Janet Aylmer's Blog: Darcy and the accidental author, page 3

Pictures in novels?

I mentioned previously the Illustrated version of Darcy’s Story – ISBN 978-0-9528210-3-8. It was my husband’s idea to use the prints by Hugh Thomson from a later Victorian edition of P&P, and to embellish the text in various way to make it more decorative

He was quite right, because as soon as this version was published, it out sold the original trade paperback.

But as HarperCollins pointed out to me, fiction books did not have pictures!

Do you agree with them? Many children’s fiction books have pictures, after all.

People and physical spaces

Part of the fun in writing several novels about the same family is in showing how different characters react to stressful situations. In my novel about Julia Maitland, she was very much the typical well behaved eldest sister, and much more “law abiding” than her lively middle sister Sophie.

You will not expect any prizes for guessing which of the two novels I enjoyed writing most!

I have often thought that, in P&P, Lydia behaved more like a second sister much of the time. Jane Austen was, of course, a “second sister” herself.

But I suppose that one can take all these stereotypes too far, although sometimes it is useful to have an actor or friend in mind when writing about a particular character

Similarly, having a room or building in mind can be very useful. In “Sophie’s Salvation”, I describe the ballroom in Harford Castle, and say that it was a copy of the Upper Rooms in Bath. If you have been there, you will know why – see http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/bath-...

Who is the real Mr Darcy?

We will never know for certain, of course, but this is an interesting "take" on who Jane Austen may have had in mind?

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/05/...

Money Talks

If you are interested in learning how Darcy’s cousin Fitzwilliam became an officer in the Military, you may be intrigued by this web site - http://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot... . As you will read, being a pauper did not help!

You will recall how, in P&P, two of Elizabeth’s sisters are very susceptible to officers in uniform.

Pictures and people

For a change of subject, when I came to write my sequel to Darcy’s Story (Dialogue with Darcy – 9780952821045), I decided that one of the characters in my two books about the “Maitland sisters” would be an ideal partner for Darcy’s cousin Col. Fitzwilliam.

So you should ideally read “Julia & the Master of Morancourt “- 9780061672958 - and “Sophie’s Salvation” – 9780952821007 - before you move on to “Dialogue with Darcy”, where hopefully you will enjoy more than one happy ending!

As I mentioned before, I find it useful to have an image in mind for some locations when writing my books.

This image of Haddon Hall in Derbyshire - http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintin... - is my idea of what Harford Castle in Yorkshire would look like (which features in both “Sophie’s Salvation” and “Dialogue with Darcy”).

If you have read those books, let me know if you agree with me?

A fantastic P&P collection?

If you are a JA fan, you really should look at this web site link -

http://lexington.craigslist.org/bks/4...

Are you techie enough?

Nowadays do we all need to be a bit "Techie"?

It looks as though those pesky mobiles are taking over. ow.ly/LZXIv

Sales by HC

The advance that HarperCollins (HC) had paid for Darcy’s Story indicated that they were reasonably confident of good sales.

However, we were delighted when more than 65,000 copies were sold by HC in the first 6 months, and nearly half that number in the six months following.

For the next few years, the novel sold steadily, aided by a promotion associated with “neckers” on a range of Californian wine bottles.

After that, the numbers fell, as we had expected, to a much lower level. It was not until 2013 that the sales of ebooks exceeded those of paperbacks.

To date, total sales of Darcy’s Story via HC have exceeded 140,000.

A surprise (or two)

Darcy’s Story then sold steadily for the next few years.

In 1999, we introduced the New Illustrated Darcy’s Story, with more than 55 prints by the artist Hugh Thomson from a Victorian edition of P&P. Mercifully, he had shown the characters in Regency dress, unlike another artist in the same period!

Although £3.00 more expensive, this version of the novel out sold the trade paperback version from the moment it was published, so we eventually discontinued the original book.

Then, in the autumn of 2005, the telephone rang – a call from the USA.

It was HarperCollins in New York. One of their staff had purchased the original book in the UK and they asked to have the copyright to publish the original book in the States.

We tried to persuade them to publish the Illustrated version, since we knew how popular it had been, but that was much too unusual an idea for them!

So the novel was published in the USA in the summer of 2006.

Which Jane Austen character are you?

Has anyone tried this amusing quiz?

http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/20...

Looks to be fun.