I confess; I wrote it. Then, I spent two years trying to get it published. I was told it was well written, but people don't buy books about Austen's minor characters. Well, why not? I wanted to know what happened to Charlotte Lucas after she married the odious Mr. Collins. I wanted her to have a romance. I thought others might care about her too. And now that I've discovered so much diverse fanfic on the web, I know that Austen fans love all her characters and want to read and write about them. So here is my offering: About Charlotte Collins When Charlotte Lucas married Mr. Collins in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, she believed herself to be fortunate indeed. Her nuptials gained her a comfortable home and financial security. If she acquired these things at the expense of true love, it did not matter one whit. To Charlotte, love in marriage was nothing more than a pleasant coincidence. As the years of her marriage dragged by, Charlotte began to question her idea of love as she suffered continual embarrassment at her husband's simpering and fawning manners. When Mr. Collins dies, finally relieving everyone of his tedious conversation, she must work feverishly to secure her income and home. She gives no further thought to the prospect of love until her flighty sister Maria begs her to act as her chaperone in place of their ailing parents. Hoping to prevent Maria from also entering an unhappy union, Charlotte agrees, and they are quickly thrust into a world of country dances, dinner parties, and marriageable gentlemen. But when an unprincipled gentleman compromises Charlotte's reputation, her romantic thoughts disappear at the possibility of losing her independence. As she struggles to extricate herself from her slander, her situation reveals both the nature of each gentleman and of true love. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blurb With Charlotte Collins, Jennifer Becton mines the rich vein of literary characters who've vanished into the mists of history. Her newly widowed Charlotte is an expert in social nuance, but does she know her own heart as well? Charming, witty, and grounded in period detail, Becton's debut novel will make Jane Austen fans rejoice. --Beverle Graves Myers, author of Her Deadly Mischief -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stats and Random Info •Paperback is 258 pages. •Word count is approximately 77,000. •Paperback consistently in the top 25 on the Amazon Women's Fiction list. •If 1,000 copies are sold, thus proving a market for Austen's minor characters, Charlotte Collins will be picked up by a major publisher. •The ebook version is only $2.99 and the paperback is $9.99. (Paper is expensive.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you all for reading about Charlotte. I've just started posting some of my stories around the web, and I'll be adding them here soon. If you'd like to read one now, "Maria's Romance" is on my website: http://www.jenniferbecton.com.https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,62779,62779#msg-62779Mon, 16 Mar 2026 02:25:53 +0000 Phorum 5.2.22 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,62779,65207#msg-65207 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,62779,65207#msg-65207
I am sitting here with a dunce cap on my head, because I forgot that I had made a reply post in the Library. "Bad memory. Bad memory." {Blip.} Two months ago!

My saga is a Babylon 5 (B5) prequel, and I have tried to get it published. Curiously, the drawback has been, that to be a prequel, I tried to stay as close to the long-lived characters and cultures as established by the B5 franchise, which publishers seem to see a copyright problem. I could not find the door that several other authors used to write and publish B5 and related stories. (I think Warner Brothers own the films and the Del-Rey and other brands that published the books.)

Another drawback to publishing is my diversions. I have written crossovers with varying series and stories that have been of interest.

Joseph Straczynski said that he told his B5 story during the televised run, and it generated enough interest to try three follow-on series; Crusade, Legend of the Ranger (LotR), and The Lost Tales. They died ignoble deaths due in part to network suits who thought they knew more about the audience's favor about good science fiction. As I understand, one bigwig of the Sci-Fi channel then, said B5 was "too sci-fi-ey." In the other part was due to the death of two character actors; Richard Biggs as "Doctor Franklin" and Andreas Katsulas as "G'Kar," a knave -to- knight. I have not found anything new, in fact all of my links are cobweb.

I have a draft of a crossover with my saga and P&P that is going through editing now. Hopefully, it will be ready to begin posting parts to the DWG board soon. Really, perhaps the last bit should be to my editor before I start posting parts, because it is hard for readers to keep up with a story, if too long time between the component parts' postings.

If you come back to find this post, you may e-mail me: Ellayn at VWH-Corp.com]]> Rae Elaine JAFF LibrarySat, 29 Jan 2011 22:19:51 +0000 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,62779,65071#msg-65071 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,62779,65071#msg-65071
I just ordered your book from amazon and I am excited to read it. Charlotte Collins is a beautiful character and she always deserved a better story than the odious Mr. Collins. I can't wait to read your vision of what Charlotte Collins story could have been.

Kaydee]]> Kaydee JAFF LibraryTue, 25 Jan 2011 05:25:42 +0000 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,62779,62932#msg-62932 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,62779,62932#msg-62932Charlotte Collins, and I totally agree that there are many Austen minor characters whose stories would be very interesting to follow. I love the idea of Anne as the Scarlet Pimpernel or spy. That would be fun.

I will have to look into your saga! 600,000 words! That is a huge accomplishment, and you are so right. It is easier to cut text than add it. Are you working on publishing it?]]> JenniferBecton JAFF LibraryThu, 09 Dec 2010 05:30:22 +0000 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,62779,62910#msg-62910 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,62779,62910#msg-62910
Some of the minor characters of P&P could be fascinating. Since we are sufficiently teased about Anne de Bourgh's abilities and condition, I think she is one potential interesting subject. Could that be her cover as an assistant to the Scarlet Pimpernell? Could she be yesteryear's Bat Girl? The mind boggle itself when there is so little outline in which to prescribe option limits.

Recently, I bought P&P at Hastings, the Penguin edition in paperback, for $8.00. After paying 7 -to- 10 prices for certain favorite books after they went out of publication, I considered that $8.00 very fair, even though JA may never truly be out of print again.

Your word count caused me to check the count of my saga. /Ellayn O'Kosh/ has more than 600,000 words in that pentateuch. I calculate that it will need weaning before it go to editor, but I thought it easier to edit by dissection than filling in the holes.]]> Rae Elaine JAFF LibraryWed, 08 Dec 2010 22:13:02 +0000 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,62779,62779#msg-62779 https://dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?16,62779,62779#msg-62779
Then, I spent two years trying to get it published. I was told it was well written, but people don't buy books about Austen's minor characters. Well, why not? I wanted to know what happened to Charlotte Lucas after she married the odious Mr. Collins. I wanted her to have a romance. I thought others might care about her too. And now that I've discovered so much diverse fanfic on the web, I know that Austen fans love all her characters and want to read and write about them.

So here is my offering:

About Charlotte Collins
When Charlotte Lucas married Mr. Collins in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, she believed herself to be fortunate indeed. Her nuptials gained her a comfortable home and financial security. If she acquired these things at the expense of true love, it did not matter one whit. To Charlotte, love in marriage was nothing more than a pleasant coincidence.

As the years of her marriage dragged by, Charlotte began to question her idea of love as she suffered continual embarrassment at her husband's simpering and fawning manners. When Mr. Collins dies, finally relieving everyone of his tedious conversation, she must work feverishly to secure her income and home. She gives no further thought to the prospect of love until her flighty sister Maria begs her to act as her chaperone in place of their ailing parents. Hoping to prevent Maria from also entering an unhappy union, Charlotte agrees, and they are quickly thrust into a world of country dances, dinner parties, and marriageable gentlemen.

But when an unprincipled gentleman compromises Charlotte's reputation, her romantic thoughts disappear at the possibility of losing her independence. As she struggles to extricate herself from her slander, her situation reveals both the nature of each gentleman and of true love.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blurb
With Charlotte Collins, Jennifer Becton mines the rich vein of literary characters who've vanished into the mists of history. Her newly widowed Charlotte is an expert in social nuance, but does she know her own heart as well? Charming, witty, and grounded in period detail, Becton's debut novel will make Jane Austen fans rejoice. --Beverle Graves Myers, author of Her Deadly Mischief

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stats and Random Info

•Paperback is 258 pages.
•Word count is approximately 77,000.
•Paperback consistently in the top 25 on the Amazon Women's Fiction list.
•If 1,000 copies are sold, thus proving a market for Austen's minor characters, Charlotte Collins will be picked up by a major publisher.
•The ebook version is only $2.99 and the paperback is $9.99. (Paper is expensive.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you all for reading about Charlotte. I've just started posting some of my stories around the web, and I'll be adding them here soon. If you'd like to read one now, "Maria's Romance" is on my website: http://www.jenniferbecton.com.]]> JenniferBecton JAFF LibraryTue, 07 Dec 2010 03:27:08 +0000