jane austen Archives

Jane Austen’s 250 Birthday — Huzzah!

By Rachel Dacus | June 30, 2025June 30, 2025 by Rachel Dacus

Two hundred fifty years ago, one of my favorite authors was born. Jane Austen fans are celebrating her birthday with style and fanfare. The iconic romance author is being given parties and new films. Miss Austen, a new Masterpiece Theatre series premiered on May 5. The delightful French-English rom-com Jane Austen Wrecked My Life revives the great tradition of storytelling with Austen-like wit, satire, and happy ending. Mix-ups and mishaps, costumes and contemporary. Here’s a…

My Audacious Time Traveling heroine Is Recognized!

By Rachel Dacus | June 27, 2023June 27, 2023 by Rachel Dacus

Thrilled and delighted that my book JANE AUSTEN, TIME TRAVELER has placed as a Finalist in the 17th Annual National Indie Book Awards, in the women’s fiction category! My audacious time-traveling heroine Jane Austen is recognized. Take a bow, girl! The National Indie Excellence Awards These awards honor “self and independent publishing excellence. They give awards to books published by mid-size independent presses, university presses, and self-publishing authors. My book was honored in the Women’s…

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How Jane Austen Began Time-Traveling

By Rachel Dacus | January 22, 2023January 27, 2023 by Rachel Dacus

People ask how I got the idea to send Jane Austen time traveling forward, rather than sending an Austen-adoring hero or heroine back to her era. Simple. I read a book called The Real Jane Austen, a Life in Small Things, and discovered a version of the author who would make an excellent main character. This Jane A. was not meek and sheltered, as history (and her family) liked to portray her. For one thing,…

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Jane Austen Time Traveler – Bonus Character Interviews, Part 1

By Rachel Dacus | December 15, 2022December 15, 2022 by Rachel Dacus

Some authors interview their characters. I enjoy that idea, but I decided to put a spin on it, and have characters interview each other. This week: Jane Austen, 200 years in the future, interviews her host and superfan Will Fleming, while visiting his estate. JANE AUSTEN INTERVIEWS WILL FLEMING

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Why a Novel About Jane Austen?

By Rachel Dacus | November 8, 2022November 8, 2022 by Rachel Dacus

Jane Austen Time Traveler Why make Jane Austen a time traveler? With her wit and insight, I wonder what she’d make of our century — would the 21st century fascinate or repel her, and might she find love? She was a genius at exploring the morality and heart of her characters — their self-interest or goodness. She might find people very different in our time, or their essential strengths and frailties might be the same…

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Starting a New Book — Why Did I Do It?

By Rachel Dacus | June 8, 2022June 8, 2022 by Rachel Dacus

Why Did I Do It? Starting a new novel was a accident. Why did I begin to haul another book out of midair almost the minute I’d sent this one to be published? There was a whiteboard in my brain, erased and swoops like the water color clouds making upside down commas on the sky today. I was empty of story, the characters are gone to their own lives and readers minds. No longer my…

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Why I Want to Write About Jane Austen

By Rachel Dacus | May 23, 2022July 13, 2022 by Rachel Dacus

Who was Jane Austen? I want to write about Jane Austen to plumb the depths of the enigma. The famous author was full of contradictions. Supposedly, she was quiet and obedient, a devout lady of her time, but she longed for the adventure her brothers enjoyed. She was a sarcastic cynic about human relationships who penned romantic comedies that still make our hearts throb. Jane was forbidden as a woman to publish under her own…

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Valentine’s Day & My Favorite Love Stories

By Rachel Dacus | February 6, 2021February 6, 2021 by Rachel Dacus

LOVE STORIES! My favorite love stories in fiction span a variety of genres and authors. But there are some common threads. I like love stories that feature a heroine who has to shed her illusions to find love. Most of my favorites aren’t what we’d technically classify as romance novels. The stories are often broader.

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Stealing from Jane Austen – Writing Tips

By Rachel Dacus | July 13, 2017June 24, 2022 by Rachel Dacus

Writing Tips from Jane Austen? Yes, please! Virginia Woolf observed about Austen, “Of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness”, and that made me study Jane Austen for writing tips. I’m a devoted Austenite (for example. I have upstairs and a downstairs complete sets of her work). I’m writing a book whose characters are based on the Dashwood sisters from Sense and Sensibility. I’m not the first…

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My Favorite Fictional Sweethearts

By Rachel Dacus | February 7, 2017November 9, 2017 by Rachel Dacus

Valentine’s Day approaches, and over on Goodreads, someone asked me what are my favorite fictional couples. I cheated, of course, and managed to get in three pairs of lovers. First, I’d have to say Romeo and Juliet. There’s nothing like starry-eyed and highly sexed young lovers spouting the world’s most enchanting, poetic love lines as they barrel toward their doom. Right behind that pair are, for me, Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy in the book…