Meet the Author of our upcoming Novella
"Government," said Henry, endeavouring not to smile, "neither desires nor dares to interfere in such matters. There must be murder; and government cares not how much."
- Northanger Abbey, Volume I, Chapter XIV
The Jane Austen Centre is delighted to introduce the author of our upcoming novella.
Margaret C. Sullivan, editrix of Austenblog and creator of Tilneys and Trapdoors, has been writing Austen inspired fiction for years. Her first non-fiction book, The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World, is scheduled to be released this coming spring.
Our story, is a sequel to Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey and will follow Henry and Catherine Tilney through the first few months of their marriage as they return to Bath, encounter old friends and discover intrigue in the City.
The idea of introducing mystery into Jane Austen’s books is not new—Austen herself is considered to be the writer of the first mystery story when she gave readers clues to the outcome of Emma throughout that book. While Wilkie Collins may be credited with writing the first detective story in 1868, the idea of mysterious circumstances with perfectly logical explanations is at the heart of Gothic literature. Taking its cue from Northanger Abbey, our story will pay tribute to The Mysteries of Udolpho. Visit here each month, starting in January, 2007, for a new chapter of this exciting story.
And now, Meet our Author, Margaret C. Sullivan:
My first Austen fan fiction was A Wedding at Uppercross, from my still-unfinished Uppercross series, sort of a Persuasion: The Next Generation series. My most popular Henry Tilney story is The Firstborn, a crossover with Pride and Prejudice, which is probably why it is so popular! Also, A Clandestine Correspondence, an epistolary story of Catherine and Henry's courtship, still gets many lovely comments years after it was written.
I write Austen fan fiction the way that some people write scholarly papers about her work. I use the fictional setting to work through questions about the plots and characters. I also write essays from time to time but it's more fun for me to work these things out in a fictional setting. I think the most important aspect to "getting it right" is to be very careful with the characterizations, keeping the characters as close as possible to how Jane Austen created them--though of course that would be my interpretation of the characters, though I am prepared to argue any of them and support them with text. My writing style is different from Jane Austen's but I feel that as long as the characterization is right, the reader will recognize and accept the character and the story will work. (That's true for film adaptations as well!)
I've learned a tremendous amount about writing fiction over the past eight years since I started writing fan fiction. My favorite (and the best) of my stories was a Persuasion story originally published in Jane Austen's Regency World, A Very Affectionate Brother.
I work in the marketing department of an international law firm as a web content coordinator, using many of the same technical skills I use on AustenBlog. My non-Austen hobbies are crocheting and tatting and occasionally cross-stitch and needlepoint. Also I've purchased a netting kit and I am trying to learn how to net; since I've painted a table and covered a skreen, I hope to net a purse and achieve the Bingley Trifecta.
I hope that readers enjoy There Must Be Murder and a glimpse of Henry and Catherine's married life. They're very happy together!
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