Today on our blog we have Marsha Altman who shares my love for Jane Austen books and has taken her legacy forward in form of Pride and Prejudice Continues. She is an author and historian specializing in Rabbinic literature in late antiquity. She is also an expert on Jane Austen sequels, having read nearly all of them. She works in publishing and is writing a series continuing the story of the Darcys and Bingleys. A resident of New York city and P&P lover. Here are her responses to my explicit questioning to her:
1. What drew towards writing in first place and at what age you took up your pen?
I do not remember not wanting to be a writer, but then again I also don't remember a lot from before I knew how to read and write. Before the age of three children are not as able to form long-term memories.
2. Why did you take up writing Pride and Prejudice? Has Jane Austen be an inspiration for you from the beginning?
I had read her and seen the miniseries when I was a teenager, but I got interested again after the 2005 movie and this started the whole series.
3. Which character from the Pride and Prejudice book do you relate yourself to and why?
If any woman on earth answers anything other than "Elizabeth Bennet" she is a liar.
4. Who is your favorite besides Darcy?
Mr. Bingley. Poor Mr. Bingley. When you read the book the first time you think the book's going to be about him, and then it isn't. He's like the fake-out in the beginning of a Law and Order episode, where there's an initial suspect and then they rule him out and you don't see him much for the rest of the episode.
5. Does any of the characters from your books relates to anyone from your own family?
Georgiana Bingley's first words (in The Plight of the Darcy Brothers) are a version of my own first words. I didn't say individual words first, I just was quiet for a long time and then I said a full sentence, and like Mrs. Bingley, my mother almost passed out from the shock. Any other relatives who might have inspired characters would probably rather not know about it so I'm not going to say their names in case they google themselves.
6. Who is your favorite writer and which book have you read repetitively?
This is a trick question, right?
7. From where do you take inspiration for the names of your characters?
I tried to stick to the naming conventions of the Georgian period, i.e. naming everyone some version of the name George, and having children given the same name as their fathers, but of course that got very confusing very fast, especially when I learned rather late in editing the series that in that time period they didn't use Roman numerals for non-kings to distinguish generations, just Elder and Younger. Then a lot of people ended up getting nicknames, like Georgiana became Georgie, and Charles Bingley's son Charles became Charlie. When I expanded out there were some Daniels and Brians because I was just running dry on English monarch first names. Some of the foreign names are just pulled from books I was reading at the time (I was reading "Lady Audley's Secret" when I wrote Book 6, which has a character named Detective Audley, and Alison Darcy is named after the Wife of Bath in the Canterbury Tales, which I was reading for class at the same time I was writing the scene where her mother reading it) or the names of foreign historical figures when naming foreigners, so I knew that the name was in use at that time period and isn't newer. There is one character, Saul Franklin, who appears later in the series and is the only reoccurring American character, and he's named after my great-grandfather, and his son Edward is named after my grandfather.
8. If you would have got a chance to meet with Jane Austen in person what would've you asked from her?
"So you've been dead for a while. What happens when we die? I've always been curious."
9. Do you ever wish the you could change some incident of the story to entirely something else?
You mean, other than the historical mistakes I made because I hadn't done enough research and when I went to edit them there was no way to work them out of the plot?
10. Message to all your readers and your upcoming projects?
Book 10 comes out this winter, and closes the series. I'm working on a satire of a thriller, and I've published a Kindle Worlds book for the "Wayward Pines" genre, but I'll hopefully be returning to my true love, science fiction. Whatever I publish going forward that I want people to know about will probably be published under the name Marsha Morman, though it will show up on the Marsha Altman site. Authors often use different pen names for different genres so people don't get confused about what they're getting when they go to read all of the titles of a particular author.
It was a pleasure getting to know Marsha and here's the link to her official website: http://marshaaltman.wordpress.com
You can also find my reviews of Jane Austen Month:
I'll be reviewing more of her works when I get the chance.
You can Buy Marsha Altman's books from amazon.com . This link redirects you to her amazon.com page where all her works can be found out for purchase or gifts.
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I love this series and can't wait for book 10. When you read this series, that is when you see what a great imagination Marsha has as she writes these wonderful novels.!!
ReplyDeleteI am currently in the process of reading the series. I enjoy the humour and her style of writing on every page.
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