Guest Post: Tropes by Caroline Cartier, Author of Not Without Affection
when your writing takes you by surprise
Thank you, Serena, for hosting me.
I am very pleased to visit Savvy Verse & Wit and tell everyone about Not Without Affection: A Pride & Prejudice Variation.
Dear Readers,
Have you ever held the belief that you don't care for a particular trope, and then suddenly been hit with a deep and unyielding urge to write one? This is how Not Without Affection came to reality.
The dreaded forced marriage trope. When I took my great-great-grandmother's name as my pseudonym and began to write Austenesque fiction, I never dreamed that I would write a forced marriage trope. One moment I was minding my own business, and the next there was suddenly dialogue bubbling up inside of me!
I opened my Notes and WIPs document (an exercise in word vomit) and began to record the scene in my head, thinking at first that I might get a few paragraphs or even a chapter, before the idea began to fade, as ideas so often do.
Instead, imagine my surprise when one paragraph became two, and then two chapters suddenly became three. Soon I was opening a brand new document and the idea suddenly had a title.
My husband was beside himself. “You have to finish your quartet!” he insisted.
He isn't wrong. I have devoted the last three years of my life to a Victorian Austenesque quartet that is nearly finished. Perhaps only 15,000 words to go on that project, yet the new story took hold of me, and though I had no intention of participating in Nanowrimo, I wrote Not Without Affection in 18 days during the month of November.
Writing about forced marriage, particularly between Elizabeth and Mr Collins, made me considerably uncomfortable and nervous.
So many readers claim to dislike this trope! Myself included! Assured by my friends in JAFF that many readers enjoy such stories, I persevered, pushing myself through the dreaded marriage and (horrors) the briefest mention of a wedding night.
Be assured, dear readers, that I suffered acutely with our heroine as she experienced her hardships.
I was able to sneak in my favourite arc – the Lydia redemption. Not a favourite of many readers, I consider it my obligation to explore how many different ways a misled fifteen-year-old child can be redeemed. I hope never to write a variation where our youngest Bennet receives anything less than the happiest ever after.
Another arc that is a favorite of mine also found its way into the story; The cruel Jane. I adore Jane, particularly in the form of Rosamund Pike, yet something inside me always whispers that no one could possibly be so good all of the time.
This belief system runs hand in hand with my credence in the idea that no person can be wholly evil. Even the most vile villain might give a stray kitten a saucer of milk, and I love to peel away the layers of a canonically good or bad character and develop alternate personas. Taking a canonically kind character and instilling them with hidden malicious sentiments or intent is a mischievous delight of mine, and one which I hope you will enjoy in this story.
Not Without Affection is my first publication and I wish you all great enjoyment in it.
Caroline Cartier
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When Mr Collins visits Longbourn, Elizabeth Bennet is shocked by the sycophantic behaviour of her family toward the Longbourn heir. Mrs Bennet declares that any of her daughters had better accept the man if he offers for them, and Elizabeth quickly comes to suspect that her father will not defend them should they wish to refuse.
Despite her protestations, Elizabeth finds herself engaged to her cousin against her will and her sisters turned against her, showing Elizabeth harsh revelations about Jane's true character. She makes plans to escape the untenable situation, with help from Charlotte, and surprisingly, Mr Darcy, but the marriage moves forward despite their efforts and Lizzy is forced to accept her fate.
When Elizabeth is unexpectedly relieved of her unwanted husband, her new friends at Rosings support her as she builds her new life, while Mr Darcy is relieved to have a chance to win her heart but knows he must wait to court her to preserve her reputation. While he suffers the long wait of her mourning until she can be courted, Elizabeth must decide if she is willing to try again, as estate matters and other parties threaten to end the match before it is made.
About the Author:
Caroline Cartier is an anglophile in her early forties, living out her happily ever after in New England with her very own Darcy. She is mom to an extraordinary young woman who is an English major, two cats, and a spaniel (co-author) named Belle.
Having cut her teeth on the Tudors and Mary Queen of Scots with the historical fiction of Jean Plaidy and Victoria Holt at sixteen, Caroline read her way through the histories of the Monarchs of England and France, settling into an abiding love for Regency fiction in her twenties.
Her first Jane Austen Variation was Mr Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange. Several years later, a free trial of Kindle Unlimited opened a whole new world of Austenesque fiction. After reading what feels like hundreds of variations, Caroline began her first writing project in 2021, The Victorian Vagaries, a Victorian Pride and Prejudice Quartet that will be published in 2024.
I was excited when I read that this was a forced marriage trope, then felt saddened when I saw that its with Mr. Collins (Poor Elizabeth!) but the Lydia redemption arc reeled me back in. Congrats on the release!