as the mixture cooled, I warmed up to it.  I’m not much for red wine, so in some ways negus is a big improvement: it’s diluted, sweet, and easy to drink (no bite to trigger that spontaneous little shudder dry wines give me). That’s probably why in later years it was considered only suitable for children.  Yup, that’s about my speed.  

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Cover Story: part 1

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Shannon Winslow

The cover is done, and I’m delighted with it! 

I wanted it to be just right. Despite the old  saying, people can and do judge books by their covers. That’s not necessarily bad, but it is important. The title and the cover design are the first (and possibly only) chance a book has to make a good impression. If it fails there, most people will go no further. They won’t open it and read a single line. They won’t even bother picking it up.

So, as an avid reader browsing for a new book, what do you expect a cover tell you? What does my cover say about The Darcys of Pemberley?

The season was fine, and from first seeing the place under the advantage of good weather, they received an impression in its favour which was of material service in recommending it to their lasting approbation. (Sense and Sensibility, chapter 6)

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Finishing the Fragments

Posted on July 17, 2011 by Shannon Winslow

You may have heard on the news that a fragment of an unfinished Jane Austen novel called The Watsons hit the auction block this past week – a few yellowed pages of hand-written manuscript, complete with cross-outs and corrections selling at Sotheby’s for 1.6 million dollars.

There’s been speculation as to why Austen set the story aside and never finished it. The leading theory is that she found it too painful to continue working on after her father died, the fictional plot too closely paralleling real life events. Could be, but the true explanation might be nothing more serious than that she never had time, she lost interest in the book, or she found her other projects more engrossing.

I’ve never heard an author of multiple novels say that s/he only thinks of one story at a time, finishing the book before even considering what s/he might write next.  Usually they speak in terms of their brains “teeming” with story ideas or some new tale running amok in their heads when they should be focused on their current project.  “So many stories to tell; so little time.”

At this point, I have three completed novels.  But if I died today and, only then, were they discovered to be works of pure genius, somebody would undoubtedly mine my computer for anything else that should be preserved for posterity.  There they would find three other “unfinished fragments” tucked away, and wonder why I abandoned them. The answer is simply that I haven’t gotten to them yet. If a new idea comes to me while I’m in the middle of something else, I can’t resist dashing a bit of it down for future reference (see Germ of a Novel).  I may or may not ever get back to it.

If Jane Austen had lived beyond the age of 41, she might have finished The Watsons (and another fragment known as Sanditon). Or instead, she might have gone on to write something else entirely.  The tragedy is not the unfinished fragments, but the life cut short and the fact she didn’t live to reap the benefits of her posthumous success. For her masterpiece Pride and Prejudice, she received 110 pounds in 1812.  Even adjusting for inflation, it’s a pittance and a far cry from the million pounds The Watsons fragment fetched for her heirs two hundred years later.

Of course, maybe she would have been uncomfortable with great wealth if it had come her way.  Here’s her own words on the subject taken from the Watsons (which I borrowed to use in the prologue of For Myself Alone). 

“A pretty piece of work your Aunt Turner has made of it! By heaven! A woman should never be trusted with money.”  On the other hand, she also wrote, “A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.” (Mansfield Park, chapter 22)

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I Came; I Saw; I Formatted

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Shannon Winslow

Victory!  After about three days of concerted effort, and mind-numbing frustration, I think (fingers crossed) I’ve managed to get The Darcys of Pemberley formatted for CreateSpace, the print-on-demand arm of the Amazon publishing machine.

It shouldn’t have been difficult. After all, a template is provided, and the instructions simply say “cut and paste.” Although my computer skills are admittedly limited, I do know how to cut and paste.  So I figured, “How hard could it be?”

Glitch: a minor hitch or technical problem.

I beg to differ with this definition.  There was nothing “minor” about the technical problems I ran into trying to properly format my book.  The original document was in one font; after pasting a section into the template, it was a different font, a different size, with gaps between the paragraphs that I had never inserted.  Random sections were indented for no particular reason.  And don’t even get me started about convincing the page numbers and headers to show up where I wanted and NOT where I didn’t.  These are issues Jane Austen never faced.

But I persevered.  I discovered a step-by-step strategy for overcoming every glitch I encountered, and patiently repeated it …. 46 times – once after each section I had to cut and paste (42 chapters + prologue + title page + copyright page + acknowledgements page).  Then I instantly copied it to my backup so I would not run the risk of having to redo it….ever!

The good news?  Now that it’s formatted, The Darcys of Pemberley is starting to look like a real book rather than just a document on a computer screen.  One small step for literary history; one giant leap for author Shannon Winslow!

He was almost ready to wonder at his friend’s perseverance.  Fanny was worth it all; he held her to be worth every effort of patience, every exertion of mind, but he did not think he could have gone on himself … without something more to warm his courage than his eyes could discern …  (Mansfield Park, chapter 34)

Here, the prize was winning the heart of Fanny Price.  For me, the prize of five years’ perseverance will be to see my baby finally in print.

 

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Do You Want That Shaken or Stirred?

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Shannon Winslow

First, let me observe that people have vastly different tolerances for the level of danger, tension, pain, and suspense they are willing/able to tolerate, whether we’re talking about the activities they enjoy or the books and movies they prefer.  Adrenalin junkies aren’t satisfied unless they’re hurling themselves off a cliff with only a bungee cord or a parachute standing between them and certain death.   I suspect these people demand stories whose characters also face the highest stakes, continually and unrelentingly (i.e. Michael Crichton or Tom Clancy novels).  That’s not me.  I prefer to get my thrills from the relative safety of a rollercoaster, and my stories from Jane Austen and the like. Those tastes are reflected in what I write as well.

Eager to save her mother from every unnecessary moment’s horrible suspense, she ran immediately into the hall, and reached the outward door just in time to receive and support her as  she entered it.  (Sense and Sensibility, chapter 45)

As I wrote in a post a couple of weeks ago (Drama, with a Twist – part 1), drama is the feeling evoked in the reader as a result of introducing 1)a serious conflict with 2)an uncertain outcome, 3)brought to a crisis that 4)forces characters to make hard choices and take difficult actions. The principle is the same whether the crisis involves nuclear destruction or a ruined relationship.  The variables are the type of conflict and the level of intensity. 

Personally, I don’t want to read about war or rampaging monsters. I don’t enjoy watching movies that are so suspenseful that I can barely breathe.  Reality supplies more than enough misery and stress, as far as I’m concerned – no need to supplement with my leisure activities(hence, my favorite Jane Austen quote).

But I think most readers have at least one thing in common.  Regardless of whether you like your entertainment heart-stopping, heart-pounding, or simply heart-stirring, we want to know the experience is survivable. We all like to be taken on a ride, but we’re trusting the author that, even against overwhelming odds, s/he will bring us safely through to a satisfying ending.  It doesn’t matter if that means saving the universe from total annihilation or securing the happiness of a couple in love.

So what do you think?  How much do the kind of books you read reveal about your personality, and specifically about your tolerance for stress and suspense in other aspects of your life? Is there a clear correlation or not?

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Last Lines

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Shannon Winslow

To continue with my recent theme, I decided to put together a quiz about endings for all you Janeites.  You might recognize most if not all the first lines, but how well do you know the last lines of Austen’s novels?  Let’s find out.  I’ve done my best to neutralize the obvious give-aways.  For example, some names have been changed to protect the innocent, and I’ve added the last lines from The Darcys of Pemberley and For Myself Alone to the mix, to make it a little more challenging.  I’ll post the answers in comments. Good luck, and no fair peeking!

1 – On that event they removed to Lalaland, and the Motel 6 there, which under each of its two former owners, Kiki had never been able to approach but with some painful sensation of restraint or alarm, soon grew as dear to her heart, and as thoroughly perfect in her eyes, as everything else within the view and patronage of Lalaland had long been.

2 – The wedding was very much like other weddings, where the parties have no taste for finery or parade … But, in spite of these deficiencies, the wishes, the hopes, the confidence, the predictions of the small band of true friends who witnessed the ceremony, were fully answered in the perfect happiness of the union.

3 – After a little more time had gone by, they were able to look back over the year just past and see only the good it had brought them, and reasons to face the future with hope … Desi and Lucy could easily have been forgiven for thinking themselves blessed above all other creatures in England.

4 – Between Manor A and Manor B, there was that constant communication which strong family affection would naturally dictate … and living almost within sight of each other, they could live without disagreement between themselves, or producing coolness between their husbands.

5 – With the Abernathys, they were always on the most intimate terms.  Micky, as well as Minnie, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Disneyland, had been the means of uniting them.

6 – I leave it to be settled by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, or reward filial disobedience.

7 – Yet, according to the direction of providence, they were now both honorably free of their former encumbrances to be forever attached to one another.  Of all the varied fates that might have been hers, this was the finest. 

8 – She gloried in being a butcher’s wife, but she must pay the tax of quick alarm for belonging to that profession which is, if possible, more distinguished in its domestic virtues than in its national importance.

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…With a Twist: Part 2

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Shannon Winslow

Elizabeth … now smiled at the rapidity and ease with which an affair was finally settled that had given them so many previous months of suspense and vexation.  (Pride and Prejudice, chapter 55)

I promised I would take a closer look at how Jane Austen’s novels conclude, and specifically how she maintained the drama by keeping the happily-ever-after ending in doubt.  As I thought through the six books, I realized that in every case the outcome could easily have been (and often is, in similar real-life situations) completely different.

What if Captain Wentworth had stubbornly clung to his bitter resentment against Anne for rejecting him?  What if Emma had refused to listen to her own heart, and then to hear Mr. Knightley’s confession?  What if Marianne hadn’t shown the strength to fight her way back from her despondency over Willoughby? What if Henry Tilney, Fanny Price, and Elizabeth Bennet had all given in to parental pressure – marrying, respectively, an unnamed heiress, an unprincipaled Henry Crawford, and an unthinkable Mr. Collins?  All plausible outcomes, which makes the risk real and keeps the drama in play.

The intriguing “what if” scenario is something I play to the extreme in my third book, First of Second Chances (update: written third and published sixth as Leap of Faith), but it also crops up briefly in The Darcys of Pemberley when Elizabeth considers how close she came to losing Darcy:

How little she understood his reserved nature when they first met.  She blushed now to remember how she censured him for pride and arrogance – not wholly undeserved – whilst her own conduct was equally at fault.  What if they had never overcome those early misunderstandings?  It could so easily have happened.  No doubt most men would have walked away for good upon being so soundly refused. Elizabeth shuddered at the very idea.

The more real, imminent, and believable the possibility of the worst happening, the higher the drama.  As for believability, only Sense and Sensibility could be accused of deus ex machina, requiring a little sleight of hand to rescue Edward from his binding engagement to Lucy Steele at the last possible moment.

Image result for sense and sensibility weddingI credit the award-winning ’95 film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility with providing one of the best surprise endings I can recall.  I hadn’t read the book yet, and so didn’t know how the story turned out (or even that Jane Austen could be trusted to provide a classic happy ending).  After the scene where Edward shocks Elinor by revealing that he is honorably free and wanting to marry her, we move to a shot of the exterior of a church.  A wedding is apparently taking place inside and, because of what’s come before, I’m expecting the bride and groom to be Edward and Elinor.  I can still remember how blown away I was that Marianne and Colonel Brandon emerge instead – a surprising twist carefully crafted to delight.  What a thrill for a writer (in this case the movie’s talented lead actress and screenwriter Emma Thompson) to deliver that kind of enjoyment to her audience!

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Drama, with a Twist: Part 1

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Shannon Winslow

After fits and starts and many interruptions, I’ve finally finished an edit of my third novel, First of Second Chances. (Update: later published as Leap of Faith). Fresh in my mind, as I worked through the final couple of chapters, was an interesting presentation at the recent Pacific Northwest Writers Association meeting.  Jason Black, a local author and “book doctor,” talked about how to incorporate conflict and drama into fiction.

Conflict: opposition, two or more forces acting against one another, toward incompatible goals.  Without conflict, there is no story.  I’m very familiar with these concepts.  However, I would have been hard pressed to come up with a definition for drama.  According to Jason, drama is the feeling evoked in the reader as a result of introducing 1)a serious conflict with 2)an uncertain outcome, 3)brought to a crisis that 4)forces characters to make hard choices and take difficult actions.  The reader experiences drama as long as the ultimate outcome is in doubt.  So the writer’s job is to keep that uncertainty alive as long as possible.

In genre fiction, the reader has to cooperate a little to make this happen.  Everybody knows that the guy and girl are going to get together by the end of a romance novel.  By the same token, the mystery of a mystery novel will unquestionably be solved.  We ask the reader to suspend their knowledge of these foregone conclusions in order to enter into the drama of the story.  But, because these archetypal story forms are so familiar, surprising the reader is difficult.  That’s why ending with a satisfying twist is such a treat.

The surprise was now complete; for, in spite of whatever his consciousness might suggest, a suspicion of his having any such views had never entered his sister’s imagination; and she looked so truly the astonishment she felt, that he was obliged to repeat what he had said, and more fully and more solemnly … it was not unwelcome. There was even pleasure with the surprise.  (Mansfield Park, chapter 30)

Jane Austen does a good job of keeping the outcome in doubt until near the end (more on this in part 2).  But I was pleased to find a little twist at the end of my novel too.  I had deliberately set it aside for a while before doing this edit so that I could look at it with fresh eyes.  It gave me the fun of being surprised (at least a bit) all over again.

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Father’s Day

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Shannon Winslow

This being Father’s Day, I wanted to offer a salute to fathers everywhere who have done their best to shoulder the responsibilities and live up to the ideals of that important office.  My own excellent father, now 84, is a godly man who has my eternal gratitude, love, and respect.  I’m sure my sons feel the same about their father, my husband.  And now I’ve had the honor and slightly surreal experience of seeing our oldest become a father too.

Parenthood isn’t easy and, despite good intentions, we manage to do an imperfect job of it.  Fortunately, kids are resilient; they can survive a lot of parenting mistakes.  Of all the advice I’ve ever heard on the subject, though, this thought has stayed with me.  The best thing you can do for your kids is to love their father/mother (your spouse).  In other words, nothing is more key to successfully raising children than the health of their parents’ marriage.  I think there’s a lot of truth in that, and it reminded me of this passage in Pride and Prejudice. 

 

Elizabeth, however, had never been blind to the impropriety of her father’s behaviour as a husband. She had always seen it with pain; but respecting his abilities, and grateful for his affectionate treatment of herself, she endeavoured to forget what she could not overlook, and to banish from her thoughts that continual breach of conjugal obligation and decorum which, in exposing his wife to the contempt of her own children, was so highly reprehensible. But she had never felt so strongly as now the disadvantages which must attend the children of so unsuitable a marriage … (chapter 42)

So thanks, Mom and Dad, for loving each other through thick and thin.  For a look at the less-than-perfect parents of Jane Austen’s novels, please revisit the March post Father of the Year.

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Hand-Written

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Shannon Winslow

Even if I’m never hugely successful as a writer, I can still be proud of accomplishing something difficult: completing three novels (so far).  But, sometimes I wonder how far I would have gotten if I’d had to do it the old-fashioned way, like Jane Austen.  Take away my laptop, the internet, and spell-check and where would I be?

To have any idea, I have to think back … WAY back … to hand-written reports and theme papers I did for school.  The first draft was no more than a collection of scribbled notes loosely grouped into paragraphs.  The second, I wrote out using every other line on my college-ruled notebook paper.  Then I would cross out sections, draw arrows to rearrange elements, and use the blank space between lines to add new material.  At this point, it looked like a convoluted treasure map that no one but me could possibly follow.  After rewriting the piece a couple more times, it was finally ready to go to my live-in proof reader and spelling checker: my mom.  Then I would carefully write it out one more time – in ink and in my best penmanship – hoping not to make any mistakes since there wasn’t any way to correct them neatly.  A slow and cumbersome process.

It gives me a whole new respect for Jane Austen and her contemporaries, who wrote entire novels that way – no wordprocessing computers, not even a typewriter or a ball-point pen.

Elizabeth took up some needlework, and was sufficiently amused in attending to what passed between Darcy and his companion. The perpetual commendations of the lady, either on his handwriting, or on the evenness of his lines, or on the length of his letter, with the perfect unconcern with which her praises were received, formed a curious dialogue, and was exactly in unison with her opinion of each.  (Pride and Prejudice, chapter 10)

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