Teatime Ten: Shannon Winslow

Shannon Winslow is very excited about the debut of her first novel, The Darcys of Pemberley .  She's been busily blog-touring, and today she stopped by the Teatime Ten!

Hiya Shannon!  It's great to have you here on the Teatime Ten.  Congrats on your Darcys of Pemberley!  Tell us a little about what it's been like since the book's release?  What reviews/response has surprised you?  What has inspired you? Thanks for inviting me, Emily! It's been a bitof a whirlwind since The Darcys ofPemberley debuted. Being my first time out, I had no idea what to expect.But it's going well so far. People have been so supportive, and I've been keptbusy getting the word out through live and on-line appearances. As for reviews,what has surprised (and inspired!) me most is how passionately people haveresponded to my mild-mannered little book (most for it, a few against), butthen we are zealous for our Jane Austen, aren't we?

You've mentioned that one of the inspirations for writing this novel was the age-old story of reading one sequel and saying, "That's not quite how I envisioned it!"  (A worthy reason to write a novel, if there ever was one!)  Tell us a little bit about how you framed your Darcy, Elizabeth, and company.

Yes, as I was just saying, we are zealous – andprotective – of our Jane Austen! What I saw as departures from her originalcharacters, sensibilities, and style: these were the "wrongs" I set out toright. That crusader's fire helped carry me through the writing process, producingwhat has been described as a "purist's" sequel to Pride and Prejudice.  But I'vesince learned to appreciate other people's interpretations as well; there'sroom for everybody. 

What part of writing The Darcys of Pemberley proved to be the most challenging?  How did you deal with that as an author?

I wanted to stay in the romance genre, but myhero and heroine were already married (happily ever after, we all hope). Thetrick was to stir up enough conflict between them and around them to sustain agood story, and then resolve it in a satisfying, Jane-Austen-style ending. Thebook became a tale of two romances, then – the courtship of Miss Georgiana inaddition to the more mature love evolving between Darcy and Elizabeth. You see,I do believe romance is possible aftermarriage as well as before! 
Readers of the Teatime Ten will know that I'm interested in how each Austenesque author approaches Austen's work.  What -isms of hers did you purposely keep?  What did you avoid?  How did you find your own voice while keeping true to her style?

 When I started out, I meant to keep true to everything Jane Austen. I loved the wayshe wrote, so why change anything, right? I soon discovered that wasn'tpossible, though, or even desirable. For instance, although I have a flare for Austenesquelanguage, there was no point in carrying it to an extreme, making my bookunnecessarily difficult for the modern reader. I also needed to venture intoterritory she hadn't explored. As a single lady, famous for never writingscenes about which she could have no personal knowledge, she wouldn't have everattempted to write what goes on behind closed doors between husband and wife.But I didn't stress out about creating a distinctive voice for myself. If youhear the echo of Jane Austen in my writing, I couldn't be more delighted!

I understand that "The Darcys of Pemberley" is just the first in a planned series.  What other corners of Austen's world will you explore?  How much of the series do you have planned out, and how much are you leaving to chance?

I'm not a plotter; I have only the vaguestoutline in my mind before I begin writing. For me, that's how the magic happens– allowing the story and the characters to take me in unexpected directions.That being said, the next book in the series (working title: Return to Longbourn) picks up about fiveyears later and will center on Mary, Kitty, and the heir to the Bennet estate. I'vestarted work on in, with three chapters down already. After that, we'llprobably jump ahead in time again and see what the next generation is up to.

When writing, are there any particular rituals you go through?  (Certain time of day, space, ways of dealing with the internal editor, word count goals, etc.)  What words of wisdom would you give to other writers?

Time management is morecomplicated now with a published book to promote, but my practice in the pasthas simply been to hide away in my studio and write at every possibleopportunity. I'm rather obsessive about it, so I haven't needed schedules orword count goals to motivate me. I don't know how to turn off my internal editor.Consequently, I'm always rewriting what I've just written before I can move on.That's just me, though. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to others. I thinkeach writer has to work within the constraints dictated by their ownpersonality. 

What about Jane Austen's work and worldview do you think is particularly appealing to our world at present?  What makes so many readers turn to her today?

[image error] I believe it's really a combination ofthings.  First, good writing stands thetest of time, and Jane Austen was a gifted story-teller. Plus, the themes shewrote about – finding love, balancing ideals against economic and socialpressures, the triumph of the human spirit over circumstances – these subjectsare timeless.  I think the otheringredient is the fairy-tale quality of her stories. They take us away from thecrudeness and complexity of modern life, back to what seems like a simpler,more gracious time.  I say "seems like"because, with Jane Austen, we don't see the grittier side of the picture – thepoverty of peasants, or the lack of indoor plumbing, decent hygiene, and medicalcare. That's okay with me. When I'm reading (or writing) for my own enjoyment,I'm not interested in focusing on the dark side of life.  Hence, my favorite Jane Austen quote (from Mansfield Park) is, "Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.  I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can,impatient to restore everybody, not greatly in fault themselves, to tolerablecomfort, and to have done with all the rest."

In addition to writing, you are also an independent publisher!  Can you give us six tips about either getting the book itself together (artwork, editing, etc.) and/or publicizing your book that you would share with other authors who are considering Indie Press?

I'll give it a shot. 

1) Hone your craft. Takeclasses. Attend writer's conferences. No amount of self-promotion will make upfor a product of poor quality. 

2) Don't rush to publish. A first draft is justthat. Allow time for your masterpiece to mature through feedback and consideredrewrites. 

3) Find and join a good critique group. They will see the plot holesand writing flaws that you can't. 

4) Know your limitations. Taking a book frominception to publication requires a variety of separate skills (writing, storyand line editing, formatting, graphic arts, marketing, etc.), and no one is anexpert at everything. So -

5) be willing to ask for (and pay for) assistance asneeded. 

6) Network with other writers through writer's associations and socialmedia. You'll probably find, as I have, that they're incredibly helpful andsupportive. 

Quick!  You've been pulled into a scene from one of you forthcoming books!  Who are you and what's going on?


I'm Mary Bennet, on a Sunday visit home from mysituation as governess at Netherfield, and I'm about to meet the new heir tothe Longbourn estate – the surprisingly tall and attractive Mr. TristanCollins. Oh, my!

What's next for Shannon Winslow?

Along with writing Return to Longbourn, I have two morecompleted novels that I'm polishing up for publication – an independentAustenesque story titled For Myself Alone,and a contemporary "what-if" about, of all things, a minor-league baseballplayer who gets a second chance at his dream (I managed to work a Jane Austenreference even into that book, however!). I also have an idea for a Persuasion tie-in novel. But the nextout will be short stories – two parodies in BadAusten this November, and, hopefully,Mr. Collins's Last Supper, a tongue-in-cheek tale about the pompousclergyman's premature demise, which serves as a prequel to The Darcys of Pemberley. I only wish there were more hours in theday!
Thanks so much for joining our Teatime Ten!
Shannon Winslow is the author of The Darcys of Pemberley.  She hails from the   You can learn more on her official website.


You can follow Shannon  Twitter .

You can also buy her books at Amazon , Barnes & Noble , and Smashwords .