JnJ2: the interview

You may have noticed that when I have an event, I ask all of the participating authors some of the same questions.  There is a reason for this, and it's not laziness.  I love to see the comparative answers; it feels more like a dialogue, and it's really fun to see which questions get a lot of diverse answers and which tend to get the same reaction.
So here, minus the ones that are more just for authors, are the questions I asked for this Jane in June, and my answers to them.  I would love to hear your answers to any of them in the comments.


Why Jane? What drew you to Jane initially?
I was a classics kid.  I read Anne of Green Gables, Little Men and Oliver Twist more times than I can count.  So when it was time for me to move to books that were a little more adult, it's no surprise really that I stuck with the classics.  Emma was my first Jane, and I read it purely because of Jeremy Northam.  If you've seen him in the role of Mr Knightley in Emma, you'll know why that is.
It was maybe 1/2 a year or so before I read more by Austen, and that time is was for school, when the required summer reading for AP English had Pride and Prejudice as an option; after reading that, I quickly devoured the rest of her works, and over the decade since, I've read all of them at least twice, w/ P&P, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey making up the bulk of those rereads (and I'm not going to tell you how many times I've read them.)

If you could completely rework any Austen character, who would it be and what would you make of them?
I want to get my hands on Henry Crawford.  I thought there was so much potential in his story.  It could have been redemptive, and I think I could have really loved him.

Jane has inspired an entire genre, which few authors can boast. What do you make of it, especially the mash-up craze? Are you a purist, modernist or mash-up-ist?
I read all of them, but I think the ones I connect with most are more traditional.

If you could be a fly on the wall during any Austen scene, what would it be and why?
Sometimes I hate myself for asking questions like this.  There are so many I would like to see.  I think I would probably have to go with one of Darcy's and Lizzie's interactions when they are still completely misunderstanding each other, like the drawing room and ballroom scenes at Netherfield Park, or the piano scene at Rosings.

Quickfire Silly Stuff:
Your Regency Heir/ess name?
For one of vvb's events, I was Misté.  She was a comtesse...

Favorite scene in all of Austen?
This isn't fair either.  I waffle back and forth between Darcy's first proposal in P&P, Wentworth's letter in Persuasion and Henry Tilney's indignant "Remember we are English!" to Catherine in NA.

Your “truth universally acknowledged”?
Once a Janeite, always a Janeite...

Jane, twitter-style: If you could tweet 1 message to Jane (140 characters or less) what would you say?
Thanks!!!

Give us some advice for 1 of Austen's characters (for example, advice to Charlotte on living with Mr Collins):
To Kitty Bennet: if you're going to follow someone, at least make sure they know where they're going.

Play matchmaker: Which 2 characters from different Austen novels would you pair up.
Frank Churchill and Mary Crawford.  Don't ask me why, it just seems like they should meet.

Your favorite Austen character? Lizzie for realsies, Collins of laughs.

Favorite "villain"?  Mrs Norris.  I love me some Lady Catherine, don't get me wrong, but I have never wanted to physically hurt a character like I have Mrs Norris.

Character you most want to shake? Mary Musgrove.  She's funny, but I always want to sabotage attention seekers.  Shaking her would give her something worth complaining about.


Character you'd least like to be related to? Again, Mrs Norris.


Would you rather:
-- be stranded on an island with Lady Catherine or Mr Collins? Lady Catherine.  Collins would just get in the way, and probably need saving from all manner of things.  Being stranded would be exhausting enough.

-- attempt to "reform" bad boy Henry Crawford or bad boy George Wickham?  Crawford!  Already said I wanna get my hands on him.

-- have Lady Catherine or Mrs Bennet as a mother-in-law?  Mrs Bennet.  I can handle ridiculous, but I think Lady C and I would come to blows.

I'd love to hear your answers!

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