Dear readers, please help me welcome Jessica Grey, author of the new Austen-Inspired original novel Attempting Elizabeth, to Austenesque Reviews! I’m so pleased and excited to share Jessica’s fun post with you today! We hope you enjoy!
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Jane Austen, Geek Girls, and Attempting Elizabeth 
Thanks so much to Meredith for inviting me to guest post today! I’m excited to get to talk about two of my favorite things—Austen and geek culture—and how they came together in my novel Attempting Elizabeth.
Attempting Elizabeth started out as a pretty simple idea—what if a modern, American woman found that she could “get into” Pride and Prejudice and inhabit characters there? And what if, once she discovered this novel-jumping super power, she kept jumping in and out of characters in an attempt to be Elizabeth Bennet?
Of course, you can’t write an entire novel based just on a premise; you have to understand and love your main characters. By setting up the idea that my heroine, Kelsey, is deliberately trying to become a fictional character I’d challenged myself with some pretty significant questions. The most important question was “why on earth would anyone do that?” The first time Kelsey ends up inside the pages of Pride and Prejudice is an accident—and she does go a bit crazy trying to figure out how to get out—but once she’s back in the real world she decides to keep jumping back into the book!
And then it hit me: the only viable reasons for repeated attempts to become her favorite fictional character were a) she was insane, or b) she was a total geek girl.
Of course, the geek girl option made the most sense to me as my friends and I are proud geeks. I figured if I was going to let Kelsey geek out, then I had to really let her geek out. So she became the kind of girl that goes to midnight premieres of movies, that has entire Pinterest boards dedicated to hilarious memes about her favorite fictional heroes, that owns (and wears to large events) a Princess Leia costume.
Some might ask, can geek girls and Austen lovers mix? The answer is a definite yes! Many Austen readers are also geeks. And really, what is a geek other than someone who isn’t afraid to be passionate about the things they love? Geeky Austen girls (myself included) love many different books, movies, and television shows, and we love them a lot. To me, the two worlds of Austen and geekdom overlap quite a bit. In fact, when I took my husband with me to the JASNA AGM in 2008 he stopped in the middle of the big hall, looked around at all the tables and costumes and said, “Oh! I get it now! It’s Comic-Con for Austen!”
Kelsey sees the world through a referential lens—she makes sense of what she is going through by comparing herself and her experiences to her favorite books and shows. As Kelsey became firmly established as a geek in the story, it made sense to structure the story around those references by using quotes at the beginning of each chapter to give the audience clues as to where we were going. Every chapter starting quote in Attempting Elizabeth is from a book, movie, or show that Kelsey references somewhere in her narration.
Would you like to test your reference IQ? You don’t have to be a cosplaying, convention attending, geek like Kelsey to get most of these quotes so I hope you’ll play along!
Thank you Jessica! This is so much fun, I just loved all these fun and geeky references! Readers, please feel free to share you results in the comment section below! Of the 10 references, I was only able to name 5 on my own. How about you?
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Author Jessica Grey brings with her today, a lovely brand new paperback copy of Attempting Elizabeth for me to give away to ONE lucky winner!
To enter this giveaway, leave a comment and share what makes you geek out?
- To save your inbox from unwanted spam, please leave your email address with an [at] instead of @.
- (You could also leave a Twitter handle or Facebook username instead).
- This giveaway is open to residents worldwide. Thank you, Jessica!
- This giveaway ends March 20th
I love tech stuff. I get excited about new technology.
A number of things – a new book I want to read, getting new yarn for my next knitting project, or the latest tech gadget (still hoping for an iPad someday).
Margay1122ATaolDOTcom
Among other things I geek out over Mr. Darcy and JAFF!
nicolerjlapierre [at] gmail [dot] com
I geek out over my books and my dog. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
I geek out over beautiful writing, letters and reading. elliotbencan(at)hotmail(dot)com
Quite a number of things, really. My kids tell me that all the time. Here I’ll have to say Jane Austen. One of my daughters make fun of my JA t-shirts, mugs, photos, jewelry, multiple copies of her books, and the Austenesque books, etc that I collect. When I’m passionate about something, that’s the way it is with me. 🙂
felicialso @gmail. com
I geek out over books that suck me in, I’m loyal to the author and usually read and own most or all of their books. Pretty awesome stories on my shelves.
I have to read this book! It sounds like so much fun! I definitely geek out over books and Downton Abbey! Thanks for the giveaway!!=)
kellik115(at)yahoo(dot)com
I got 80% correct. I geek out over Jane Austen books, Austenesque fiction, Downton Abbey and the coolest IT gadget. Thanks for the opportunity to win this new book.
evangelineace2020(at)yahoo(dot)com
I only got a 70! Of course, I geek out over different books and movies, so I forgive myself. 🙂
I loved Attempting Elizabeth. (Please don’t enter me. I already got to read it!)
I tried to get a Firefly reference in AE, but it felt like I was pushing 😉
“I’ll be in my bunk” should have fit in nicely. Bwah!
I geek out over electronics – I obsess over my e-reader! I also geek out over organizational-things…bins, baskets, etc – I am always re-organizing something in my house or office! I am a voracious reader – I am excited to read Attempting Elizabeth! (Facebook Lori Brigant Palmer)
Can’t believe I aced the quiz! Pretty much everything I do, I do geeky (obsessively?). I particularly identify myself as a lit geek (Austen, of course, is my favorite), I’m a huge Renny, obsessed with politics, history, theater (LOVE musicals), food, can’t forget Harry Potter, animation … I could go on and on. Fun post! alexa(dot)adams96(at)gmail(dot)com
Aw, yay! So many things make me geek out, including: costuming, joss Whedon, Shakespeare, books, Jane Austen, and food. 😀
bethwade1 at gmail dot com
Hey, I got 6 out of 10! Not to shabby 😉
Jane Austen makes me geek out– so, yes. Jane Austen and geeks can definitely mix! 🙂
justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Wow I got 8 right surprisingly. There were a few that I guessed at and there were also a few I had no clue about. I geek out over my books. Particularly my Manga, Austenesque books, & Harry Potter. I am a huge Harry Potter fan, my Dad & I went there together for my 21st birthday and I had so much fun. I am also a geek when it come to Anime and some of the shows I watch.
Thanks for the giveaway!
crystal_dark[at]att[dot]net
Above I meant to say I went to Harry Potter World the Amusement Park for my 21st birthday.
I got 90% although to be fair I guessed a couple of times! I geek out about books. I just love them, particularly Austen. I loved the references in the quiz to Anne of Green Gables (heroine to all red-haired girls out there when she breaks the slate over Gilbert’s head!) and Thursday Next. Anyone who is a book geek should give the Thursday Next books a go, they should be right up your street. They are full of references to other books and it’s lovely to spot them.
@Frawli1978
i geek out over books…..does that count?!?!? i need to keep accurate lists of my books, via notebook & Goodreads!!!
thank you for the giveaway!!!
cyn209 at juno dot com
I got 70% but must be honest. I guessed as there was only one that I was sure of the answer! I am a tech geek. I love all the latest technology. That doesn’t mean I understand it, but I like it! I am also a Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice geek. I guess that is fairly obvious by my drawings!
Fun quiz and enjoyed the post. Don’t enter me in the giveaway as I already have this book.
I didn’t have much -_-.
But I really like the modern storyline and geek attitude .
Oh as A jane austen fan I did not have the opportunity othave a Austen ‘tea paty’ this year in my university in Paris my teachers have organized a ‘Austen Tea party’ because we are studying Austen and Northanger Abbey . Just wanted to share my excitement
Jandia4junpyo [at] yahoo.fr
I guess I geek out because I’m a bookworm and I love game shows. I like to learn and read trivia.
catbooks(at)rocketmail(dot)com