Pulling Back the Curtain

My MO Behind The Sailor's Rest

This article appeared as a guest post in "Babblings of a Bookworm" on March 28, 2023.

Simple truth: the Austenesque genre is growing. Most of the expansion comes from the increasing number of authors using digital tools to publish Pride and Prejudice variations. Contemplations on Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma remain thin on the ground.

However, that noted, I have seen a change from four-odd years ago. Then, I would ask fellow authors who had strong publishing histories about writing stories focusing on other characters. I was considering my attraction to supporting cast members—the Bennet sisters, the Bennet parents, Caroline Bingley, and so on. These became the pillars of the Bennet Wardrobe Series.

The answer was uniform: write what you want but realize that the readers only desire Darcy and Elizabeth stories. Many refuse to read any other variations. Those (outside the P&P universe) won't sell well and may get ripped in reviews.

Brave authors, like my writing sprint partner Nicole Clarkston, went ahead anyway. Her Courtship of Edward Gardiner was an eye-opener. I had already begun considering how Austen's supporting cast members would live after the end of Pride and Prejudice with the beginnings of the Bennet Wardrobe. Edward Gardiner scorched across my mindscape, ultimately inspiring me to compose my Austen Authors blog post contemplating a new term for what our authorial school was doing. Nicole's work was not JAFF (Jane Austen Fan Fiction); it was literature created using Austen as a starting point. Her work, and that of others, was Austenesque.

Recently, we have seen a spate of stories that feature characters from the other canonical novels moving into Darcy and Elizabeth's stories. However, in most cases, these persons are supporting cast for action driven by ODC. For instance, Emma shows up and plays matchmaker in Meryton with predictable results and, in the process, complicates the Darcy and Elizabeth relationship.

After the final Bennet Wardrobe book, The Grail, was published in February 2022, I was casting around for a new story. I cannot say why I decided to compose a Persuasion variation. Perhaps I was worn out by the Bennets after an eight-book series. However, the book was destined to combine the two great novels from the beginning. An early version of the opening paragraph appeared in a "First Words" file dated April 18, 2022. A tentative book title in that document was The Sails of Despair or The Sailor's Rest: A Pride and Prejudice Variation. I was already considering the process of melding the two books.

Being the experimenter I am, I became curious about what revelations I would uncover if I added characters and elements from Pride and Prejudice. On May 2, 2022—two weeks after the first words—I sent an IM to Kelly Miller. Her brave Persuasion variation Captive Hearts inspired me. I asked timeline questions. Upon reflection, I anticipated moving Darcy and Elizabeth forward to 1814-15 as it would be challenging to push Wentworth and Anne backward to P&P's commonly used timeline of 1810-11.

That would have been unimportant if I was to add (like pouring cream into coffee) one set of characters into the other. That would have been a mashup, and the anachronism would not have mattered. I would have depended upon reader-understood images of Austen's people as she established them in their books: Elizabeth's impertinence, Darcy's rigidity, Anne's rising self-awareness, and Wentworth's noble pain.

Instead of taking that path, I decided to work to treat each of the four main characters equally. They would interact, although the nature of the plotline that began forming also required me to treat them separately and then bring them together for resolution before moving to the end of the book and the HEN (Happily Ever Now). This insisted that I give equal weight to Anne, Elizabeth, Wentworth, and Darcy. After all, they had been worthy enough to support their own magisterial novels: why not The Sailor's Rest as well?

My writing, perforce, considered the evolution of the primary actors. To accomplish this, the plot needed to test them. In pursuit of that, the supporting cast members came into play. I will freely admit I had a great deal of fun with Admiral and Mrs. Croft as well as Sir Walter. However, Brigadier Fitzwilliam had his innings, too.

Thus, I insist that The Sailor's Rest is a crossover event, not a mashup. Full Stop.

While the original tetrarchy still shines through, the individuals and couples are, I believe, deeper and more burnished through shared and separate experiences lived over five months in 1815. I am satisfied that The Sailor's Rest will give readers a deeper understanding of the four characters as they stand alone and the community they form through friendship and love.

Here is the universal Amazon link to the book (ebook and print)

https://mybook.to/SailorsRestPandP

Here is the Rafflecopter link. I will be giving away 10 copies of the e-book (Kindle). Drawing open through April 14.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/9d1fdafb1/?

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Please enjoy the following excerpt from “The Sailor’s Rest.”

Please enjoy this excerpt where Wentworth and Darcy first meet  in "The Sailor's Rest." ©2023 by Donald P. Jacobson. Reproduction prohibited. Published in the United States of America.

From Chapter Two

…

Wentworth followed the innkeeper into the private dining room. Although used to being his own master, the captain had never been so full of himself to believe that it was his prerogative to evict the current occupant. That person stood in stocking feet and shirtsleeves, looking somewhat uncomfortable to be so informally clad.

Always one to quickly grasp the situation, Wentworth read the man and tried to ease his discomfort. "Before we do the pretty which all Englishmen seem to be so fond of, allow me to thank you for your gentlemanly behavior in allowing me to share this room with you."

Before Darcy could reply, Wentworth continued, "You, sir, seem a most sensible gentleman. On the other hand, I have tried to stand upon false dignity and, in the process, risk catching a chill. I have seen far too many strong men laid low by what they call a 'trifling cold.' Allow me to follow your example and divest myself of what our most excellent host assures me can dry before the kitchen fire. Then we can be made known to one another on equal footing if you will forgive my lamentable wordplay."

Forestalling Darcy again, the captain made a show of undoing the frogs of his cloak and shrugging out of it. This he draped over an empty chair. His topcoat quickly followed. Finally, he dropped into the seat and accepted the innkeeper's assistance to pull off his footwear. The man gathered Wentworth's outwear and departed, promising to send a servant with dinner and drink. Rolling his shoulders to relieve the accumulated tension, Wentworth turned to Darcy. "Again, sir, thank you for inviting me to join you. If I may introduce myself? I am Frederick Wentworth, post captain, lately of His Majesty's frigate Laconia. I am ordered to attend my masters at the Admiralty but found myself caught in this filthy weather. Thus, sir, your hospitality is most appreciated."

Darcy gave a half bow. "It seems, sir, that you have more right to be here than I since you are a nautical man seeking sanctuary at an auspiciously named Sailor's Rest. I am Darcy, Fitzwilliam Darcy, of Pemberley in Derbyshire. I find myself heading in the opposite direction as you and, if you will allow a bit of seaborne imagery, am but a lonely ship having dropped anchor for the night. I find myself here in Barton on my way to Scarborough."

Darcy motioned to Wentworth. "Take a pew, captain. I assure you your company is appreciated. I spent far too much time today alone with my thoughts—damp as they were—staring at my stallion's ears. As stout as Praetor may be, he is a taciturn fellow."

"Landsman you may be rated, Mr. Darcy, but I scan that you are no lubber. I imagine you could more'n fight your weight if'n you were on one of Laconia's eighteen-pounders. That said, and I do not doubt that the gunner would be sad to lose your broad shoulders, I could also see you on the windward side of any quarterdeck in the fleet driving your ship across the stern of a frog frigate!

"You never considered a naval career; I take it."

"My family has no salt in its blood," Darcy snorted. "Mud courses through my cousin Richard's veins. He is now a brigadier attached to Wellington in Vienna, although I have gotten the sense that he recently has become involved in some of the Government's more irregular activities. The last I heard, Fitzwilliam had returned to Horse Guards for a conference.

"My estate has been rare busy growing grain and wool since the Tyrant took it into his head to try to conquer the world. As the eldest—and only—son, my responsibilities became manifold when my father left this world in the year Six."

Wentworth sobered. "Please forgive my speculations, Mr. Darcy. I had no intention of churning up difficult memories."

Darcy waved a quelling hand. "Please, sir, do not trouble yourself. While my father's passing was an unhappy time, it has been nearly nine years. I do miss him. There are still moments when I feel his steadying hand on my shoulder, especially when wrestling with a challenging problem."

Darcy filled his glass anew and poured Wentworth his first draught. Then, as the fire spat and sizzled in the grate, both men lapsed into a companionable silence, each wrapped in his own contemplations.

…