Sorry, not another chapter ... yet. ;)

I just wanted to throw up a quick note and get some thoughts on something that’s been on my mind a bit lately.

My sister asked me not long ago if I thought I could write a regency story that was “not Austen.” I replied that of course I could — having so much experience through my JAFF work would make doing so fairly easy. The difficulty, if any, would come in the character creation and world-building. The thing that makes JAFF so easy (not that writing is “easy” by any means; a LOT of mental and emotional energy goes into it) is that the main characters and the world (relationships, settings, etc.) already exist. But yeah, I firmly believe I can do it if I set my mind to it.

Semi-related, a comment in an Austen Facebook group brought this conversation—and desire to write this post—to mind. The original post was one about a specific JAFF novel and how the OP didn’t care for it, but my post here relates to a comment on that post in which the writer said “I do not partake of the Austen Appropriation Industry. Regardless of what these authors say, the bottom line is is they intend to profit off a dead woman’s talent and fame because they don’t have the talent to do so in any other way.”

First and foremost, I emphatically disagree with this statement. JAFF isn’t about profiting “off a dead woman’s talent”—it’s about reimagining Austen’s world because we love it so much that we wish she could have given us more. And since she can’t, we’re creating more ourselves for all of her fans who share our sentiments. I also—as a JAFF author—find it to be especially offensive. Yes, we are using characters we (mostly, as every author does add a handful of original characters to each story) didn’t create, but the stories we write are entirely OUR OWN. Though many use the same “trope”, or idea, the stories are original to each author’s imagination and creativity. We also have permission, of a sort, to use these characters, as they are in the public domain, so long as we don’t try to claim the original works as our own. Readers wouldn’t buy our stories if they weren’t any good, which I do believe means we have talent. We just don’t always use it in other ways because we either don’t want to or because we love JAFF—and Austen—that much.

That said… The post reminded me of my sister’s question, and it got me thinking again about creating my own original regency story. And while I’m entirely confident that I could do it, what I’m not confident about is whether anyone would read it. I mean, you all know me for my JAFF work, and you like it (YAY!), but I dunno if you’d like it if it wasn’t JAFF.

So… What would you think of me writing a book or series that was not JAFF?