Digging for Buried Treasure by Sophia Rose

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As this is a new year and my first post of the said New Year, I thought I would share a bit about one of my personal resolutions. I am not afraid to make these even if I struggle to keep them (And no, that doesn’t make me a Wickham who makes friends, but struggles to keep them. Haha!).

I wrote a story some time ago and it had the distinction (insert dramatic wince here) of being my first novel-length story. I had just finished reading a certain Austen novel and a delightful ‘what if’ came to me. I had to write it down. Recently, I decided to pursue it and see if others might enjoy my flight of fancy in regard to Austen’s characters and story.
My resolution involves cleaning it up and trying to have it far along the road toward publication. I prefer to work in secrecy and I’m superstitious enough to think if I share details, etc that it will jinx me hence the vagueness about my story’s premise. I will say this much. It is an Austenesque and it is set in the Georgian period (or at least it will be when I know a bit more about the Georgians).

To that end, I am determined to pour over resources to learn what I can AKA Dig for treasure because to me that which is contained in books is treasure. I am far from the scholarly sort, but I find history fascinating so this is no hardship. I already have a small stack that I’ve put together and added a few more after Christmas. I couldn’t help myself and gravitated toward resources that involved my favorite novelist (you know who). I’ve taken the approach that if I’m to write Austenesque then I must know more of Austen and her world along with the era in which I will set my story. Perhaps wrong and narrow in my approach, but I’m flexible and can expand later. ‘Google’ and ‘library help desk’ are definitely in my vocabulary.

Here is a portion of my early research list (okay the Annotated books were a splurge, but hey, I can glean research notes there, too, right?)
Jane Austen’s England by Roy and Leslie Adkins
English Society in the Eighteenth Century by Roy Porter
The Annotated Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen and David Shapard
The Annotated Persuasion by Jane Austen and David Shapard
The Annotated Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and David Shapard
A Visitor’s Guide to Jane Austen’s England by Sue Wilkes
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist- the Facts of Daily Life in 19th-Century England by Daniel Poole (yes, I’m aware this is not the Georgian period, but there are references of comparing back to the Georgian vs the Regency)
Georgette Heyer’s Regency World by Jennifer Kloester (okay, well, this might have been another splurge)
The World of Jane Austen by Nigel Nicholson
The Friendly Jane Austen by Natalie Tyler
Jane Austen in Style by Susan Watkins

So that is one of my resolutions and I’m already hard at work on it (my legal pad is filling with notes that hopefully will make sense to me when I go back to reference them). If you are a writer, what is one of your goals for the year? If you’re a reader, did you make any bookish resolutions? Oh and if you know a solid resource for the late Georgian era, I’d love to know it. Do tell!

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SophieSophia’s Bio:
Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, and gardening. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate. Writing has been a compelling need since childhood. Being published is a dream come true.
Stalkers are Welcome (the not so serial-killer kind anyway):
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophia.rose.7587
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13418187.Sophia_Rose
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiarose1816

6 Responses

  1. Abigail
    |

    That’s quite the reading list, Sophia! (And then there’s all the note taking, unless you have a much better memory than I do. I now have a document, nearly 200 pages single-spaced, of notes I have taken on the year 1800—typing it all up was a drag, but it helped fix the info in my head and is now searchable.)

    My writing goal is modest: just keep plugging away, no matter how horrible I think the manuscript is (I’m in THAT phase). At least you have a completed manuscript to work with!

    • Sophia Rose
      |

      I’ve got the motivation and I’ve already read two of the books. I have a legal pad full of notes. I am coming to realize that I need to get out dividers and put the notes into sections or they will be useless once I have gotten through more research. That is an amazing amount of notes you have and you were smart to make it searchable.

      I like that goal. My story needs lots (so much) work and part of it is to create a prologue. I’ve rewritten that thing five times already and am still muttering at it. So I’m in THAT phase, too. LOL. I think it would have been easier with a blank slate. I’m almost convinced that I need to just start writing keeping in mind the aspects of the story I was happy with and see where it takes me instead of trying to adjust an existing story.
      I wish you well as you wrestle with your own story, Abigail.

  2. Denise
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    Congratulations!

    My goal to to continue writing. My next JAFF is in the works.

    • sophiarose
      |

      Hey, that is great, Denise.

      I like your simple goal though it isn’t easy, is it? 🙂 Cheering you on!

  3. Sheila L. M.
    |

    I am not an author but I do love to read and then post reviews. So many are kind enough to give me feed back on those that I can only imagine how the feed back on a novel or even a short story must feel. The idea of research is overwhelming for me. Much too lazy – rather use my time escaping into the romance of a novel.

    But thank you for all you do – I have read Then Comes Winter anthology and loved it. Good luck with all you do.

    • Sophia Rose
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      Your service as a reader/reviewer is priceless, Sheila. I am so glad you are willing to support authors and books that way.
      I am lazy, too. I love burying myself in a good book. Most of my research choices so far are pleasant and teach me more about Jane Austen’s world. 🙂

      I’ll need that luck! Thanks!