What If Elizabeth Bennett Had Met Her Match?

Welcome to the weekend, Baby!  What a week and not a bit of writing for the whole month of March. It's too deep for words how a writer's good writing depends on a clear and healthy unstretched mind which I could not yield the entire month.  This is to hoping by May 1 to have a clean, out-of-this world final draft.  Yes, that is my goal.  To have a romantic comedy with spitfire rhetoric, snide remarks, jokes and an actual funny story.  All I have now is the basic foundation to a house.

We all remember Mr. Darcy's wildly arrogant aunt who boldly let's it be known that Elizabeth was not worthy of Mr. Darcy's hand for many accounts, plus he was betrothed to her niece since birth.  She has everything on paper that says she belongs to Mr. Darcy forever why would he possibly want Elizabeth who doesn't even have the ability to trace her family lineage and the ones who do show up are not worthy of the fine caliber Mr. Darcy.

I think this is the second appeal that draws the masses of swooning women to this tale.  The chance that someone out-of-their caliber per se would actually be able to look at the truth, the heart and forsake everything to unite their heart despite circumstances to be with them.

This is what drew me to Pride and Prejudice because it was similar to my situation, only the out-of-the league in the original guy who rejected me was only in his head as he was an unemployed and only thought his class and extreme beauty was in his head. He was like Mr. Darcy in the fact he looked his nose down at me because of my color even though he is black but doesn't know it, when I was more educated, nicer than his uncouth meanness and had hidden class. But this book resignated with me because I felt the essence of Elizabeth's pain after experiencing such an offensive person.

Remember how sickly they made Mr. Darcy's betrothed?  All of the movie versions have her looking weakly, ill, wearing glasses and not holding her head up and some characters are mousy and unattractive.  She seemed very docile and unchallenging to Mr. Darcy as if she would jump at his very command. This I did not like about the book.  It made it all too easy for Mr. Darcy to leave his position than if he really had affections for his fiancee.

What if he was actually in love and they have a nice history together and THEN here comes this charlatan who waltzes in and he has to make an even tougher decision to leave his position.  His friend's sister definitely tried to bring in this challenge in every way to undercut his attention from Elizabeth only to cut the very feet from underneath herself.

In my version I do not even bring any challenges either as it does seem it would interrupt the flow.  There is plenty of challenges just between Elizabeth, my Giselle and Mr. Darcy, my Mr. Washington's pride and prejudices of class and men/women relations.  BUT, I do plan to bring in certain other women challenge in part 2.

Well, that's enough jabbering for today, until next time see you next Saturday.

XOXO,
Denise Rochelle

Was Mr. Darcy a Bad Boy?

Here we are 200 years later still swooning over a character who exhibited what seems to me to be a bad boy persona.  When it comes to Pride and Prejudice, I hear many Team Darcy more than Team Mr. Bingley.  I actually have to look up his name to remember him.  The latter was loveable from his first entrance.  So, why so much love has been given to  Mr. Darcy more than the gentlemanly Mr. Bingley who stole Elizabeth's sister's heart?

What is Mr. Darcy's true appeal?  Even Elizabeth didn't have nice words about him before she even approached him.  My only way to understand the pull toward Mr. Darcy is that he is a bad boy in the sense that he was harsh with his words, judgmental of others, ruthless in his status in society and didn't care how he treated women he didn't deem worthy of his attention.  

This is the type of man women are drawn to, so in conclusion I think looking at Mr. Darcy as a bad boy who changed because of his love for Elizabeth is the only answer.  We all secretly have that dream that we can change a bad boy into a Mr. Bingley.

Isn't that what great stories are about?  Having very abrasive characters who change toward the end because of some form of love in hopes that every harsh individual has hopes of change and therefore bring about a world of peace full of dancing and laughter?  A little grand thinking I might say.  

Whatever the case, Mr. Darcy has always been portrayed as the very cold mysterious, good-looking dresser in every adaption.  What would misses Austen's tale have been with a Mr. Nice Guy as the main character?  There would be no tale.  There would not be that pull of two different polarities that creates chemistry between the beginning Mr. Darcy and the bashful Mr. Darcy in front of Elizabeth in the last few pages.

Mr. Darcy Bad Boy Reputation  in Black Society

In my update of the story told in the black community, I had a different approach to the bad boy syndrome.  I felt that many movies have portrayed black men in this harsh cold way already and there are not enough positive responsible  views of black men that do exist in the media or cinema.  

So, I decided that certain points needed altering. Elizabeth's black character Giselle would switch roles as the one who was unwilling to change her harshness but slowly dissolves as every time she approaches Mr. Washington expecting the same old war she has with black men that he always surprises her and therefore, it is Giselle who must change in order for the story to continue.  

I don't know if I had already mentioned this in earlier posts, but I have already written the first chapter of the sequel and it flows very well.  I did so because the ending, as I have mentioned before, is going to be different than the original Pride and Prejudice because I would be able to fulfill the same ending in the next book.

Plus, unlike some movie versions that have either Elizabeth getting married with her sister or already married at the end, I felt that the time period before all the sisters' marriages would be a great plot to revisit using the same template of the original, Instead of looking for husbands, the drama would focus on the girls dealing with the extra drama within a committed relationship that may or may not lead to marriage even with a proposal.  

Well, that's enough gab for today...Please leave some suggestions for posts or questions, I am in dire need of some ideas.

See you next Saturday.

Love,

Denise Rochelle

What If Jane Austen Lived Now?

Well, first we know she would have a very creative blog ;)  She would dress very chic, like no other blogger out there and she would be the best seller in romantic novels.

With the advent of health products, Jane would have been able to live past the young age she died and we would have been inundated by stories from a more mature Jane who had at least a few encounters with men and these light affairs, albeit non-contact, would have been integrated into her later stories.  I think she still would have been a lady, confident and what many call an old maid or a prude when it came to relationships with men.

She would still have kept herself out of the public's eye and kept fresh from any ridicule, been well loved by her captive audience for her sweet nature and maintain her innocence when looking through the eyes of romance.

Now with that being said, how would have Pride and Prejudice turned out from eyes of the society of England in our time from Jane Austen's point of view?  Would we be reading that story in 2213?  It seems that stories by now have all been told and to see Pride and Prejudice written for the first time in 2013, it may become lost in much of the thousands of books published every year.  It would have to be heavily marketed or have a very unique outlook on the high society of England with a movie coming out soon to give it that added exposure and audience.

Seeing a Pride and Prejudice for the first time ever in our decade, Jane would have already had her audience and written other books in other words, in order for Pride and Prejudice to have the impact it has now, she would have to be a Danielle Steele or a Nicolas Spark ladies hungering for a new release for it to even be recognized.

What type of story would it have been?  What about the couples falling in love with no contact and then getting married after just meeting? I think to have the innocence and quick rushes to the altar without even dating in our age would be hard to swallow.  It would have to be a part of that society where courting was acceptable without necessarily dating before taking the plunge, which I did so in my update in "Black Pride".

A second thing I found that doesn't translate well to our century is that everyone was in a rush before they were 20 to be married off or they were going to die. The fact we live longer these days than in Austen's century, I had to move my character's age into her late 30s where desperation of not being married may have more relevance.  Even now, being unmarried in your late 20 is not an "old maid" as Charlotte had said she was.

And thirdly, what I found didn't merge into our century was the fact nobody had outside interest.  As many critics say of the novel, it's just a book about women walking around in rooms and talking about relationships.  This was befitting superbly rich inheritance babies.  Even now, Paris Hilton has found her calling in fashion bags and reality shows.  They would all have their own businesses and actually work taking a lot of the scrutiny of just focusing on relationships.

When rewriting I was shocked that this was the only things that I found hesitation with when bringing Elizabeth and the gang to our time in black society.  That's pretty darn good for a 200-year old tale.  The book even has "call" someone and "ring" the door that translates with ease in the advent of the iPod.

I think Jane wishes that she could do an update or a sequel with her story getting greater buzz than billion dollar movies premiering   I hope I do her proud.  I won't even begin to publish until I get the best draft I can.  An artist is never finished with a masterpiece, they just know when it's time to share it with the world and soon that time will come.

Enjoy your rocking weekend everyone and thank you for coming along for the ride!  Think you know what you would do with your update of Pride and Prejudice, let us know what you would add or take away...see you next Saturday!

XX,
Denise Rochelle

Did Mr. Darcy Have Lust or Love?

Religious posts say that they don't fear Jesus and lust is the devil's hand tool and the reason relationships don't last. True.  How do we tell the difference?  That was the question posted?

To first answer this question, we need to truly understand what is Lust and what is True Love.

Lust comes without commitment and is easy to obtain yet it does not last.  This is because of selfishness that the two feel these feelings and it is not based on the other person. It is based on obtaining this feeling only for themselves without regard to how the other feels, almost like a spell.





Love is the opposite and takes time to invest. 

"Lust is at first sight." I don't know.  Maybe, but I know of people who have true love that knew someone was the one from the minute they saw them.

Now Mr. Darcy didn't not have a relationship with the Elizabeth character yet, halfway through the book he says that he can no longer control his emotions and tells her that he wants to marry her and despite all of the reasons not too.  This kind of sounds like lust to me.  But where love at sight may have lust at its roots, when the couple turns their feelings for the other out of want and not neediness, and it becomes unselfish in their desires to be with the other, then this is love.

"Because lust satisfies a temporary need and takes less time."

Lust is overwhelming just like our Mr. Darcy experienced.  But so is love.  So how can one tell the difference of a man who falls in love with a woman from the first moment they meet and ends up asking for marriage with only a few outings together?

I think if the two fulfill the others needs and live for the other, this is possible.  I also saw where people have their ideal person all their life in the back of their mind even if they do not pursue this type of person for a relationship and when they see them in the street, they see the exact match of their own internal workings and they know immediately, this is far from lust.

It is almost a survival instinct from cavemen times whatever that means.

I thought the best explanation was:

"Lust is like a windows start up program, it's running right off the first look...now love takes some getting into the program and once you start feeling it, you have no control." :)


My Writing Week

I must say after 30 years, LITERALLY, of writing everyday whether professionally or from imagination, I finally understand the process of writing.  You can teach an old dog new tricks.  After all, if the old fart is willing to learn, they can do about anything in their old age. ;)  Anyway, what have I learned exactly?

I learned to relax with the story.

I went from taking months and months to bang out a decent first draft to having a story rewritten twice within a week and once a month and then to stop dead in my tracks and not being able to approach the story.  I started to panic that I would never be able to let the story rise to the possibilities from its basic standard, characterization and written word.

Now since receiving this gift directly from God in October, I have started to see that the story is being worked on somewhere and at the right time it will come back to me and I can approach it with a pure heart, no worries, no panic and give it the best rewrite.

Damn, I mean darn the deadline I gave myself of having a good 3rd or 4th draft finished ready for a self-publish read over.

Forget rushing the process.

If I say "Black Pride" is my baby, maybe it will take 9 months.  I just have this urge to have it out into the world while 2013 is still present for some reason, possibly the 200th year anniversary of "Pride and Prejudice" being this year brings it to a full circle somehow and brings good fortune.

After watching a series of movie trailers (I usually do this for inspiration to envision my own story as a trailer) I starting to see the story outside my head.

I see that to approach it, there will be some character changes, race changes and a few scenes I have to completely write, but coming from a person who takes many years on a horrible story rewriting from different angles, I know I have something here.  Believe me, I know how NOT to write.

So, that is my week. Thanks for joining.  If you ever want to give a shoutout or give your input, then leave me a message or post.  Or follow me in Twitterland twitter.com/iamdenisemorris.  Talk to you later!  See you next Saturday!




XOXO,
Denise Rochelle