As someone who has worked alongside writers of all genres for years, I've developed a special appreciation for the unique challenges and contributions of fan fiction authors—particularly those inspired by Jane Austen's timeless world.
Those 3 are sone if the best in published JAFF. It’s a shame that Cat Gardiner, known for her modern JAFF’s has stepped away from the genre due to fans with a regency preference constantly hassling her instead of spending their time more pleasantly reading works set in their preferred time frame.
I wish we could do something about the toxically demanding subset of fans. I’ve encountered people who have observed this crowd in comment sections and reviews and think our whole fandom is horrible. They read but don’t interact much, and have no goal of writing. Its worrisome.
It is a shame. It happens in all genres, but it does seem like some readers can be very vocal about it. You definitely highlight the fact that we need to share what we love and encourage these fan fiction authors to write what they love.
Personally, I would love to see more JAFF from other Austen novels, but I know that P&P is what sells. I won't story encouraging my favorite authors to stray a little though. :) Thank you for stopping in!
To your point of your own favourite genre, JAFF as I guess you call it? I know that virtually every time period is rich in material for historical fiction, mine being the Byzantine Empire. As a historian who knows only a little about Britain's domestic situation at that time, I am guessing that JAFF has a lot to do with the Victorian-era constraints on passion, and how that repression affects (or ruins ) the potential for happiness in people's lives, or their defiance of social norms. Whereas I guess the Regency stuff would be more about a period of aristocratic debauchery, and whatever tales might come from that. If I knew any of these periods well enough to be comfortable with the home front, I would probably try to spin a tale of some young officer coming home to his intended, but carrying heavy PTSD from whatever the foreign Imperial war of the time was - and there were wars for both periods, if I am not mistaken. How would the couple deal with that, set against the backdrop of the society the young man is trying to re-integrate into?
JAFF is pre-Victorian, as was Austen. But it is very much full of Victorian attitudes because those have permeated English speaking/reading cultures, and romance writing in general. Romancelandia tropes are very Victorian and most JAFF readers have been thoroughly exposed to them in novels gefire finding JAFF, Irvin real life depending on their religion. Nevertheless there are many readers and writers who know and demand Georgian/Regency/Austen standards and expectations of the characters. Its a see-saw, even when an author decides to ignore the subset of readers who want ‘clean’ romance to suit their modern purity culture attitudes
No, you are absolutely right - and there has never been a society in which there has not been a certain standard that was what one wished to project publicly, while almost inevitably failing to live up to privately. Or that they actually publicly defied or rebelled against, with whatever consequences that entailed.
I still think that maybe it might be worth exploring (although it is beyond my ability) the dashing young officer returning from service in colonial or - if I'm guessing correctly for at least one of these periods - the Napoleonic wars. Rudyard Kipling's 'Tommy' who has seen the live or die front line of 'bayonet and butt[of a rifle]', and who involuntarily ducks when a carriage wheel hits a rut, and sometimes while sitting in the parlour at tea gets that 'thousand-yard stare', and just for a moment, hears nothing of what Lady So-and-so is saying to him. But maybe that is going too far into the kind of stuff I like to read. But if somebody wrote that book, I would definitely buy it, so long as I found out about its existence!
I don't even understand why people would do that, wasting their time. Read what you want, let them read what they want. And I am a history guy who understands how different the two periods are.
But I will try again to post here my answer to Melissa's reply regarding Warhammer 40K, which is my fanfiction universe, and in which I even got a story published on Discord's dedicated site Cold Open Stories. I am hoping to get to write in their official (paid) literary universe, which would be with The Black Library, Games Workshop's publishing imprint. I can't even recommend my story to you though, because the universe is so immersive, and the short fiction, in particular, presupposes that immersive knowledge.
Yes, it is a tabletop wargame, played with miniature figurines (the painting of which can be a whole hobby unto itself) pencil and paper, dice, a ruler or tape measure, and of course, multiple rulebooks. When I was young, I played D&D with a group that was really not that dedicated to getting together to actually play, but I spent many hours painting miniatures, and when they were still lead!
But you can also just read in the vast literary universe the game has spawned, and that is all I do; I have no interest in playing the game, only reading and writing about it. And if anybody loves gripping action, there is nowhere better, with authors like Dan Abnett.
Sorry for hijacking this answer, but I had tried to reply to Melissa's reply to me earlier, but somehow the "reply" option in the "reply" section following her email did not actually reply.
And again, if Melissa didn't get it, I have nobody to gift my five gift subscriptions to, so please, Melissa, take them back, and gift them to people at the women's shelter you are obviously involved with, or other writers in whatever other groups you know of. Please do so in memoriam of my late wife Barbara Filippin Bondar, who loved literary fiction, especially of the Canlit subgenre - because we were Canadian -but who also took guilty pleasure in reading and re-reading Maeve Binchy novels.
Myself, I really know little about Jane Austen, but I do know about fanfiction.
For the science-fantasy universe of Warhammer 40,000, official (paid) works are published only by Games Workshop's imprint, The Black Library, but you cab find very good work on the Discord site Cold Open Stories. The only thing is, they are short stories that already pre-suppose an immersive knowledge on the part of the reader. I had a story included in one of their anthologies, but cannot recommend it to you if you are not intimately familiar with psykers, the Inquisition, and the Black Ships, only to begin with. But I do know that many of Black Library's successful authors got their start (and their work noticed) on COS.
I love fan fiction. It shows such a passion for the world and the fact that readers want to keep it alive through more stories. I must admit, I do not know much about the science-fantasy world. I do believe my brother played Warhammer. Is it a battle/strategy game if I'm remembering correctly?
I hope my emails got through to you. I am technologically challenged. If you want, you can cut and paste my reply onto this Substack thread. And did you get my request regarding my five gift subscriptions?
Those 3 are sone if the best in published JAFF. It’s a shame that Cat Gardiner, known for her modern JAFF’s has stepped away from the genre due to fans with a regency preference constantly hassling her instead of spending their time more pleasantly reading works set in their preferred time frame.
I wish we could do something about the toxically demanding subset of fans. I’ve encountered people who have observed this crowd in comment sections and reviews and think our whole fandom is horrible. They read but don’t interact much, and have no goal of writing. Its worrisome.
It is a shame. It happens in all genres, but it does seem like some readers can be very vocal about it. You definitely highlight the fact that we need to share what we love and encourage these fan fiction authors to write what they love.
Personally, I would love to see more JAFF from other Austen novels, but I know that P&P is what sells. I won't story encouraging my favorite authors to stray a little though. :) Thank you for stopping in!
To your point of your own favourite genre, JAFF as I guess you call it? I know that virtually every time period is rich in material for historical fiction, mine being the Byzantine Empire. As a historian who knows only a little about Britain's domestic situation at that time, I am guessing that JAFF has a lot to do with the Victorian-era constraints on passion, and how that repression affects (or ruins ) the potential for happiness in people's lives, or their defiance of social norms. Whereas I guess the Regency stuff would be more about a period of aristocratic debauchery, and whatever tales might come from that. If I knew any of these periods well enough to be comfortable with the home front, I would probably try to spin a tale of some young officer coming home to his intended, but carrying heavy PTSD from whatever the foreign Imperial war of the time was - and there were wars for both periods, if I am not mistaken. How would the couple deal with that, set against the backdrop of the society the young man is trying to re-integrate into?
JAFF is pre-Victorian, as was Austen. But it is very much full of Victorian attitudes because those have permeated English speaking/reading cultures, and romance writing in general. Romancelandia tropes are very Victorian and most JAFF readers have been thoroughly exposed to them in novels gefire finding JAFF, Irvin real life depending on their religion. Nevertheless there are many readers and writers who know and demand Georgian/Regency/Austen standards and expectations of the characters. Its a see-saw, even when an author decides to ignore the subset of readers who want ‘clean’ romance to suit their modern purity culture attitudes
No, you are absolutely right - and there has never been a society in which there has not been a certain standard that was what one wished to project publicly, while almost inevitably failing to live up to privately. Or that they actually publicly defied or rebelled against, with whatever consequences that entailed.
I still think that maybe it might be worth exploring (although it is beyond my ability) the dashing young officer returning from service in colonial or - if I'm guessing correctly for at least one of these periods - the Napoleonic wars. Rudyard Kipling's 'Tommy' who has seen the live or die front line of 'bayonet and butt[of a rifle]', and who involuntarily ducks when a carriage wheel hits a rut, and sometimes while sitting in the parlour at tea gets that 'thousand-yard stare', and just for a moment, hears nothing of what Lady So-and-so is saying to him. But maybe that is going too far into the kind of stuff I like to read. But if somebody wrote that book, I would definitely buy it, so long as I found out about its existence!
I don't even understand why people would do that, wasting their time. Read what you want, let them read what they want. And I am a history guy who understands how different the two periods are.
But I will try again to post here my answer to Melissa's reply regarding Warhammer 40K, which is my fanfiction universe, and in which I even got a story published on Discord's dedicated site Cold Open Stories. I am hoping to get to write in their official (paid) literary universe, which would be with The Black Library, Games Workshop's publishing imprint. I can't even recommend my story to you though, because the universe is so immersive, and the short fiction, in particular, presupposes that immersive knowledge.
Yes, it is a tabletop wargame, played with miniature figurines (the painting of which can be a whole hobby unto itself) pencil and paper, dice, a ruler or tape measure, and of course, multiple rulebooks. When I was young, I played D&D with a group that was really not that dedicated to getting together to actually play, but I spent many hours painting miniatures, and when they were still lead!
But you can also just read in the vast literary universe the game has spawned, and that is all I do; I have no interest in playing the game, only reading and writing about it. And if anybody loves gripping action, there is nowhere better, with authors like Dan Abnett.
Sorry for hijacking this answer, but I had tried to reply to Melissa's reply to me earlier, but somehow the "reply" option in the "reply" section following her email did not actually reply.
And again, if Melissa didn't get it, I have nobody to gift my five gift subscriptions to, so please, Melissa, take them back, and gift them to people at the women's shelter you are obviously involved with, or other writers in whatever other groups you know of. Please do so in memoriam of my late wife Barbara Filippin Bondar, who loved literary fiction, especially of the Canlit subgenre - because we were Canadian -but who also took guilty pleasure in reading and re-reading Maeve Binchy novels.
Thank you for your reply Stephen. It's so fun to hear about other people hobbies.
I'll send you an email and we will work out how to share the gifted subscriptions so that we can best honor your late wife Barbara.
Myself, I really know little about Jane Austen, but I do know about fanfiction.
For the science-fantasy universe of Warhammer 40,000, official (paid) works are published only by Games Workshop's imprint, The Black Library, but you cab find very good work on the Discord site Cold Open Stories. The only thing is, they are short stories that already pre-suppose an immersive knowledge on the part of the reader. I had a story included in one of their anthologies, but cannot recommend it to you if you are not intimately familiar with psykers, the Inquisition, and the Black Ships, only to begin with. But I do know that many of Black Library's successful authors got their start (and their work noticed) on COS.
I love fan fiction. It shows such a passion for the world and the fact that readers want to keep it alive through more stories. I must admit, I do not know much about the science-fantasy world. I do believe my brother played Warhammer. Is it a battle/strategy game if I'm remembering correctly?
You can repost it on substack if you want.
I replied in the private email. I hope you got it.
I hope my emails got through to you. I am technologically challenged. If you want, you can cut and paste my reply onto this Substack thread. And did you get my request regarding my five gift subscriptions?