In Love with Austen

by Marilyn Brant

Thanks to Susan and everyone here at the Stiletto Gang for letting me visit today. Happy (early) Valentine's Day, too!!

My debut novel, ACCORDING TO JANE, is the story of a modern young woman who has the ghost of Jane Austen in her head, giving her dating advice. The number one question I've been asked since the book came out this past fall is: "Why Austen? What is it with everyone choosing HER to write about lately?!"

Well, the short answer is that for me, anyway, Austen-love was in no way a recent phenomenon. I was first given PRIDE AND PREJUDICE as a 14-year-old high-schooler in English class, and I raced through the novel way ahead of the reading assignments. I loved both the story and Austen’s writing style immediately. She was so insightful about the way human beings thought and acted. Her characters were fascinatingly flawed, multidimensional and very real to me, and their stories timeless and universal. Reading Austen's work instantaneously changed the way I perceived the behavior of everyone around me, and I spent the rest of freshman year (and much of the 1980s) trying to figure out which Austen character each of my friends and family members most resembled. I, of course, was the beloved and witty Elizabeth Bennet--at least in my imagination--LOL!

Even years later, as a teacher, when I found myself encountering difficult administrators, staff members or parents, it helped me to think of what Jane might have said about them. How she would have instructed her most heroic characters to deal with these frustrating individuals. So, my love and appreciation for the author started decades before any kind of zombie/sea-monster/vampire craze and it even pre-dated the famous Colin-Firth-as-Mr.-Darcy version of the P&P film!! (Although, who wouldn't be inspired by seeing him all wet from jumping in lake, hmm?!)

I also spent a fair amount of time during my dating years thinking about how beneficial it would be to get romantic advice from such a wise and perceptive woman like Miss Austen, not to mention one who was a respected author and the person who'd written my all-time favorite love story. So when, as an aspiring writer myself, someone asked me which classic author I'd most want to borrow a few plot points from, I thought first of Jane. I wasn't a historical writer by any stretch of the imagination, so I found myself wondering what a modern girl's P&P experience might be like... What would Jane have advised a teen (one who was sort of like me or my friends) to do in tricky situations if, let's say, she were witnessing prom night maneuverings or an evening at a local pick-up bar.

Since I was thinking about this and writing the first draft of the story in 2004, there were only two examples of modern Austen re-imaginings that I'd seen way back then: "Bridget Jones's Diary" (the film and the novel) and "Clueless" (the film). Those were both certainly influences--and I loved them!--but films like "The Jane Austen Book Club" and wild novel spinoffs like PRIDE & PREJUDICE & ZOMBIES had yet to be released. And, though I'd read some Regency continuations, I hadn't come across anything else in the contemporary realm back then, even if it might have been available.

I suspect that degree of unawareness wouldn't be possible now. With so many sequels and variations on Austen-related books and so very many movie remakes, it would be incredibly difficult to avoid them these days. Had I known just how many writers were working on something Austen-esque during the time I was writing mine, I might've been too overwhelmed or intimidated to continue. I didn't even know that Austen fan fiction existed until after my book was under contract--and there are thousands of avid fans writing it!

For someone like me who can't get enough of Austen, though, being a reader and a movie-goer during this current boom of Jane books and films has been awesome. I think interest in her work reached a tipping point and crashed into the mainstream, largely because of the attention the stories got onscreen. With actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley and many others playing leading Austen heroines, and Anne Hathaway playing "Jane" herself in "Becoming Jane"--not to mention the allure of good-looking actors like Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Matthew MacFayden, Jonny Lee Miller, etc. jumping in to take on the roles of the heartthrobs--it's not surprising that Austen's characters started to appeal to a wider audience.

So, I guess that's my longwinded way of saying that even though I had no idea there would someday be such a huge Austen craze, I'm still very glad to be a tiny part of it!

My next book, though, takes a different women's fiction turn and doesn't follow any of the Austen novels. It comes out on October 1st and is called FRIDAY MORNINGS AT NINE. It's a modern fairy tale about three very different forty-something women, their three very different marriages and what happens a decade or two after the "happily ever after"...

And, because Susan's my friend and the most excellent author of THE COUGAR CLUB, I'll add that there's one hot cougar-ish scene in my upcoming book that I had a blast writing!! My husband rolls his eyes whenever I talk about this male character, but I find the guy to be very charming (as figments of the imagination often are) and I wish I could meet him in real life. Plus, unlike my (pretty wonderful) husband, my hot fictional man COOKS! For me, this is an element of fantasy that I'd love to see more of in reality--LOL! What about you all? Do any of you have a fantasy trait like that? One you wish your mate would surprise you with?? If so, do tell!

May you all have a fun and romantic Valentine's weekend. Thanks again for letting me spend a little time with all of you ;-).

Marilyn Brant lives in the Midwest where, before she became a full-time novelist, she worked as an elementary school teacher, a library staff member, a freelance magazine writer and a national book reviewer. She’s blessed to have a genuinely supportive husband and son, a loving family and a truly amazing group of friends, all of whom keep her grounded, sane and away from dangerous things like chocolate martinis (usually). She’d love to say she also has killer abs but--so far--this is still a fantasy.

Marilyn, thanks so much for visiting us today! We loved having you, and we can't wait to read FRIDAY MORNINGS AT NINE! As an early Valentine's Day surprise, Marilyn's giving away one signed copy of ACCORDING TO JANE to a lucky reader who comments today. So comment away, and Marilyn will randomly draw a winner! We'll let you know if it's you!