Behind the Quill: My Current and Future Projects
- Erin H
- Oct 14, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 15
As you know from my last post—and if you didn’t see it, check it out—it wasn’t part of the “Behind the Scenes” series but in the main blog, and it talked about freebies! Everybody likes freebies, right?
Austen Related Works
The Watsons Beginnings
The Watsons Beginnings is a series of short stories related to the Watson family of Jane Austen's fragment The Watsons and is meant to give more background to the family's fortune, connections, and personalities as written in my completion story Refined & Returned.
This started as eight stories, then shrunk to three, but now is back up to five which seems to be the final count in regards to the Watson family themselves. Whether or not other characters will receive their own background prequels is unknown as yet.
The Watsons Beginnings: Arc One: Courtship & Marriage is available on Amazon and Draft2Digital (including Kobo, Apple, Barnes & Noble, etc.)
The Watsons Beginnings: Arc Two: Fortune & Family is currently in the editing stage.
The Watsons Beginnings: Arc Three: Prospects & Changes is in progress.
The Watsons Beginnings: Arc Four: Living & Loss is in the outlining phase.
The Watsons Beginnings: Arc Five: Sisters & Suitors is progressing well and is now fully outlined.
The Watsons Beginnings: Complete Collection will be available soon after the completion of all five prequel stories.
A brief summary of all the stories can be found on the Amazon series page.
Refined and Returned
Refined and Returned is a three-volume completion of The Watsons by Jane Austen.
Refined and Returned: Volume I is available on Amazon and Draft2Digital (including Kobo, Apple, Barnes & Noble, etc.)
Refined and Returned: Volume II is fully outlined, and the writing is in progress.
Refined and Returned: Volume III is fully outlined.
A brief summary of all the stories can be found on the Amazon series page.
The Youngest Miss Watson
This is a companion novel for Refined and Returned. It will be a stand alone novel/novella that follows the life of Miss Margaret Watson with glimpses into her youth, her life as Mrs Edward Turner, her life as Mrs James O'Brien, and will show the truth of the events that led to her demise.
An Alternate Austenverse
If you’ve read my previous Behind the Quill posts, then you already know that Refined and Returned was originally meant to be just a simple completion of The Watsons, a kind of companion work for my Austenverse. I’ve written before about how I set up that Austenverse: choosing dates for when the stories would take place, creating family trees and background stories to connect the characters, and building a framework without altering the original Austen novels. If you haven’t read those earlier posts, I recommend going back so you can better understand the method I used to create my Austenverse.
Once I had set up the timelines, family trees, and backgrounds, my plan was to create a ripple effect—like dropping a stone into a bucket and watching the ripples spread. At first, I had several different ideas for how to approach this, though I haven’t yet resolved all the issues with some of those concepts. I may return to them later and develop alternate Austenverses, but while working on (or taking a break from) Refined and Returned, I came up with the perfect premise for a new version: An Alternate Austenverse.
This series works within Austen’s world without breaking her genre or changing her foundation. It begins with a single “pin drop” that creates ripples throughout the rest of the stories. Right now, it looks to be eight parts—organized into one-to-three volume sets each—which I’m developing alongside my Watsons continuation series.
Not Quite Northanger
Sisters With Sense
Prequel to Pride
Ladies and Letters
Plans and Persuasions
Matters at Mansfield
Surrey and Surroundings (alt H&E--but it's a spoiler so this is all you get for now)
Seaside at Sanditon
The first three volumes have complete preliminary outlines (still subject to change but overall action and events worked out) and the others have been generally outlined.
Lady Susan
I plan to expand this Austen classic into a prose novel, using the existing epistolary format as a foundation. While the original letters will remain, the narrative will provide deeper insight into the events by incorporating multiple perspectives to fill in the gaps.
Leslie Castle
I plan to expand and complete this Austen fragment into a prose novel, using the existing epistolary format as a foundation. While the original letters will remain, the narrative will provide deeper insight into the events by incorporating multiple perspectives to fill in the gaps and finish the narrative.
Other Projects
But if you thought that was all my ADHD mind was juggling, you’d be mistaken. I’m also working on two other series. They’re not as time-sensitive, but they do resurface whenever inspiration strikes. Sometimes it’s just a few outlined chapters, other times entire volumes get mapped out, or even a random full chapter appears out of nowhere. This, of course, is why I don’t post as often as I should.
For now, I’m calling these two projects The Essence of Aether and The Second Dark Age.
The Essence of Aether
The Essence of Aether actually began as a Magical Austenverse story, then grew into a series, and eventually became its own fully developed world. At this point, I’ve built an entire reference volume—an encyclopedia spanning from the beginning of creation, through 2000 BC, Austen’s time, and even into the modern day. I haven’t yet decided whether it will remain connected to Jane Austen, stand as its own independent series, or blend Austen-inspired tales with other stories across time and cultures. Today I even realized it could be a framework for future collaboration with writers from different countries who might want to weave their own cultural histories into this magical world. But if that ever happens, it will be much later—my plate is full enough already.
A Second Dark Age
The Second Dark Age is a sci-fi story set in a dystopian future. Right now, it looks like three volumes, with a sequel focusing on a kind of utopian revival. I’ve already started it, but I’m unsure if I can continue just yet—the storyline is hitting a little too close to real-world events, and some parts feel uncomfortably like foreshadowing rather than pure sci-fi. It’s beginning to feel a bit too realistic for comfort.
So, those are the series I’m actively developing. This doesn’t include the many stand-alone stories I’ve started and left unfinished, some of which I may revisit one day. But to keep you up to date: A Completion of The Watsons and An Alternate Austenverse remain my main focus. While I may occasionally divert to other projects, these two series are my top priorities.
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