Hero Love

First, I have a confession to make: Darcy did not immediately win me over when I first read Pride and Prejudice as a teenager. His first proposal was disastrous and though his second was better, there just didn't seem to be much to swoon over. I was much more taken by Elizabeth's strength and wit. I wanted to be Elizabeth, rather than be with Darcy. 

That didn't really change until I decided to tell Darcy's story. To gain a better understanding of him, I read the novel once more with I had two questions in mind: 1) What made him so reluctant to give his good opinion to others, and 2) How did Elizabeth so easily gain it, almost against his own will? The answer completely won me over. 

Darcy prizes honesty above all else. As a man of position and wealth, he is accustomed to being used and pursued. Men want to be known as his friend and women want to be courted by him. His disdain of this is clear in his response to Miss Bingley in Chapter Eight: "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." Caroline catches enough of his point to drop the subject.

Elizabeth never fawns over Darcy, and thus he cannot help but fall in love with her. Unfortunately, it does not occur to him that if she shows him the barest civility, she actually might not like him. This he discovers in his proposal, when that same admirable honest streak leads him to say things he perhaps ought to have kept to himself.

However, Darcy is not just honest with others, he is also honest with himself. After the immediate sting of Elizabeth's rebuke dulls, he sees the truth in her words and he resolves to change. He respects her opinion enough to trust her insight, even when her words hurt.

An honest man who wants nothing more than to be deserving of an honest woman? Swoon. Then he takes Lydia's rescue upon himself to save Elizabeth the pain of having a fallen woman for a sister and his character is fixed as the noblest man in Derbyshire. I could not help but fall in love with him, as generations of women before me have done.

When I started writing His Good Opinion, that honesty and disdain of falsehood drove the opening chapter of the story. Listen to the conversation between Bingley and Darcy:

"I will never understand, Darcy, why you insist on going out in Society only to be displeased with everyone you meet."

Fitzwilliam Darcy poured two glasses of brandy and handed one to his friend before he took the chair opposite him. "I go out because it is expected of me, Bingley. You know that."

Charles Bingley pointed at him. "Ah, but that does not answer the question, does it?"

Darcy conceded the point with the barest shrug of his shoulders. Here, in the comfort of his own study, there was no need to pretend. "I admit that I find little in Society of which to approve."

"Only because you are determined to disapprove!" Bingley protested. "What of the young lady you sat out with tonight? Let me hear your opinion of her."

Darcy ran his fingers down the side of his glass. "Her aunt approached me and said her niece had sprained her ankle, and would I be willing to keep her company? Courtesy forbade I refuse, though you know how little I enjoy making conversation with someone I am not intimately acquainted with. I have not your ease of speaking on subjects in which I have little or no interest." His lips curled in disdain, and he took a sip of brandy to wash the sour taste from his mouth.

"That is a commentary on your own character, not the lady's."

He ignored the familiar needling. "After two minutes of idle chatter, I inquired after her injury."

Satisfaction gleamed in Bingley's blue eyes. "Ah, you are capable courtesy after all!"

Darcy leaned forward, his forehead creased in a frown. "Perhaps you will not be so victorious, Bingley, when you hear the rest of the story. She did not understand what I spoke of. When she returned to her aunt shortly thereafter, she did not have a limp. The entire incident was manufactured so she could gain my attention. No doubt they have heard that I do not dance often —"

"Or ever."

The leather chair creaked in protest when Darcy stood. He took Bingley's glass and strode to the table, glad to have something to do, even if it was only refilling their drinks. This topic never failed to rile him, and he could not sit still. He poured the amber liquid and found a measure of calm in the action.

"They sought a way to get time with me, and they found it. You wish to know why I so seldom give my good opinion to those I meet; it is this dishonesty, this deception of which I cannot approve. I cannot — I will not — marry a woman I do not trust."


And there you have it: Fitzwilliam Darcy, an honest gentleman searching for an honest lady. Might I volunteer, sir?

His Good Opinion can be purchased in e-book format from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR, Amazon.IT, and Amazon.ES. The paperback is available from Amazon.

Giveaway winner!

There were 47 entries into the giveaway for the copy of the Pride and Prejudice. I stuck that number in the handy-dandy random number generator, and our lucky number is 23.

Counting down to number 23, the winning comment is:

Farida Mestek said...

I also retweeted at: https://twitter.com/#!/Nancy_Kelley/status/132552761127600128

Congratulations, Farida! Email me your address to nkelley.writes AT gmail DOT com, and I'll get your DVD in the mail by the weekend. Enjoy!

Thank you everyone for entering. I loved reading over your favorite moments of Pride and Prejudice.

Giveaway! BBC Pride and Prejudice DVD

As you know, friends, I am very nearly ready to publish His Good Opinion. This seems like a good enough reason to celebrate with a giveaway, and as my book is from Darcy's point of view, what better item to offer than a copy of the BBC Pride and Prejudice?

This is the production that gave us Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. I hope I'm not giving away too much when I say that I tested my dialogue by imagining Colin saying it.

I have one copy of the Restored Edition. As someone who owned the previous Special Edition, I can verify that the color, the texture, everything about the Restored Edition is absolutely incredible. Did you know the curtains in Mr. Darcy's room are red, or that the many of the dresses were made of patterned fabrics? Both of those facts had escaped me, due to the poor transfer quality of earlier versions.

Now, for the nitty gritty. This giveaway is open internationally. To enter, reply to this post with your favorite moment from Pride and Prejudice. For extra entries, you may:

Follow me via Google Friend Connect.

Follow me on Twitter: @nancy_kelley

Tweet about the giveaway. Here's a sample tweet: Hey #JaneAusten fans, want to #win a copy of the BBC Pride and Prejudice? Enter @nancy_kelley's #giveaway! http://bit.ly/sLRTYU

Please come back and comment for each additional entry. You can tweet about the giveaway once a day for more entries.

The giveaway closes on November 8 at 11:59 pm PST.

Darcy From The Back

There are two primary weapons in the author's sales arsenal. The first is the front cover. No matter what people say, we all judge a book by its cover. If the art is unattractive, the title obscured by a strange reflective coating, or the author's name too distracting, we won't read it.

I shared the front cover of His Good Opinion with you last week--thank you for all the lovely comments! I have high hopes that it will draw readers to at least take a peek at the second weapon I have: the back cover copy.

I have struggled and struggled with this. Summarizing a novel in a few short paragraphs is never easy, but when the basic story arc is one the reader is already intimately familiar with, the task is daunting. How exactly do I change things up so it still sounds like Pride and Prejudice but gives enough of a feeling of what makes this story unique.

Here's what I finally came up with:

Though tired of Society's manipulations, Darcy never thought to be enchanted by a country maiden. Yet on a visit to rural Hertfordshire, Elizabeth Bennet captivates him. Lovely and vivacious, she is everything he is not, and everything he longs to have.

Unfortunately, her connections put her decidedly beneath him, and the improprieties he observes in her family do not win his favor. Putting her firmly out of his mind, Darcy returns to London, but Elizabeth is not so easily forgotten.

When chance throws them together, Darcy can no longer deny his love, but Elizabeth, put off by his manners, refuses him. To change her mind, he must set aside his proud ways and learn how to please a woman worthy of being pleased. It takes a serious incident for his true character to shine, and for Elizabeth to learn just how valuable is…

His Good Opinion

I like this. It's short and to the point, and focuses on the main difference my story has: the personality of Darcy himself.


What do you think? Is Darcy as appealing when viewed from the back as he was last week when you saw his face?


His Good Opinion can be purchased from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, and Amazon FR. 

Giveaway Winner!!

After taking out my post and taking account for those who put all their entries in one post, there were 41 entries for The Annotated Pride and Prejudice giveaway. I popped the numbers into Mr. Random, and the lucky number was 38.

Congratulations, Whitney! Please contact me with your address, and I'll get the book in the mail to you right away.

Thank you everyone for entering, and stay tuned for more giveaways as my book release approaches.

Darcy In My Head and a Giveaway

When I decided to write His Good Opinion, I printed a copy of Pride and Prejudice out from Project Gutenberg and sat down with a pen to make notes. I listened to the book while reading, and when the DIMH spoke up, I jotted down his thoughts. In this way, I created a sort of map of what Darcy was thinking throughout the book, and that map became the back bone of my book.

(I actually turned it into a mind map, but apparently those scare people so I won't show you that. However, you can see it here if you wish.)

However, DIMH could only explain the things that were within my scope of experience. If I didn't know what a certain phrase referred to, my own subconscious couldn't make it clear to me. That's when I had to turn to outside sources, AKA reference material.

My final pass of His Good Opinion is being made with an annotated Pride and Prejudice. I want to know what experts have said about the novel, in particular its social situations.

Since this is where I am now, I'd like to give away a copy of The Annotated Pride and Prejudice. 

To enter, simply comment on this blog post.

You can also gain additional entries by: 

• Following me via Google Friend Connect
• Following me on Twitter
• Tweeting up to once a day about the giveaway with this tweet: Want to know more about Darcy and Elizabeth? Enter to win The Annotated Pride & Prejudice from @Nancy_Kelley: http://ow.ly/6vchp 

Please add an additional comment for each entry. This giveaway is open to US/Canadian entries only, and runs through the 9/28/2011. I will then use a random number generator to select a winner, who will be announced on 9/29/2011.

Good luck!

The Devil is in the Details

The trickiest part about HIS GOOD OPINION is getting all the details right. I'm not concerned about the major plot arc--I've read Pride and Prejudice enough times to be comfortable with the story line. It's the little niggling things, like... Was Darcy in the room when that happened, or had he already retired for the night? Could he have seen the expression on her face, or was he looking away?

And, did the Netherfield Ball take place on Tuesday or Thursday?

The answer to that question, dear readers, is Tuesday. However, thanks to the comment in Pride and Prejudice that nothing but a ball on Tuesday could have made the days from Thursday tolerable, I got the days switched around in my head.

Is this a big deal? Not really. It did mean going in and changing all the references to days that followed, and there happened to be a lot of them in that chapter. However, my mistake didn't dramatically affect plot or character--this time.

You may roll your eyes and chuckle about my obsession with details but what if it had been important? What if I'd put Mr. Darcy in the wrong place at the wrong time, or what if I'd forgotten who was in the room or who said what? One small error can snowball into something that takes ages to work out, or even worse, into a huge pile of inaccuracies that never get caught.

I have read fanfiction (published and online) that makes that kind of error, and it loses all credibility when I catch it. I'm determined not to be one of those authors, so I'm obsessing over little things like days of the week. It makes me a little crazy, but at least readers will be able to trust my story.

Taking chances

Last month, fellow author and blogger Julia blogged about an exhibit she saw of Dale Chihuly glass. She was particularly struck by the artist's trust in his audience: There are no walls or barriers protecting these fragile pieces from the public. If something were to happen, irreplaceable art would be destroyed, but apparently he views that as an acceptable cost. His goal is to allow the public to truly interact with his work.

From trust, it's only one small step to taking chances. I believe I'm pretty transparent in my work. I think and talk as Darcy when I'm writing, so there's little room for me to be vulnerable myself. But taking chances... seizing opportunities that I'm given... I could do better there.

In the Jane Austen's House Museum, there is a pianoforte that guests are welcome to play. I looked at it longingly several times, but my keyboard skills are similar to Elizabeth's: I would not play at all amiss, if I practiced more. There were other people in the museum, strangers. Could I play in front of them, expose my lack of skill to their critical ears?

In the end, I shied away. I felt a mild pang of regret when I left the house without touching the instrument, but it wasn't until I read Julia's post that I realized I'd let an opportunity slip through my fingers. Who cares how well I play? I could have played the pianoforte at the Jane Austen's House Museum!! Why didn't I?

This is my year of taking chances. Self-publishing is a huge step into the unknown. Will people like my book? I don't know. All I can do is write (and edit, and rewrite) the best book possible and then put it out there. I know if I don't, I'll regret it--just like I regret not playing the pianoforte.

A certain sameness

Every city I visited in England is situated on a river, and I managed to walk beside all of them at least once. Of course, picturesque riverbanks just invited photographs, so I came away with quite a collection.

When I looked at my pictures after I got home, I noticed a certain similarity to them.

Winchester

Stratford-upon-Avon

 

Bath

Windsor-Eton

Do you see it? Every single picture features a willow tree. True, there were willow trees along all the rivers, but couldn't I choose something else to frame the photo?

I notice the same thing when I'm revising. During my last project, I actually wrote, "Find someplace other than the library!!!" across the top of a chapter in block letters, because every other important scene happened there.

In the Netherfield portion of HIS GOOD OPINION, my setting of choice was a garden walk. Any time Darcy needed to think--something he did far too much of--he took a walk through the gardens. By the time I reached the last scene, I knew as I wrote it that it would need to be moved. (Another garden scene?) shows up right in the MS.

Now, for all you members of Over-Thinkers Anonymous, this is not something to worry about during your rough draft. You notice that even though I caught it, I still went ahead and wrote the scene.

However, when you hit the revision stage, things probably need to be reworked. In my writing, if multiple scenes are set in the same place, it's often a clue that I've written the same scene more than once. That was the case with HIS GOOD OPINION. Like I said, there were way too many scenes where Darcy wandered off to think. Is he a thoughtful man? Yes. Does any man think that much about love and relationships? No. Therefore, I cut the love bit out of the first scene and then combined the second two into one.

The other possible reason is (sorry to say) laziness. This was my excuse in my earlier project. I didn't want to think about the setting any longer, so I didn't create other places in that world. I'm not one of these writers who can build whole cities out of nothing. My best work is with characters. Painting the backdrop for them to live on is tedious work to me, and sometimes that shows.

I'm working on both of these flaws. When I get to Pemberley, I will spend some time just thinking about the estate and the house itself. How many floors, how many rooms, what would the rooms be used for? If I have a clear idea going into that section, I'll have a much easier time moving things around and describing them.

What about you? Do you find yourselves leaning on a setting the way writers sometimes do a certain word or phrase?

Austenesque Lesson: Alternate Universe

In fanfiction, "alternate universe" refers to a story that takes the recognizable characters from the fandom and puts them into a completely different setting. Austenesque authors lean heavily toward sequels and variations, but there are a few alternate universe stories out there.

In Pemberley Ranch by Jack Caldwell, Jane Austen goes to post-Civil War Texas. Beth Bennet is a Yankee with a passionate hatred toward former Confederate soldiers and slave owners. Rancher Will Darcy is both--or so she assumes. Meanwhile, Will is too proud to reveal the parts of his past that might make him more appealing to the young lady.

Obviously, when you take a Regency story and move it across the Atlantic 60 years later, there are going to be some changes, and some things won't necessary translate well. The key to an alternate universe is digging deep to find out who your characters actually are, and then deciding how to portray that in your new setting.

Confused? I'll give an example. In Pride and Prejudice, Darcy and Fitzwilliam are cousins, almost as close as brothers. They share the task of caring for Georgiana and it doesn't take much reading between the lines to say they trust each other implicitly. In Pemberley Ranch, Fitzwilliam is Darcy's foreman. The same level of trust exists between the two men, and thus Fitzwilliam plays much the same role as he does in Pride and Prejudice--he's just wearing a different hat.

That kind of finessing takes work. You can't just throw all the characters up in the air and hope they fall into place; you really have to think about who they are and how they relate to each other. That level of dedication is what makes a good alternate universe stand out from the crowd.

Style and the Austenesque Novel--Take 2

In one of my first posts, I asked how closely an Austenesque author should follow Jane Austen's style. The general consensus was that it's better not to try, and I agree with that. Not only would it be extremely difficult to manage, copying someone else's writing style doesn't allow our unique voice to come through.

That being said, I've discovered one place where it's crucial to sound as much like Jane as possible. The nature of HIS GOOD OPINION means I've brought over quite a bit of dialogue from Pride and Prejudice. These have been the hardest scenes to write. Seeing my unpolished rough draft next to her delightful prose is... frustrating, to say the least.

But there's hope! Twice in my revisions, I've stopped over a bit of dialogue and asked myself, "Is that mine or Jane's?" Both times it was something I wrote, and I danced a dance of writerly joy.

While I believe myself to be a good writer, I make no claim to being Jane Austen. That being the case, how did I manage this, not once but twice? Hearkening back to another post, it was all about the character development. Both of those lines fit into the story not because they sounded like Jane Austen, but because they sounded like her characters.

This then is the key to writing the Austenesque novel. Study her characters. Learn to speak like them, and you in turn will sound like Jane.

Darcy Made Me Do It

A strange half-smile crosses some faces when I talk about HIS GOOD OPINION. They don't quite get the concept of Jane Austen sequels, and they don't understand why I would want to write one. After all, does the world really need another Darcy novel?

I confessed earlier that I didn't fall in love with Mr. Darcy straightaway. Like Lizzy, my love for him "has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began."

Then one day I was listening to Pride and Prejudice, right where Elizabeth is lamenting that Mr. Darcy seems to show up everywhere she goes in Kent--did she not tell him this was her favorite place to walk? Suddenly I heard Darcy's voice in my ear, his tones colored with mortification as he said, "I had not realized it was intended to be a warning, rather than an invitation."

Once Darcy started talking, he didn't stop. From then on, I listened to the novel in one ear and to Darcy in the other. (Picture that if you can.) Instead of finding his proposal presumptuous, as Lizzy did, I cringed because I understood why he believed her to have been expecting his addresses.

After only a few chapters of this, I knew I had to tell the story. As luck would have it, NaNoWriMo was right around the corner, with just enough time left to create a (very) thorough outline. I knew there were retellings from his point of view available, but even the best of those tales still focused on Elizabeth's story.

I wanted to try something new. I wanted to tell Darcy's story, to reveal his quirks. That is what I've attempted in HIS GOOD OPINION, and I hope that when I am through, you will believe I've succeeded.

Hero profile: Fitzwilliam Darcy

Two of my Twitter friends and I have discovered that in addition to Jane Austen, we all share a love for Star Wars and Superman. As these aren't interests that tend to go alongside each other, we wondered what common point they all share and eventually we landed on the ideal of a hero. Since today is Valentine's Day, the three of us are all blogging about our favorite hero: Jessica is writing about Superman and Rebecca about Han Solo. I get to share my love of Darcy with you for the first time.  

First, I have a confession to make: Darcy did not immediately win me over when I first read Pride and Prejudice as a teenager. His first proposal was disastrous and though his second was better, there just didn't seem to be much to swoon over. I was much more taken by Elizabeth's strength and wit. I wanted to be Elizabeth, rather than be with Darcy. 

That didn't really change until I decided to tell Darcy's story. To gain a better understanding of him, I read the novel once more with I had two questions in mind: 1) What made him so reluctant to give his good opinion to others, and 2) How did Elizabeth so easily gain it, almost against his own will? The answer completely won me over. 

Darcy prizes honesty above all else. As a man of position and wealth, he is accustomed to being used and pursued. Men want to be known as his friend and women want to be courted by him. His disdain of this is clear in his response to Miss Bingley in Chapter Eight: "Undoubtedly," replied Darcy, to whom this remark was chiefuly addressed, "there is a meanness in all the arts which ladies sometimes condescend to employ for captivation. Whatever bears affinity to cunning is despicable." Caroline catches enough of his point to drop the subject.

Elizabeth is often described as artless--that is, free from deceit. She never pretends to like Darcy, and thus he cannot help but fall in love with her. Unfortunately, it does not occur to him that if she shows him the barest civility, she actually might not like him. This he discovers in his proposal, when that same admirable honest streak leads him to say things he perhaps ought to have kept to himself.

However, Darcy is not just honest with others, he is also honest with himself. After the immediate sting of Elizabeth's rebuke dulls, he sees the truth in her words and he resolves to change. He respects her opinion enough to trust her insight, even when her words hurt.

An honest man who wants nothing more than to be deserving of an honest woman? Swoon. Then he takes Lydia's rescue upon himself to save Elizabeth the pain of having a fallen woman for a sister and his character is fixed as the noblest man in Derbyshire. I could not help but fall in love with him, as generations of women before me have done.

So much of modern courtship is deceit. Pretend to be someone you aren't, so the other person (who is also pretending) will then fall in love with someone that doesn't exist. No wonder relationships are falling apart! We need heroes; men who are honest with us and with themselves, who are willing to tells us the truth about our flaws and listen when we gently point out theirs. We need... Well, just watch this.