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

The "Old Maid" Stigma is Gone Forever, Yahh!!

Jane Austin lived in a time when one of her characters, Charlotte, was willing to marry a boar of a husband because she was almost 30.  There was a time not being married by 25 was societal suicide.  Now, Hollywood stars and actresses at their first and second go at marriage well into their mid 40s are successfully having children or hiring someone to have their children, ha, ha.

I wonder when this stigma went away?  I am 39 never been married, no children and I remember when people were pushing me around the 29 year old mark in this way, "Why don't you go have one of these" "You don't have to have a husband, just go have a baby".    Twice I was told the latter by two separate women who didn't know one another and had that idea pegged times three different daddies.  That is fine and dandy, but I just knew that I should wait.

Especially since we are no longer in the era of life-long marriages and "I do forever only once."  I wanted from the start the only once.  I think around the, let's see I have to think about this one, age 38 that I did start to get a little frightened.  Not that I wouldn't find someone, that's easy, but that I wouldn't be able to live to see my grandchildren, then secondly that maybe I wouldn't find the one that I had dreamed in the back of my mind.  Then around 39 I was at the point where I said two things, if Jesus could die single so could I and I was ready to settle with having a cat that loved me as long as I could live well enough to leave something behind for the world.

I almost forgot the "Are you a lesbian?" "do you think you are too good for others than maybe you need to look at yourself can't be something wrong with everyone you were with" "You are going to wait too late and not have any chance to have children" "women who wait until 40 usually don't have good eggs" blah, blah.  These are burned on my mind.

But something happened when I look back.  I must have had a guardian angel or just had louder alarm bells, but no matter what, there was always a disynchronization  with the guys I tried to date or court or marry.  Something major would pull them away, they would completely not be interested without a chance of going forward if I liked them or I completely was disinterested despite their affections or good looks never even changing for a second.  I was destined to repel anyone before the month mark.  Thanks goodness, whew.

I survived the Old Maid era of Jane Eyre, Jane Austin and...tell me if there is some other famous Jane from the 1800s, please.

So, why this talk of old maids concerning Pride and Prejudice when all the sisters were married off at a decent age?  Because a man recently asked if it was okay to be 35 single, never married and no kids.

My character in Black Pride is exactly that age and being like her creator she has decided that that is just okay with her and she is not going to change her high standards one bit, not even for Mr. Darcy.

Of course Lizzy and Mr. Darcy get rid of their edgy bits and pride in order to come together and it was worth the wait.  I can finally say the same as my real life Mr. Darcy and I get rid of the dark stuff that we mirror for the other just like the Pride and Prejudice couple.

Glad to live in a new era of not having to hurry up and marry because while you are married to the just for now guy or disillusioned from all the heartbreaks, you might miss your mister Darcy with all his ego and yours ready to be blown away!!  Dreams do come true, we have to do a lot of work on cleaning ourselves until it happens just never change your high standards or break them.

Until next Saturday,
Denise Rochelle