Abigail Reynolds is the author of What Would Mr Darcy Do? - the just released Jane Austen adaptation about Darcy and Elizabeth pushing through all the muddle and coming to an understanding without half the angst. I'm always ridiculously curious as to how authors really feel about their books and what they would be writing about if they weren't in their genre. Abigail was kind enough to oblige my whims!
What is your favorite passage in your new book?
That’s a tough decision, but I’ll go with this bit from a scene where Elizabeth teases Darcy by saying he is brave for being alone with her without a chaperone. This is what he says in return:
“Hardly brave, my dearest. Remember that, having already lost my heart to you, I have nothing left to lose.” He touched her cheek lightly with his fingertips, then moved them lightly along her hairline and down the sensitive skin of her neck. “After all, the worst I could face would be your father, who would demand that I marry you immediately, to which I would say...” he paused, his eyes fixed on his fingers as they continued to trace their way agonizingly slowly along the line of her exposed collarbone, “....would tomorrow be soon enough, because if not...” His lips found their way to a delicate caress of her neck. “....I am quite at leisure this afternoon.
If you weren't writing fiction with and Austen flair to it, what would you be writing about?
I’d probably be writing modern women’s fiction, something along the line of my book “The Man Who Loved Pride & Prejudice” only without the Austen connection.
Do you ever feel as though you were born during the wrong era?
Not at all! I enjoy romanticizing the past, but I would hate being a woman in Regency England. In my books, I don’t tend to mention that women were frighteningly powerless back then, not to mention the scary level of ‘medical’ care available. I feel very lucky to live in the present.
Thinking about Austen and being an author during that time period, would it have been hard for you to write with no recognition?
It would be very hard to write a complete novel. It’s fun to scribble down interesting scenes, but I never was able to do the hard work of writing transitions and slower-paced scenes until I had an audience. If I’d been writing then, you’d have found a pile of unfinished scenes from half-imagined stories.
It's been hashed over a lot, but why do you think Elizabeth and Darcy's unconventional romance has mesmerized so many this day and age?
Elizabeth’s intelligence and wit makes her appealing to thinking women, and the idea of a man with Darcy’s loyalty and sense of honor whose devotion to her is so strong has an incredible draw. I think the idea that they find each other when neither is looking at the other as a possible match adds spice to the mix.
To readers who are just getting interested in this genre, who would you recommend they take a look at reading?
It’s hard to pick just one, but Kara Louise would be a good author to start with. For a larger selection, check out Austen Authors (www.austenauthors.com), a group blog for Austenesque authors.
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