I've just read a comment by Jimmy at https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/question/view/2618 and was reminded of an e-mail that I received not long ago. It said something like: "[Do you] Want to write like Jane Austen?" Or maybe "How to write like Jane Austen". I suppose that it was offering places on a writers' workshop / seminar / whatever, and came from either "The Writers' Workshop" or "Writers & Artists". I've been looking through my e-mail inbox and can't find it, so I guess that I must have binned it. Or maybe there never was such an e-mail and dementia is advancing on me. Can any of you confirm [seeing something like this] (and rescue my sanity)?
Anyway, Jimmy's comment ('According to Jane Austen, the correct form was "Do not you think" ') has spurred me to answer this question "Want to write like Jane Austen?" with a resounding "Certainly NOT!" *
Not only do I not want to write "Do not you think", I ALSO don't want to write novels where the #1 obsession is "Is she going to catch him in the end?" NOR novels where none of the main characters seem to work for a living (OK, OK: an exaggeration, but there ARE a lot of idle rich swanning about with nothing better to do than going for outings in carriages) while the working class hardly puts in an appearance. (And a low income disqualifies them from love.)
Or have I been reading the wrong Jane Austen books?
* Not even the fact that Pride and Prejudice is by far the most down-loaded book of the Gutenberg Project's list sways me. (16,690 down-loads compared with the much-more-deserving #2, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, at 10,183) [See http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?sort_order=downloads] (Sherlock Holmes comes in 3rd, and a piece of erotica victoriana 4th. That's the only one I downloaded. [I've already got Alice in printed form.]) Of course, you have to remember that all the books on their list are copyright-free.
Actually, P&P is one of Austen's that I haven't read. (Perhaps the only one?) But I promised myself that if I was a good girl and behaved myself, I wouldn't have to. Even if it's free.
@ Lorraine
For once, I'm actually GLAD that the editing function hasn't arrived yet:
"You like Jane Austen work, do you, Wilhelmina? Just a guess..." is SO much better than the corrected version. When I read it, I laughed out loud, thinking that you were being sarky... and I do like a bit of sarcasm.
HST, I'm glad to read that Admin are getting around to this!
Admin, thanks for that. It will be a real help to those of us who type like demented chipmunks, and about as accurately! (That would be me, then.)
Lorraine
Hi All,
Quick note on this from the W&A Team because you've raised something we're working towards at the moment.
The site is due a revamp,with editing facilities (shared work, Q&A, comments) and better formatting options within the Community section of the site definitely on the agenda.
The relatively recent work we've done to enable each writer to share more than one piece of writing, for example, has been well-received, and there's plenty of other tweaks we'd like to make too. No confirmed dates or definite bits of development signed off just yet, but we are working on it so watch this space!
The W&A Team