Behind the Quill

As you know, I’m currently writing my own Jane Austen fan fiction. My journey into this began during the COVID era, when I found myself reading a lot of Austen-inspired stories after finishing re-reading Austen's originals and feeling a need for more. While they were often fun and imaginative, I realized I was searching for something a bit different—something that captured the depth and realism of Austen’s original characters.

What I truly admire about Austen is how well she knew her characters and how authentically they came to life on the page. That’s what I wanted to bring into my own writing. So, I decided to create my own Austenverse, first and foremost for myself, but also to share with others who might be looking for the same kind of depth and nuance. If my stories resonate with other readers, that’s a wonderful bonus, and I hope that those who are searching for something more find it in my work.

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That being said, I’ve decided it’s better to post something rather than nothing. Honestly, my life is pretty boring outside of the usual stress from work and my cats being either extremely cute or extremely annoying. I don’t actually do much these days—except work on my Austenverse. So I figured it was time to start adding some Behind the Quill blog posts to my "Life Events" section, just to keep others the loop about where I’m at and what I’m working on and that I am still working.

Maybe it’s the ADHD, maybe it’s just how I am, but I’m constantly going back and forth on things. Right now, I’m editing The Family Tree again, which is causing some ripple effects in Refined and Returned Volume 1, and that in turn is affecting Volumes 2 and 3. So I’m making some changes to Volume 1—including a few additions to the original fragment section to make it feel more like my own and to flesh things out a bit more.

I’ll also need to change a few details in The Watsons: Beginnings (the prequel to The Watsons continuation). Since only a couple chapters are up, I’ll likely update those. But as for The Watsons Volume 1, I probably won’t be updating the blog version anytime soon—there are just too many chapters. Not all of them need edits, but it would still be a big job.

With summer vacation starting Friday, my goal over the next four weeks is to finish Volume 1, make progress on Volume 2, and (hopefully!) wrap up the prequel story. That’s the plan, anyway!

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I wanted to let you all know that I am working on The Watsons: Beginnings, finishing up Volume One, and continuing with Volume Two. However, I’ve also found myself drifting back toward my original project: my Alternate Austenverse.

This isn’t just a crossover where I pluck a few characters from each novel and toss them together. No—I’m building a full-on Austenverse where all of Jane Austen’s works coexist in the same timeline, and characters can run into each other at any time. It’s a complete merger of Lady Susan, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, The Watsons, Emma, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, and even Sanditon. It’s… an endeavor, to say the least.

And in case you’re wondering—no, this isn’t a new distraction. The Austenverse is actually my original work. It’s because of that project that I even started writing my continuation of The Watsons in the first place. Based on the timeline I’ve mapped out, The Watsons is one of the earliest major storylines to occur. So I needed to know how it ended before I could truly begin the rest—otherwise I’d be throwing characters into the world without knowing what arcs they’re coming out of.

Eventually, each novel will focus on one character’s journey through this merged world, with occasional crossover events. Some stories may have deeper character mixing, but I want to keep it grounded and manageable—one protagonist at a time.

Next in this series: The Research