The Jane Austen Writers' Club : Inspiration and Advice From the World’s Best-loved Novelist

A spirited and useful guide for writers with tips and tricks from Jane Austen, whose novels stand the test of time, by her great great great great grand niece. Pretty much anything anyone needs to know about writing can be learned from Jane Austen. While creative writing manuals tend to use examples from twentieth- and twenty-first-century writers, The Jane Austen Writers Club is the first to look at the methods and devices used by the world's most beloved novelist. Austen was a creator of immortal characters and a pioneer in her use of language and point of view; her advice continues to be relevant two centuries after her death. Here Rebecca Smith examines the major aspects of writing fiction--plotting, characterization, openings and endings, dialogue, settings, and writing methods--sharing the advice Austen gave in letters to her aspiring novelist nieces and nephew, and providing many and varied exercises for writers to try, using examples from Austen's work. Exercises include: *Show your character doing the thing he or she most loves doing. In the opening scene of Persuasion, Sir Walter Elliot looks himself up in the Baronetage, which is the Regency equivalent of Googling oneself. That single scene gives us a clear understanding of the kind of man he is and sets up the plot. * Use Jane Austen's first attempts at stories to get yourself started. Write a very short story inspired by The Beautifull Cassandra, a work of eighteenth-century flash fiction. The Jane Austen Writers Club is a fresh primer on writing that features utterly timeless advice. A delightful and informative guide to writing like Jane Austen, written by the five-times-great niece of Austen herselfJane Austen is one of the most beloved writers in the English literary canon. Her novels changed the landscape of fiction forever, and her writing remains as fresh, entertaining and witty as the day her books were first published. Bursting with useful exercises, beautiful illustrations and enlightening quotations from the classic author's novels and letters - and written by none other than Austen's five-times-great-niece - this book will teach you her methods, tips and tricks, from techniques of plotting and characterisation through to dialogue and suspense. Whether you're a creative writing enthusiast looking to publish your first novel, a teacher searching for further inspiration for students, or fan seeking insight into Austen's daily rituals, this is an essential companion, guaranteed to satisfy, inform and delight.'Winning and beguiling ... Smith shares Jane Austen's clarity and gentle irony' Independent "Susannah Misselthwaite was gazing up at the brightness of the blue sky when the deer leapt in front of the car. She never knew what happened." "Guy Misselthwaite, Professor of Botany, hides from his grief in his greenhouse, and broods on the mystery of why his wife died in another man's car. Without Susannah, everything is lost. The household descends into dust and chaos." "Meanwhile little Felix Misselthwaite pores over photographs of Susannah, grasping for traces of a mother who is slipping from his memory more each day. Felix is happiest sitting in the branches of a tree in the university's botanical garden. Here, away from the bullies at school and the emptiness of home, he presides over the dreams and dramas of those who pass beneath him. Teachers and students, young and old, happy, sad, or filled with longing, all find sanctuary and space for contemplation in this few square feet of soil."--Jacket Posy has always dreamt of being the heroine of a Francoise Sagan novel. But life seems to have her passed by and now here she is, a stressed-out mother of four. Although she's married to a man called Parouselli who comes from a long line of trapeze artists and they live in a large, romantic house, it's not quite as magical as it sounds. Frank's dream of being a musician is a reality of distributing BettaKleen catalogues, the house is falling to bits and there are slugs living under the bath. Posy wonders how everyone else manages. Struggling through the mess of family life, she dreams of being a member of The Thin Legs Club, with an immaculate house, children who don't get ill, and a human Renault Espace of a husband. If only! Susannah Misselthwaite was gazing up at the brightness of the blue sky when the deer leapt in front of the car. She never knew what happened. Her husband Guy, Professor of Botany, hides from his grief in his greenhouse - without Susannah, everything is lost. Meanwhile, little Felix pores over photographs of his mother who is slipping from his memory more each day. Happiest sitting in the branches of a tree in the university's botanical garden, away from the emptiness of home, he presides over the dreams and dramas of those who pass beneath him. Teachers and students, young and old, happy, sad, or filled with longing, all find sanctuary and space for contemplation in this few square feet of soil. "John Vir owns a newsagent in Southampton - the only shop that still stocks packets of petrified celery soup, drosophila-studded fruit and boxes of henna. Lucy and Paul are his favourite customers - they live across the road above Snooke's Electrical Stores, soon to become the Bluebird Café. Stencilling blue doves below the picture rails and buying stripped-pine chairs from the Oxfam furniture store Lucy works in the newly opened café whilst Paul spends his time at the Badger Centre as a volunteer. Meanwhile John Vir thinks of little else but Lucy and invites her to the cash 'n' carry, hoping of course, that it will be a prelude to something more exciting, for them both..." John Vir owns a newsagent in Southampton - the only shop that still stocks packets of petrified celery soup, drosophila-studded fruit and boxes of henna. Lucy and Paul are his favourite customers - they live across the road above Snooke's Electrical Stores, soon to become the Bluebird Café. Stencilling blue doves below the picture rails and buying stripped-pine chairs from the Oxfam furniture store Lucy works in the newly opened café whilst Paul spends his time at the Badger Centre as a volunteer. Meanwhile John Vir thinks of little else but Lucy and invites her to the cash 'n' carry, hoping of course, that it will be a prelude to something more exciting, for them both ... Posy has always dreamt of being the heroine of a Francoise Sagan novel. But life seems to have passed by and now she's a mother of four, going round and round an endless circuit. Posy wonders how it is that everyone else manages. Twee jonge mensen beginnen een eetcafé in een achterbuurt van een grote stad en komen zo in aanraking met heel verschillende mensen. NL-ZmNBD A delicious summer read from the acclaimed author of The Bluebird Caf#65533