Abigail, it is such a distinct pleasure to welcome you once again to Austenesque Reviews. I was fortunate enough to interview you back in January 2010, and now I am exceedingly happy to have the opportunity to do so again! Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and for including Austenesque Reviews in your blog tour!

Tell us a little about publishing Mr. Darcy’s Obsession. It is unique in that it is the only novel of yours that wasn’t previously self-published, right? How was this experience different for you?

It’s much more exciting for me because everybody is discovering it and reviewing it at once. It’s the first time I’ve had to wait to see what the response to the book would be, which was a little nerve-wracking!

With six accomplished Pride and Prejudice variations under your belt, you obviously have an interest and talent for writing variations. What inspired you to write variations instead of sequels? What are some of the challenges and obstacles of writing variations?

I enjoy writing characters in the process of falling in love. In sequels, Elizabeth and Darcy have already passed that phase, so variations are a natural for me. The biggest challenge for me in writing variations is discovering new aspects of the characters to explore. It would be dull to write the same characters again and again, and Jane Austen leaves us so much room to explore that I can develop different sides of Darcy and Elizabeth in each book. Also, it takes a while to find an event to change that makes for a good story. Most changes to the plot line don’t have any long-term effect – everything ends up the same way it does in Pride and Prejudice – or they lead to Darcy and Elizabeth resolving all their misunderstandings immediately.

What inspired your plot for Mr. Darcy’s Obsession?

I wanted to highlight the possible cost of refusing Darcy’s proposal for Elizabeth and her family. I took the liberty of killing off Mr. Bennet to show what could happen once the Bennet ladies are metaphorically thrown into the hedgerows. I appreciate Elizabeth’s courage in choosing to refuse eligible suitors more when I think about the possible consequences.

I understand that you are writing a sequel to Mr. Darcy’s Obsession. Can you tell us a little more about it? Did you originally intend for Mr. Darcy’s Obsession to have a sequel?

It wasn’t in the original plan. Several of the characters developed in such a way that I wanted to see the rest of their stories – Georgiana, Mary, Aunt Augusta, and even Lord Derby. Also, I enjoyed exploring some of the issues of social class which were beginning to roil England in Mr. Darcy’s Obsession, and the Mary/Georgiana pairing gives me a great set-up to look at that more. I match them up with two brothers, the well-groomed heir to an Earldom for Georgiana, and his black sheep younger brother who has rebelled against his family by becoming involved in the worker’s rights movement. The heir is under instructions to marry Georgiana, which means convincing her she’s in love with him, since she wants a love match like her brother’s. He does his best, but he falls hard for Mary. I bet you can guess who the black sheep brother – the one everybody thinks is an obvious match for Mary – ends up with!

Wow, I can’t wait to read more about these characters!  In Mr. Darcy’s Obsession you depict a little of the immoral and corrupt side of society. What motivated you to represent this side of society in your variation? How does it affect Elizabeth and Darcy?

Darcy needed to deal with some of his pride issues before he could propose to Elizabeth in this version, and having him disgusted with the behavior of his peers was one way to do that. I knew it was risky because there are people who prefer a sanitized Regency, but if anything, I underplayed the dirty side of the ton. I think it gives Darcy and Elizabeth a greater chance to grow as people, and their virtues shine brighter by comparison.

In your novel we meet more of the Darcy family: Lord Derby, Cousin Fitzwilliam’s older brother, Henry, and Aunt Augusta (who reminds me a little of Aunt Augusta from Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest!). What was your experience like creating these new characters?

Hah! You’re the first one to point out the Aunt Augusta/Earnest connection! It was my homage to Oscar Wilde. I enjoyed creating the new characters. I felt like I had more freedom to show different aspects of regency society through them. I have to admit I got rather attached to all of them!

Now for a little more on Aunt Augusta… At first I thought she was married to Lord Derby and the mother of Colonel Fitzwilliam, but in fact, she is the late Mr. Darcy’s sister! What prompted you to not to make her Lady Derby? And, if you can tell us, will we learn more about her in your next novel?

If she were married to Lord Derby, one of them would be dead. Maybe both, and half of Derbyshire with them! She’s part of the book’s ongoing theme about questionable parenthood. Since parenthood couldn’t be proven and there was lots of infidelity (both men and women), children belonged to the husband of the woman who bore them. It was common for husbands and wives to lead separate lives after the birth of the heir, and lovers would then sire the second or third children in a marriage (perhaps that’s why Georgiana is 10 years younger than Darcy, or perhaps old Mr. Darcy was particularly fond of Wickham and provided for him because he was Darcy’s half-brother, yet he might be no blood relation to Georgiana). This is why Jane’s son, even if he proves to be the spitting image of Bingley, will always be Mr. Browning’s son, and can’t be Bingley’s heir. There are unseen children of unwed mothers in the book (trying not to give away plot lines here), plus Mary, who was fathered by “a gentleman.” And what happened to Aunt Augusta’s illegitimate son (perhaps by Lord Derby?) born some 30 years earlier? This kind of tangled web was everyday reality at the time.

You’ve also created a new character in Mary the maid and I understand she will be focused more in the next novel. What inspired you to create this new character?

I needed characters who would make Darcy think about the lives of those beneath him, but first he had to notice their existence. He was left the choice of either protecting this peasant girl about Georgiana’s age when she met Wickham or leaving her to horribly debauched and no doubt end up on the streets. He had to take notice of her. I also needed something big that would shock Henry Fitzwilliam out of his immoral ways, and Mary served the turn for that as well. And yes, in Henry’s rather addled mind at the end of the book, he does not think Mary’s name is a coincidence.

In many of your novels (not including Mr. Darcy’s Obsession) Darcy and Elizabeth share a few intimate/romantic scenes. Some readers, as I’m sure you are aware, do not feel they belong in a Jane Austen related novel. What purpose do you think they serve in your books? What inspired you to illustrate the intimate side of Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s relationship?

It’s certainly not my intent to upset anyone by including those scenes. They’re never gratuitous in my books; if they don’t move the plot forward, or if they don’t suit character development (as in Mr. Darcy’s Obsession), then I don’t write them. People tend to view the Regency as an innocent age, but it was actually the opposite. The historical truth is that post-engagement pre-marital sex was common then – this is why a woman was ruined if she had a broken engagement. Engagement was as binding as marriage to them. Darcy and Elizabeth are very passionate characters – even Austen acknowledged that in the only way she could by saying that Darcy expressed himself as warmly and sensibly as a man violently in love can be expected to do (i.e. he kissed her, but Austen wasn’t allowed to use those words). Sex scenes aren’t something I plan on. Out of 9 books, my original plan for the story as to whether to have intimate scenes or not has only been correct 3 times. The characters had different ideas. And that includes a modern where I was looking forward to writing a sex scene and the characters closed the bedroom door in my face! But I can tell you one thing about my Regency intimate scenes: they are always between respectful, consenting and firmly engaged adults with no coercion or violence. You won’t ever find Darcy forcing Lizzy to kiss him in any of my books.

Wonderfully expressed, Abigail!  I am such a romanic, I love reading about Darcy and Elizabeth’s kisses and passionate embraces.  I think it hilarious that your characters shut the door on you!  They truly do have a mind of their own!  Which character was your favorite to write for? Which character was the most challenging to write for? Which character would you invite over for dinner?

In Mr. Darcy’s Obsession, Darcy was particularly fun to write. In order to make the book make sense, I had to really probe why it was that he was so fascinated by Elizabeth that he couldn’t let her go, and it meant I had to go deep into his character. I have real trouble writing the comic characters like Mr. Collins – I don’t have the right sort of sense of humor. Who would I have to dinner? Aunt Augusta, of course. She’s the only one who would tell me the truth of all the invisible backstory to the book!

Out of your six variations which one is your favorite? Which variation do you believe is the favorite of your readers?

Many readers seem to like my early, most lighthearted books – To Conquer Mr. Darcy/Impulse & Initiative and What Would Mr. Darcy Do?/From Lambton to Longbourn best. My favorite is probably Mr. Darcy’s Obsession.

Interesting.  Although I love them all, my favorite still remains to be Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Last Man in the World.  Tell us about Austen Authors! Many are aware that this fantastic blog is yours and Sharon Lathan’s brilliant idea. What inspired you two to create this blog? Is it accomplishing what you wanted it to?

It was in response to readers who emailed me asking me if there were other Austen-related novels out there, and I realized how difficult it is, especially for anyone who isn’t too Internet savvy, to find these books among the mass of fiction out there. Austen Authors puts a lot of us together, so a reader who finds one of us can find all of us. That increases everybody’s sales. It’s also a way to help new writers break into the field. Sharon and I had to work hard to get our books noticed, but the new authors at Austen Authors have a built-in readership before they even publish. It’s gone far beyond what either Sharon or I expected, both in terms of participants and readers, but the delightful surprise has been the supportive camaraderie that has developed between the authors. It’s been great.

Can you tell us what other projects you are working on? I understand that Sourcebooks will be releasing What Would Mr. Darcy Do? this coming April. What Would Mr. Darcy Do? is a republished version of From Lambton to Longbourn, correct? Were there any changes made?

That’s right. There are a few changes and a new opening scene. I wanted to add some other scenes, but there wasn’t time in the publishing schedule. As for other projects, I have too many! I’m just finishing up a new Pemberley Variation, I have a completed sequel to The Man Who Loved Pride & Prejudice that needs to find its way into book form, I’m one story short of a book of short stories, and I’ve started the sequel to Mr. Darcy’s Obsession. And Hurricane Earl gave me a great idea for a new book, but I can’t let myself start it until I finish some of the others!

Fantastic, Abigail!  We love to read your stories!  Please keep writing!  Lastly, what do you love most about Jane Austen’s novels?

So many things – her wit, the universal characters, and most of all her positive worldview. She has plenty of characters who aren’t particularly likable, yet she shows their failings and foibles in a way that honors their individuality instead of dismissing them as worthless.

Thank you so very much for taking the time to participate in this review, Abigail! It has been a wonderful honor! Best of luck with the release of Mr. Darcy’s Obsession!

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!!! Thanks to Danielle Jackson of Sourcebooks, Austenesque Reviews has not one, but TWO lovely copies of Mr. Darcy’s Obsession to give away to you wonderful readers! (US and Canada only)

You can enter the giveaway by answering this question:  Which is your favorite novel Abigial Reynolds?  (Or, if you haven’t read any yet, which one intrigues you most?)  Don’t forget to leave your email address!

*To have your name entered twice, become a follower of my blog (if you are already a follower, please let me know)

**To have your name entered three times, post, sidebar, facebook or tweet about this giveaway (please let me know if you did this).