Good Afternoon everyone,
How are you this weekend? If you’ve been following this blog for some time, you’ve probably noticed that I have been publishing only once a week instead of twice, and that is because I finally went on a much-expected USA Road Trip!!! After all the confinements and closed borders, I was able to travel across the Atlantic and visit some incredible places in a country I absolutely adore, and that of course took away all the free time I usually have for reading and blogging.
While I was there, I was able to spend a few days with Meredith Ezparza from Austenesque Reviews, and that was certainly the highlight of my trip! It was the first time I met Meredith and I really hope it was not the last time we spent some time together 😊 We’ve also had dinner with Elizabeth Adams and Victoria Kincaid, two authors I’ve come to love over the years, and all the conversations we had during those days reminded me of a post I’ve been thinking about writing for a long, long time. So, I thought this might be as good a time as any, and today I am finally publishing the ”3 Things I Like & I Dislike in JAFF”.
Of course there are a lot of things I like about JAFF, or I wouldn’t read and review this genre almost exclusively over the last years, but there are also a few things I dislike about it, especially after so many years of reading the genre. What about you? Is there anything you dislike in the genre? I would love to hear everybody’s opinion on this, so I am looking forward to reading your comments 😊 But, let’s start with what I like in JAFF Books!
Darcy & Elizabeth
I believe this may be a point I share with many, many readers of the genre, but having Darcy & Elizabeth interacting with one another over and over again is definitely my favorite aspect about JAFF. I started reading this genre because I felt the need to spend more time with these characters, to continue their journey, to see them in different settings and situations. These are some of the best characters ever written in literature, they are perfect in their imperfections and most assuredly part of why JAFF is so successful. I simply cannot get enough of them, and JAFF books not only allow me to be with these characters more often, but also to be surprised by them 😊
The Endless Possibilities
When I explain people what JAFF is, they always ask me if I don’t get tired of reading the same story over and over again, and that is precisely the point, I’m not reading the same story over and over again, I’m reading different stories every single time! The possibilities in JAFF are endless! The smallest detail may change the entire storyline, and that is if we think of regency variations only, but we know that we also have other sub genres such as secondary characters or modernizations. The beauty of Jane Austen’s stories is that they have this huge flexibility that many other books do not have (North & South for example is not as easy to change), and that allows authors to go anywhere with the story and the characters. The endless possibilities we have with JAFF is probably what I love the most in the genre.
The Intensity
Darcy & Elizabeth have a beautiful love story, but JAFF authors are able to take it to the next level and give their relationship and their feelings an intensity that is breath taking! There is nothing like reading a book that makes your heart stop and that you cannot put down because letting go is just like letting go a part of yourself. Jane Austen created a beautiful story, but JAFF has created hundreds of books where that story is more intense, more captivating and more overwhelming for readers. Connecting at an emotional level is an important key to reader engagement, and JAFF excels at that 🙂
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But just like everything in life, JAFF isn’t perfect, and there are a few things I dislike too! Of course, there are many things I dislike in books in general, such as poor writing style, namely a the telling instead of showing readers what is happening and/or what the character is going through, etc. But even if I am finding this more frequently in JAFF books, it is not exactly a specificity of the genre, so let’s see what I dislike in JAFF that appears to be more common in the genre:
Repetitions
Unless a story is a different POV or set in a different time, I see no point in using the same scenes and/or the same drivers Jane Austen used. If the author is changing a detail in the story that would change the events, then he should really change the events and not just change a few events and repeat the majority of the others.
Readers do not need to read the same dialogues that exist in Pride & Prejudice only with minor changes, just like they don’t need to read the same events that make the story move forward. We do not need to have Lady Catherine visiting Elizabeth to tell her not to marry Darcy in every single book, or to have Lydia running off with Wickham, it would be more interesting to have these scenes replaced with new original ones. Unfortunately, I’ve read many books that change one detail in the story, but then continuously repeat the other events in P&P, and that is certainly something I dislike. Authors should remember that most JAFF readers read many books with these scenes, and therefore, reading them over and over again is a little boring.
Meaningless Scenes/Dialogues
This is not exactly a specificity of the genre, but something I see happening more and more these days and that really puts me off when reading a book. Well-written dialogues are a crucial element that helps introduce the characters, their chain of thoughts, and build up their personality, but characters should not be providing each other information they already know, nor make long confessional speeches or engage in too much chit-chat. Fiction isn’t real but it should sound real, and I am not imagining Mr. Darcy having long conversations about his feelings with Georgiana or even the Colonel, or Elizabeth analyzing every single word that was discussed in a conversation with Mr. Darcy.
The same thing is valid for scenes, they should exist only if they further the plot, if they have no relevance at all, then they could simply be cut off. We don’t need to read about Georgiana’s talents and watch her play the piano if it is not relevant to the story, nor should we see Elizabeth confiding in Jane every night when her feelings are already known to the reader. And, we don’t need to be in Elizabeth or Darcy’s head as they question themselves when they fell in love. And do we really need to witness the antics at Longbourn over and over again if that doesn’t add anything to the plot?
I’m starting to appreciate more and more books that stick to what is essential, and dislike more and more books that are filled with flourishings that add little value to the plot or the characters.
Clichés
A cliché is anything which makes us feel we’ve read something before, and I understand that in JAFF this is one of the biggest challenges, in fact, avoiding clichés is in my opinion what makes JAFF writers so good! Some people think that writing fan fiction is very easy because the characters already exist, but in fact, it is quite the opposite. Writing fan fiction is much harder than writing an original novel, unfortunately sometimes we still see many clichés in the genre, namely with the characters personalities and appearances. I’m not saying authors should change these, but maybe they could stop giving them so much relevance. I mean, most of JAFF readers already have their own idea of how the main characters are, there is no need to keep repeating how tall and handsome Mr. Darcy is, how Elizabeth’s eyes are full of life, and how very shy Georgiana is. It is particularly worse when these cliches are linked to bland characters. Do we really believe Mr. Darcy would fall in love with Elizabeth on first sight just because she has fiery eyes? Does Elizabeth need to walk out in the mud in every book? And what about Elizabeth climbing trees as a little girl, is that really that relevant to the story? Or just a little annoying because it has become a cliché?
When I was in Washington D.C I had the opportunity to meet for the first time Victoria Kincaid and asked her to sign a copy of President Darcy to offer to one of my readers at From Pemberley to Milton. After all, we were very close to the White House so it seemed fitting to have this book with us there. Have you read President Darcy? It is Victoria’s only modernization and I must say I loved it! President Dary was dreamy 😊
If you want to know more about it, you can read my review here. And if you’d like to win this signed copy of the book, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. Let us know what you think of the premise of this book, and please, feel free to tell us what you like and dislike in JAFF. I would love to hear more opinions on that topic too.
As posting has become a little too difficult to countries outside of the EU, I can only send the signed paperback to EU residents (it’s still possible for UK residents too), so I’ll be also offering an ebook copy of President Darcy to international readers.
The giveaway of both paperback and ebook is open until the 1rst of April and to apply you only need to comment this post.