Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Jane Austen Writing Lessons. With an image of the original cover page of Pride and Prejudice; a color image of Jane Austen; an image of tea and pastries with an open book, and an early cover of Sense and Sensiblity.

One of the best ways to learn to write well is to learn from the examples of great writers. Jane Austen Writing Lessons is a series of blog posts about creative writing principles from plot structure to character development to dialogue. This blog was selected by “The Write Life” as one of the 100 Best Websites for Writers in 2021.

New Posts 2x a Month

New Jane Austen Writing Lessons will be posted 2 times a month. Sign up for the newsletter to get a notification in your inbox anytime there’s a new lesson. Links to the previous lessons can be found below.

Examples from Jane Austen

Each lesson looks to Jane Austen’s novels and her other works for examples of excellent writing. Quotes from her six published novels and an analysis of her craft–and how we can apply it to our own writing–is included in each lesson.

Writing Exercises

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Each lesson includes 2-3 writing exercises that will help you practice the creative writing principle and apply it to your own writing.

Most Recent Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #69: The Jane Austen Approach to Critiquing Writing
An intriguing snippet which has Jane Austen's portrait and a mysterious gray box with the words, "Cover Coming Soon"
Jane Austen Writing Lessons #68: Establishing Relationships and Character Connections in Fiction
Jane Austen Writing Lessons 67. Creating an Emotional Map: Making Interconnected Emotions
Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #66: Evoking Emotions through Objective Correlative (External Objects)
Mary Bennet and Mr. Collins. Why didn't they marry? Would they have made a good match?
Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #65: Different Character Approaches to Dealing with and Expressing Emotions
Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #64: The Size or Degree of Character Emotions
Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #63: Four More Internal Emotion Techniques

Jane Austen Writing Lessons by Category

Overarching Principles - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

#1: Make Your Character Want Something
#2: Combine Multiple Elements to Create an Engaging Premise
#3: Use an Inciting Incident to Set the Plot in Motion
#4: Create an External Journey for your Character
#5: Make Things Hard for Your Character
#6: Use a Character Arc to Make Your Character Change and Grow
#7: Create Multiple Relationship Arcs to Show Your Character’s Journey in Relation to Those Around Them
#8: Use Setting to Influence Plot and Character
#9: Use Dialogue to Create Dynamic Interactions Between Characters
#10: Use the Reader-Writer Contract to Create a Satisfying Resolution for Your Readers

Recognition for Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Jane Austen Writing Lessons: one of the

Jane Austen Writing Lessons was selected by The Write Life as one of the “100 Best Websites for Writers in 2021.” They wrote:

“[Jane Austen Writing Lessons] is filled with blog posts about creative writing that use Jane Austen’s novels and other related stories to share what good writing looks and sounds like. Whether you’re interested in plot structure or character development to dialogue, each Jane Austen writing lesson focuses on one principle of writing at a time.”

About the Author

In addition to writing Jane Austen Writing Lessons, Katherine Cowley is the author of the novels The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet, The True Confessions of a London Spy, and The Lady’s Guide to Death and Deception. She teaches writing classes at Western Michigan University.

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #27: Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 2)

#27: Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 2)

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #27: Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 2)

Jane Austen’s antagonists are some of her most memorable characters—full of depth, complexity, and nuance, and continuously getting in the way of protagonists.

In the last lesson, Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 1), I addressed negative motives for antagonism, like selfishness, a disregard for social norms, spite, cruelty, and revenge.

Yet not every antagonist interferes with the protagonist for negative reasons. Plenty of antagonists have positive or neutral motives for their interference. And these sorts of motives will be the focus of this lesson.

Positive Motives for Antagonism

Positive Motives for Antagonism

Sometimes good people, trying to do good things, unintentionally make life more difficult for others.

Positive motives can be antagonistic when:

  • • A character helps or assists others in a way that they don’t want to be helped

  • A character helps someone at an inconvenient time or place

  • Helping someone creates an unwanted sense of obligation

  • Kind, understanding, or sensitive actions cause additional problems for the protagonist

In Sense and Sensibility, there are a number of people who attempt to do good for the Dashwood family, yet are sometimes unintentionally antagonistic.

Sir John Middleton has offered his cottage to the Dashwoods because of their lack of their home, which is very generous of him, but also creates a lot of obligation for Mrs. Dashwood, Marianne, and Elinor.

Marianne especially finds Sir John antagonistic toward her goals, as well his wife, Lady Middleton, and her mother Mrs. Jennings and sister Mrs. Palmer. They are constantly interfering with Marianne’s sense of self, her need for independence and solitude, and her desires for certain types of company. They also are trying to matchmake a relationship between Marianne and Colonel Brandon, and they do this out of good motives—they seem like they would make a good match, and it would give Marianne a very advantageous marriage and help her out of poverty. But that’s not what Marianne wants.

Elinor finds the Middletons less antagonistic than Marianne does, yet sometimes their teasing and their mannerisms do make her uncomfortable and act in opposition to her journey.

Another example of an antagonistic character in Sense and Sensibility is Mrs. Dashwood herself. At the beginning of the novel, she does not want to economize, which makes finding their family a home very difficult. She also overprioritizes her love for Marianne, to the point where she refuses to act as a parent figure and talk to Marianne about the pitfalls of her behavior. She’s so afraid with damaging their relationship that she won’t even ask Marianne if she is engaged, and rather than helping Marianne, this contributes to Marianne’s difficulties (and also to Elinor’s). To me, she is one of the most interesting characters, because she is likeable and good and yet so very flawed in her behavior.

Neutral Motives for Antagonism

Neutral Motives for Antagonism

While a lot of antagonistic motives are clearly either negative or positive, some motives are more neutral.

A few types of neutral motives that can be antagonistic:

  • A character is forced to choose between their wants and needs.

  • A character is faced with no good paths and no good options; no matter what choices they make, it will have a negative impact on themselves and others.

  • Two characters have colliding paths. Their motives are often a mixture of good and bad, and as both characters strive for what they want and need, their paths interfere and collide with each other.

  • A character believes they know better than other characters what the right path is and chooses to impose their will on others.

  • A character believes that a greater good is worth some negative actions to achieve.

  • A character lacks the perspective to see the impact of their choices.

A sometimes-antagonistic character who has neutral motives is Edward Ferrars. Elinor falls in love with Edward, and while at Norwood Park he seems to return her affections. But when Elinor, her sisters, and her mother move, he becomes entirely absent from her life, which causes a lot of angst and sadness for Elinor. He eventually visits, but the visit is a rather uncomfortable one.

It turns out that several years before Edward became secretly engaged to Lucy Steele. Because he is a man of his word and trying to do the right thing, he won’t break off his engagement to Lucy, because that would hurt her and break his word. Yet in being honorable to Lucy, he is breaking Elinor’s heart, and giving his attentions to Elinor in the first place wasn’t very fair, knowing that he did not intend to act.

Neutral motives that create antagonism are some of the most interesting to explore in literature because they cause so much tension and they allow writers to explore the nuances and complexities of relationship and morality.

In Conclusion

Story is about conflict, it’s about a character on a journey interrupted, a journey that has challenges, many of them caused by other characters. As a protagonist goes about their journey, they face antagonism not just from Antagonists—people that are actively and intentionally opposing the core journey—but also from characters, large and small, who might be friends, family members, or acquaintances. Considering the full range of motives for antagonism can help you write more complex and interesting stories.

Next lesson we’ll focus on one final antagonist in Sense and Sensibility, my favorite Jane Austen bad-guy, John Willoughby. He has positive motives, he has negative motives, and he has neutral motives. Ultimately Jane Austen treats him with a certain kindness, allowing him some level of redemption, by giving him a chance to tell his story.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1:

Think about someone in your life—currently, or in the past—who has good motives, and yet makes your life more difficult or negatively interferes in certain areas of your life. Write several paragraphs about this person and their behavior. Make sure to examine specific actions they take (whether physical actions, dialogue, text, etc.) that act antagonistically in your life, and record also your reaction to these actions in the moment and over time.

Exercise 2:

Write several paragraphs from the viewpoint of an antagonist who is forced to choose between two competing principles:

  • Telling the truth; being sensitive to the feelings of others
  • Being on time; being prepared
  • Helping someone else; taking care of your own basic needs
  • Saving for the future; enjoying the moment
  • Another pair of competing principles you create

After they make the choice between the principles, have the character experience both positive and negative consequences as a result of their choice.

Exercise 3: A No Good, Very Bad Day

Set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes and do a rush write about a character, in which everything they do over the course of the day has negative or unforeseen consequences for other people.

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #26: Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 1)

#26: Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 1)

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #26: Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 1)

As I discussed in the previous post, an antagonist is a person who actively opposes the main character and tries to interfere with them achieving their wants and needs, typically over multiple scenes or a large portion of the story.

One of the things that makes Jane Austen’s protagonists so effective is that they always have understandable motives. As readers, we don’t always know these motives immediately, but ultimately these motives are explainable and understandable.

We’re going to consider four different categories of antagonist’s motives, with examples from Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility. In today’s post, Part 1, we’ll look at more negative types of antagonism, and in the next blog post, Part 2, we’ll consider more positive or neutral types of antagonism.

Self-Interested Motives

Self-Interested Motives

The first major category of motives held by antagonists is self-interest.

All characters, antagonists and protagonists, act with a certain amount of self-interest. It’s the only way, as people, we can survive—it’s the only way we get our wants and desires. And we often support characters striving for their wants and needs, and we become frustrated with characters like Fanny Price in Mansfield Park when they don’t actively strive for their wants and needs.

Self-interest becomes antagonism when:

  1. A character’s self-interest interrupts the protagonist’s journey.
  2. A character’s self-interest harms other characters, or is done with a regard only for oneself.

In the second category of self-interest as antagonism, we often see:

  • Selfishness

  • Emphasis on bodily passions

  • A focus on gaining power

  • A focus on gaining wealth or material objects

  • Disregard for social or societal norms

Ultimately, self-interest is a prioritization of ones own needs and wants over the needs and wants of others.

An example of an antagonistic character acting with self-interest from is found in Fanny Dashwood (of Sense and Sensibility). Fanny does not want to see any of her husband’s inheritance go to his half-sisters or stepmother.

“It was my father’s last request to me,” replied her husband, “that I should assist his widow and daughters.”

“He did not know what he was talking of, I dare say; ten to one but he was light-headed at the time. Had he been in his right senses, he could not have thought of such a thing as begging you to give away half your fortune from your own child.”

Slowly Fanny works her husband down, appealing to their sons supposed needs and other self-focused arguments, until ultimately her husband decides not to give them any money, and only occasionally assist them with minor things:

“Your father thought only of them. And I must say this: that you owe no particular gratitude to him, nor attention to his wishes; for we very well know that if he could, he would have left almost everything in the world to them.”

This argument was irresistible. It gave to his intentions whatever of decision was wanting before; and he finally resolved, that it would be absolutely unnecessary, if not highly indecorous, to do more for the widow and children of his father, than such kind of neighbourly acts as his own wife pointed out.

Another character who acts with self-interest is Lucy Steele. She has been secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars for four years, and now he is in love with Elinor Dashwood. It’s quite understandable that she would act in her own self-interest and attempt to maintain her engagement. She obviously has (or at least, had) feelings for Edward, and this is her chance for a better life. She is a dislikeable character because of the things she does in the name of self-interest, but we’ll talk about that more in the next section.

Outward-Focused Negative Motives

The second major category of antagonist motives are those which are outwardly-negative.

There are a number of these outward-focused negative motives, including:

  • Spite

  • Bitterness

  • Jealousy

  • Anger

  • Revenge

  • Cruelty

  • A desire to control others

  • Intentional breaking of social rules, laws, and expectations

All of these motives are manifestations of natural human emotions and inclinations. All people feel them, and most of us have acted with them to some degree or another.

Some characters are fixed in these sorts of motives, embracing them; other resist these motives, or turn to them in moments of extreme pressure, struggle, or pain.

In Sense and Sensibility, Mrs. Ferrars is generally cruel, controlling, and unpleasant to those around her. When Edward and Lucy’s secret engagement is revealed, she lashes out. In an act of anger and revenge, she disinherits Edward.

(As an interesting note, some scholars and other readers have noted that Mrs. Ferrars and Fanny Dashwood are both characters of power who are using and maintaining power in a society where traditionally women don’t hold any power. Even though I still find them to be unlikeable characters, this perspective helps me understand, and in some ways sympathize, with their motives.)

Sometimes acting on negative motives happens in the moment. At other times, as in the case of Lucy Steele, it’s planned and premeditated.

Lucy realizes that Edward has fallen in love with Elinor, so she is intentionally manipulative. She “confides” her troubles about her secret engagement to Elinor, after extracting a promise that she will not tell a soul. And then she continues to be intentionally cruel and manipulative, manifesting a fair amount of spite towards Elinor.

In Conclusion

These negative motives for antagonism are very common in literature: even in Sense and Sensibility, there are numerous examples. In a sense, they are an answer to the question—what happens if we stop following societal rules and expectations for “good behavior”? This makes for good storytelling, because it creates the opportunity for conflict.

In the next lesson, we’ll focus on positive (as well as neutral and mixed) motives for antagonism.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Negative Perspectives

Some stories explore the perspective of a character fueled by negative motives. For example, in The Count of Monte Cristo, we see someone driven by revenge. And in the story of Robin Hood, a transgression of societal rules and laws (continuous theft of money and property) is shown to be justified as we see his reasons and what he does with this wealth (gives it to the poor).

Other stories, like The Wizard of Oz, give understandable motives to the villains, but still do not allow us to sympathize with them (the wicked witch is understandably angry at Dorothy for killing her sister, yet we are ). Some stories, like Wicked, explore more fully the seemingly negative motives of antagonists—here, the “wicked” witch is not truly wicked, despite some of her negative motives and choices.

Choose a story that does not explain or develop the antagonist’s motives, and write a paragraph or two exploring what their motives might be.

Exercise 2: Good Actions, Negative Motives

Many times, we assume that good actions must have positive motives behind them. Yet good actions can just as well be driven by negative motives. Good actions can be driven by self-interest, or by outward-facing negative emotions, like jealousy, revenge, or a desire to control others.

Set a timer for 3 to 5 minutes. During the time, come up with a negative motive that could drive each of the following actions. If you have time, write extra details about how this motive would play out during the scene.

  1. Donating to a charity/volunteering at a food bank
  2. Throwing a large party and inviting the whole neighborhood
  3. Revitalizing a city’s downtown
  4. Running for the school board
  5. Creating a new work of art

Exercise 3: Protagonists with Negative Motives

Antagonists with negative motives are interesting, but sometimes, protagonists with negative motives can be even more interesting.

Option 1: Brainstorm a protagonist that is sometimes driven by negative motives. In what sorts of circumstances do they act on these negative motives? When do they resist these negative motives? What are positive and negative effects of theme acting on these negative motives?

Option 2: Analyze a draft that you have written. At what points is your character driven by negative motives? Is there a point where it would be useful to give the character a negative motive?

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#25: Use Antagonists and Villains to Interfere

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #25: Use Antagonists and Villains to Interfere.

A number of books and blog posts on writing talk about creating a single main antagonist or villain, who actively works in opposition to the main character over the course of the story.

Yet this isn’t how Jane Austen uses antagonists and villains in her novels. Many of her books don’t have a primary antagonist. And only a few of her books have villains—there’s even some debate over whether any of her characters qualify as villains at all.

Over the coming weeks, we’re going to explore how Jane Austen uses obstacles, antagonists, and villains with great effect. Some of my personal favorites in terms of Austen characters fall into these categories—Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Willoughby, Jane Fairfax, and even Mr. Knightley (yes, he definitely acts as an antagonist!).

This week we’re going to define some of the key terms related to obstacles, antagonists, and villains in a way that helps us understand how Jane Austen uses them and how we can use them in our own writing. Examples will come from Austen’s novel Mansfield Park.

Obstacles

Obstacles

Obstacle=something which gets in the way of the character as they go on their journey. This may be a challenge, a physical or emotional impediment, or anything which must be overcome in order for the characters wants and needs to be met.

I talked about obstacles in two previous posts. In Make Things Hard for Your Character I discussed three types of challenges: external obstacles, successes/triumphs, and internal flaws/challenges. The post on creating character arcs also discusses obstacles, albeit a little more indirectly.

In Mansfield Park, an example of an obstacle is when Fanny Price’s horse dies. Suddenly she has no way to exercise, which has a huge negative impact on her health, and perhaps more seriously, she loses the small amount of autonomy, independence, and freedom she had because of her horse.

Obstacles can be inactive or active.

Inactive Obstacle: a present and existing obstacle which is a challenge for the character, but does not have active force applied to create this challenge.

One of Fanny’s sources of inactive opposition is her poverty. Her poverty makes her beholden to her uncle and aunts, and it robs her of power and decision-making. This poverty is not something that has changed over time, and there seems to be no way that it could change. No one is actively making her poor, no single event has created this poverty—it’s just the way it is.

Active obstacle

Active Obstacle: an obstacle which includes the active application of negative force on a character. This can be a one-time obstacle, an obstacle that happens multiple times, or an obstacle that happens continuously.

One example of the active obstacle is the choice of her cousins and their friends to perform what to her is a rather objectionable play. Then they try to force her to act in it against her wishes.

Another active obstacle, which is more continuous, is Henry Crawford’s proposal. Crawford devotes huge amounts of time attempting to manipulate Fanny, and Fanny’s uncle, Lord Bertram, also convinces her to accept the proposal and punishes her when she does not.

Antagonism

Antagonism=active opposition to a character, often with hostility.

According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, in the field of biochemistry, antagonism “inhibition or interference with the action of one substance or organism by another.” To me this is really useful for stories, particularly the sense of “inhibition or interference” of someone’s actions.

Whenever one character opposes another character, whenever a character inhibits or interferes with another characters actions, they are showing antagonism.

Antagonism with hostility – Much antagonism is accompanied by hostility, which includes negative emotion, often unfriendliness.

An example of characters that show antagonism with hostility are Lord and Lady Bertram. They feeling that Fanny should be treated as lesser and separate than their children, and that she should be reminded of all she has been given that she does not deserve. This results in many things, including her sleeping in a cold room in the attic (with no fire in the winter!), apart from the rest of the family.

Antagonism without hostility – some antagonism or active opposition occurs without any hostility or ill-will.

Edmund, Fanny’s cousin, is her closest friend and confidante. And yet he does things which inhibit and oppose Fanny, though with no ill will. When the horse she uses dies, he gets her a new horse to use, but then he lends it out constantly to his love interest, which inhibits Fanny. Edmund also tries to get Fanny to marry Henry Crawford, and does not listen to her perspective or her reasoning for not wanting to marry Crawford.

Antagonism vs. Antagonist

I’ve included antagonism as a separate category than an antagonist, because while all antagonists manifest antagonism, not all characters who manifest antagonism at some point in a story are true antagonists.

Personally, I would categorize Lord Bertram as an antagonist, because he truly is actively opposing Fanny on a regular basis, while I would categorize Lady Bertram and Edmund simply as characters sometimes behaving with antagonism to the main character.

Antagonist

Antagonist – a person who actively opposes the main character and tries to interfere with them achieving their wants and needs, typically over multiple scenes or a large portion of the story.

An example of this is Mrs. Norris.

Gif of Filch rocking his cat, Mrs. Norris, from the Harry Potter films

I’m not talking about the cat in Harry Potter (though I’ve heard that the Mansfield Park character is the namesake for the Harry Potter antagonist, which makes me very happy). I’m talking about Fanny’s aunt.

Despite all their years in close proximity, Mrs. Norris never gives Fanny any love. She is constantly belittling, disregarding, and mistreating Fanny. She attempts to put Fanny in her place, and at times even threatens her at times. Not only does she make Fanny’s life miserable, she also influences others to mistreat Fanny.

Villain

Villain – an antagonist who causes significant, lasting, and often irreversible harm in the main character’s life or in the lives of those the main character cares deeply about.

Henry Crawford decides to make Fanny love him as a sort of game, simply because she’s the only unwed female who isn’t interested in him. Thus begins his manipulations, and his antagonism/interference in Fanny’s life.

Ultimately [SPOILERS IN THIS SENTENCE!] he ends up seducing Fanny’s cousin Maria Bertram, and not long after Maria’s marriage they elope together. This brings shame to the whole family, and, because it’s the Regency, “ruins” Maria.

(Some readers classify Henry Crawford as an antagonist but not a villain. Other people find him to be the most interesting character, and some authors have even written fanfiction in which he does end up with Fanny and they’re both happy as a result. He does fit well into the “loveable bad boy” archetype.)

In Conclusion

There’s a lot of reasons to use obstacles, antagonism, antagonists, and villains, some of which I talked about in the post on making things hard for your character. There are three key reasons that I’d like to highlight today.

Reasons to use obstacles, antagonism, antagonists, and villains:

  1. To apply pressure to your character. Only with pressure and challenge can a character change, grow, and prove themselves.
  2. Story is conflict, and one of the most powerful forms of conflict comes through these sorts of opposition. Antagonists and villains in particular actively interfere with the character’s internal and external journeys.
  3. It creates verisimilitude to life. All people are on paths, striving, and often our paths interfere with each other.

Next week we’ll go in depth on motives for antagonism. In the coming weeks, we’ll also talk about shifting, temporary, and minor antagonists; unusual antagonists; giving antagonists redeeming characteristics; and specific impacts that antagonists have on both plot and character.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Make a list of your favorite antagonists and villains from books, movies, or any other stories. Which ones or antagonists? Which ones are villains? Why do you like them?

Exercise 2: Hobby Trouble

Choose a character name and give your new character a hobby—knitting or fencing, stamp collecting or competitive cheesemaking, or anything else. Now write a scene in which antagonism is shown towards the main character and their hobby. This should be opposition, large or small, to the hobby or some aspect of it, or it could be something that inhibits or interferes with the hobby. First the character should receive this sort of interference from some sort of enemy or adverstary, someone who has hostile or unfriendly intent. Then the character should receive some sort of antagonism or interference from a friend or a loved one. As you write this scene, consider how your character will react differently depending on who is providing the antagonism.

Exercise 3: From Antagonist to Villain

Take a story you have written and choose one of your antagonists. Brainstorm what you could do to shift this character from an antagonist to a villain (using the definitions of antagonist and villain provided in this post).

As an alternative, do the reverse and choose a villain you have written. Brainstorm what you could do to shift this character from a villain to an antagonist.

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #24: Introduce Layered Characters to Create Deeper or Changed Meaning Later

#24: Introduce Layered Characters to Create Deeper or Changed Meaning Later

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #24: Introduce Layered Characters to Create Deeper or Changed Meaning Later

In Pride and Prejudice, in the letter Mr. Darcy writes to Elizabeth after she rejects his proposal, he explains why he worked to prevent a relationship between his friend, Mr. Bingley, and Elizabeth’s sister, Jane. While it was clear to him that Bingley liked Jane, it was not clear to him that Jane liked Bingley:

“Your sister I also watched. Her look and manners were open, cheerful, and engaging as ever, but without any symptom of peculiar regard, and I remained convinced from the evening’s scrutiny, that though she received his attentions with pleasure, she did not invite them by any participation of sentiment.”

While Darcy interprets Jane’s behavior as reticence and lack of affection, Elizabeth knows Jane more deeply, and recognizes that it reflects a natural shyness and modesty. Ultimately, Darcy does come to agree with Elizabeth’s reading of Jane.

Just as Darcy’s reading of Jane’s character shifts, our reading of characters can also shift over the course of a story.

The last few weeks of Jane Austen Writing Lessons have focused on introducing characters: through tension, through dialogue, and through other characters’ perceptions. This week will address another aspect of introducing characters: sometimes you need to introduce a character who has a particular meaning for the reader originally, and then, as the story progresses, the reader’s understanding of the character deepens or changes. Yet upon a second reading, the original introduction of the character does reveal this second, truer understanding of the character.

sometimes you need to introduce a character who has a particular meaning for the reader originally, and then, as the story progresses, the reader’s understanding of the character deepens or changes. (Jane Austen Writing Lessons)

It is common for characters to not reveal their full selves to each other—or to readers—when they are first introduced.

We are never our whole selves.

Real people, and well-developed characters, are multifaceted and have many aspects, some of which are contradictory. In any circumstance, it is impossible to be or display all aspects of ourselves—yet at the same time, all aspects influence a character, and in some ways still guide a character’s behavior, even if the aspect is not visible.

Characters often hold parts of themselves back in various situations. Characters also manifest the aspects of themselves that seem to be most relevant to a situation, or that feel most relevant personally and emotionally. In a sense, a character is always positioning themselves. According to Oxford Languages, positioning is “[arranging] in a particular place or way,” or a character portraying themselves “as a particular type of person.”

A character’s positioning can be conscious or unconscious.

In the case of Jane Bennet, she is a very genuine, kind character, and her masking of aspects of herself in unconscious and not meant to cause harm.

In other cases, a character consciously positions themselves in a certain way to achieve certain goals. A great example of this is George Wickham, who attempts to portray himself as a moral person who has been wronged by the terrible Mr. Darcy (though the reverse is actually true—Wickham’s morals are at fault, and he has wronged Mr. Darcy).

How Jane Austen Creates Layered Characters

Jane Austen often creates layered characters, which have both a surface layer or interpretation and interior layers which we will better recognize upon reflection or a second reading.

Surface Layer: outside, observable qualities. The obvious interpretation of character based on the available information.

Interior Layers: the character’s interior motivations, attributes that may not be readily apparent, and qualities we may not recognize or appreciate until we come to know the character better.

Mr. Wickham is an excellent example of this. In the novel, we are introduced to him through two scenes. In the first, Elizabeth and her sisters meet him while visiting Meryton:

All were struck with the stranger’s air, all wondered who he could be….Mr. Denny addressed them directly, and entreated permission to introduce his friend, Mr. Wickham…and he was happy to say had accepted a commission in their corps. This was exactly as it should be; for the young man wanted only regimentals to make him completely charming. His appearance was greatly in his favour; he had all the best part of beauty, a fine countenance, a good figure, and very pleasing address.

Instantly, Elizabeth recognizes a large number of Mr. Wickham’s positive traits—which are all part of the surface of his character.

Shortly after they meet Wickham, Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy arrive:

[Mr. Darcy’s eyes] were suddenly arrested by the sight of the stranger, and Elizabeth happening to see the countenance of both as they looked at each other, was all astonishment at the effect of the meeting. Both changed colour, one looked white, the other red. Mr. Wickham, after a few moments, touched his hat—a salutation which Mr. Darcy just deigned to return. What could be the meaning of it?—It was impossible to imagine; it was impossible not to long to know.

Our introduction to Wickham continues in the next chapter, when Elizabeth manages a private conversation with Wickham:

[Elizabeth] was very willing to hear [Mr. Wickham], though what she chiefly wished to hear she could not hope to be told, the history of his acquaintance with Mr. Darcy. She dared not even mention that gentleman. Her curiosity however was unexpectedly relieved. Mr. Wickham began the subject himself. He inquired how far Netherfield was from Meryton; and, after receiving her answer, asked in an hesitating manner how long Mr. Darcy had been staying there.

“About a month,” said Elizabeth; and then, unwilling to let the subject drop, added, “he is a man of very large property in Derbyshire, I understand.”

“Yes,” replied Wickahm;–“his estate there is a noble one. A clear ten thousand per annum. You could not have met with a person more capable of giving you certain information on that head than myself—for I have been connected with his family in a particular manner from my infancy.”

Elizabeth could not but look surprised.

“You may well be surprised, Miss Bennet, at such an assertion, after seeing, as you probably might, the very cold manner of our meeting yesterday.—Are you much acquainted with Mr. Darcy?”

“As much as I ever wish to be,” cried Elizabeth warmly,–I have spent four days in the same house with him, and I think him very disagreeable.”

“I have no right to give my opinion,” said Wickham, “as to his being agreeable or otherwise. I am not qualified to form one. I have known him too long and too well to be a fair judge. It is impossible for me to be partial….”

On the surface, Wickham is very agreeable. Elizabeth much prefers his attentions to those of Mr. Collins (unlike Mr. Collins, Wickham is handsome and interesting to talk to). She already does not like Mr. Darcy, and so she is inclined to trust anyone who has come to a similar conclusion.

As readers, we are inclined to feel the same way about Wickham as Elizabeth feels: readers generally form a similar judgment about other characters as the protagonist, unless given a good reason not to.

As the scene continues, Wickham praises Mr. Darcy’s father. The topic then switches to other, more general subjects, but then Wickham brings the conversation back to his misfortunes. His story draws on the heartstrings, and Elizabeth feels for him as he describes how Mr. Darcy prevented him from having his intended career.

“There was just such an informality in the terms of the bequest as to give me no hope from law. A man of honour could not have doubted the intention, but Mr. Darcy chose to doubt it—or to treat it as a merely conditional recommendation, and to assert that I had forfeited all claim to it by extravagance, imprudence, in short any thing or nothing. Certain it is, that the living became vacant two years ago, exactly as I was of the age to hold it, and that it was given to another man….”

“That is quite shocking!—He deserves to be publicly disgraced.”

“Some time or other he will be—but it shall not be by me. Till I can forget his father, I can never defy or expose him.”

Elizabeth honoured him for such feelings, and thought him handsomer than ever as he expressed them.

“But what,” said she after a pause, “can have been his motive?—what can have induced him to behave so cruelly?”

“A thorough, determined dislike of me—a dislike which I cannot but attribute in some measure to jealousy. Had the late Mr. Darcy liked me less, his son might have borne with me better.”

The surface layer continues to paint Wickham in a positive light, yet throughout the entire scene, there are interior layers that we will recognize later. Here are two examples:

  1. From the start, Elizabeth knows that she can’t ask Wickham about what happened between him and Darcy. In good society, this is an unacceptable topic to bring up with a new acquaintance. Elizabeth is very happy that he brings it up himself, and her curiosity (and our own) masks the fact that Wickham himself is breaking social norms by telling this story. That’s a warning sign.
  2. Wickham’s surface is filled with moral superiority, yet his true self shines through. He insists that he is to right to give an opinion on Darcy—he has known him too long to be a judge. Yet throughout, his judgment on Darcy is clear. He also insists that he will not contribute to publicly disgrace of Darcy, out of respect for Darcy’s father. Yet here, his is, in small form, creating a public disgrace, for he knows Elizabeth will share this information.

Part of Austen’s mastery is getting us to accept the surface layer, even though the interior layers are present. This allows for Wickham’s villainy to play a major point in the plot, in the ruin of Elizabeth’s youngest sister.

But why do we accept the surface layer?

  1. As previously mentioned, the main character accepts it, and we trust her judgment.
  2. We like his present actions: he is giving attention to Elizabeth and singling her out, as we feel she deserves.
  3. We are drawn to people who possess things valued by society (beauty, kindness, wealth, good at speaking), and we often form quick negative judgments against people who do not possess these qualities. (Note: Wickham is not wealthy—but in we are often drawn to the underdog, so he has this in his favor.)
  4. We do not have full knowledge of the character or the situation, and so, based on the knowledge we have, we choose the easiest, most logical conclusion. (Wickham touches his hat in deference to Darcy, and Darcy does not return the gesture—from this, it is a small leap to conclude that Wickham’s position is superior.)
  5. The main character has a similar situation. Due to the entail on Longbourn, Elizabeth and her sisters will inherit nothing when their father dies. We feel for her suffering, and so it draws us to Wickham’s suffering, which is similar—his inheritance is not written out clearly in the will and so he loses it.

Austen uses layered characters in many of her novels, and our understanding of the characters can change or deepen in many directions (i.e. positive to negative, negative to positive, a deeper or more nuanced understanding of particular character attributes or motivations). Layered characters are a powerful tool to set up reversals, ease us into a character or a series of plot events, or provide commentary on either the main character’s judgment or on society more generally.

In some cases, like with Mr. Darcy (who we perceive as negatively at the beginning of the novel, but positively by the end), a layered character is coupled with a character arc. Elizabeth (and by extension, the reader) does misjudge him at the start of the novel, but he also does develop as a character and change for the better.

Whether you create layered characters who like Jane Bennet, who the narrator and readers understand but some characters originally misinterpret, or layered characters like Mr. Wickham, who manages to fool the reader and some characters with his self-positioning, layering is a powerful tool to use when introducing characters in a story.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: What is another example of a layered character? (Someone who either the reader or characters understand only on a surface level at the start of the story.) What is the impact of deepening or changing the understanding of the character over the course of the story? If you’d like, share your example in the comments.

Exercise 2: Write a brief scene with a character who is unlikeable or difficult on the surface, but inside has something different or more. Make sure to include the layers that show hints of the interior self, even if they will be misinterpreted by the reader originally.

Exercise 3: Look back at a story you have written or drafted. At what points do characters only see the surface of each other? At what points do they misinterpret or misjudge each other and why? Are there any points where the reader is meant to see the surface but not what’s inside? If you are revising a story, try increasing the contrast between the surface and the interior of the character? Is this useful? Why or why not? If you are planning a story, choose a character who will be misinterpreted either by other characters or the reader.

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #23: Reveal Characters Through Other People's Perceptions of Them

#23: Reveal Characters Through Other People’s Perceptions of Them

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #23: Reveal Characters Through Other People's Perceptions of Them

In the past two lessons, I talked about how Jane Austen reveals characters through moments of tension and through character dialogue. Yet there is another method which she frequently uses to introduce and reveal characters to the reader: through the perceptions of others.

One of the ways she does this is by having her characters both think and reference other characters before they physically appear in scene in the story—sometimes long before they physically appear.

Mansfield Park Title Page, 1st Edition (1814)

Title page for the first edition of Mansfield Park–from 1814! (Image in the public domain)

One example of this is in Austen’s novel Mansfield Park. At the age of ten years old, Fanny Price goes to stay with her aunt and uncle at Mansfield Park. She’s ripped from her home, her town, and her family. Only her cousin Edmund shows her true kindness, and he gets her to talk about her home. As she does so, we are introduced to the character of William:

On pursuing the subject, [Edmund] found that, dear as all these brothers and sisters generally were, there was one among them who ran more in her thoughts than the rest. It was William whom she talked of most, and wanted most to see. William, the eldest, a year older than herself, her constant companion and friend; her advocate with her mother (of whom he was the darling) in every distress. “William did not like she should come away; he had told her he should miss her very much indeed.” “But William will write to you, I dare say.” “Yes, he had promised he would, but he had told her to write first.” “And when shall you do it?” She hung her head and answered hesitatingly, “she did not know; she had not any paper.”

“If that be all your difficulty, I will furnish you with paper and every other material, and you may write your letter whenever you choose. Would it make you happy to write to William?”

“Yes, very.”

“Then let it be done now. Come with me into the breakfast-room, we shall find everything there, and be sure of having the room to ourselves.”

William continues to be a character that Fanny talks and thinks about throughout the story. He doesn’t actually appear in person until Chapter 24, about halfway through the novel. Yet he plays an essential role in the story:

  • He is the only character who never hurts Fanny.
  • Fanny loves him with all her heart, and his letters and presence bring her joy, as do mere thoughts of him.
  • Because of William’s visit, their uncle throws a ball, which creates a pivotal scene in the story, as Henry Crawford gives his attentions to Fanny and she attempts to reject him.
  • Henry Crawford uses his connections to obtain a huge promotion for William, basically making his future career, in an attempt to put Fanny in his debt and make her fall in love with him.

William is introduced to us entirely through Fanny’s perceptions of him. This not only flavors our perceptions of him, but it sets up his role in the story and makes us truly experience Fanny’s agony when she must decide what to do: should she marry Henry Crawford when he proposes to her, especially given what he did for her brother?

Mansfield Park is not the only Austen novel to introduce and reveal characters to us before we see them interacting on the page.

A Selection of Works by Jane Austen

Image by Eymery, Creative Commons license

Further examples of Austen introducing characters before we meet them physically:

Persuasion

-The cousin and heir, Mr. Elliot, is talked about in the very first chapter, focusing on the poor way he has treated the Elliot family. He doesn’t appear in person in the book until about halfway through, but then plays a pivotal role in the second half of the book as he courts Anne. When she is skeptical of his intentions, we sympathize with her, in part because of the way he was introduced at the start of the book.

Pride and Prejudice

–Mr. Bingley is discussed in the first chapter as a prospective suitor for one of the Bennet daughters. This builds anticipation for him as a character, so we, like the daughters, are longing to meet him when he arrives at the Meryton ball.

–Lady Catherine de Bourgh is referenced constantly by Mr. Collins, who reveres her (she is his patroness!). Her influence and power is set up before we meet her, which provides a foreshadowing for the end of the novel, when she attempts to convince Elizabeth not to marry Mr. Darcy.

–Georgiana, Mr. Darcy’s sister, is also frequently referenced by Mr. Darcy himself and the Bingleys throughout the story, as well as by Mr. Wickham. Her story plays a pivotal role on multiple story levels, even though she doesn’t get much time in person on the page.

Emma

–Jane Fairfax is someone long spoken of before she appears on the page. In this case, the main character, Emma, has known her for basically their whole lives. But we as readers only get to hear Jane spoken of through Emma’s negative viewpoint until Jane actually comes to visit. This awareness of Jane as a potential rival for Emma infuses the text. This negative perception of Jane is counterbalanced by Mr. Knightley’s perception of her, who sees her virtues and criticizes Emma’s treatment of her.

–Frank Churchill is loved and anticipated by (almost) everyone, even though he has never visited. We do know that Mrs. Weston is frustrated by the fact that she has never met her stepson, for he has never managed to visit, but in general, people look upon Frank Churchill as a darling. Emma in particular is fascinated by the idea of him:

Now, it so happened that in spite of Emma’s resolution of never marrying, there was something in the name, in the idea of Mr. Frank Churchill, which always interested her. She had frequently thought—especially since his father’s marriage with Miss Taylor—that if she were to marry, he was the very person to suit her in age, character and condition.

While Emma is predisposed to like Mr. Churchill before meeting him, Mr. Knightley already dislikes and distrusts him. Emma’s and Mr. Knightley’s divergent perspectives of two other important characters sets up much of the major conflict and raises some of the novel’s important themes. Who is correct, and what will be the results of everyone’s judgments and behaviors?

As you can see from these examples, there are a lot of potential uses for introducing a character through the perceptions of others. Here’s my attempt to categorize these reasons.

6 Reasons to Introduce Characters Through the Perceptions of Other Characters (Jane Austen Writing Lessons)

6 Reasons to Introduce Characters Through the Perceptions of Other Characters:

  1. It predisposes us to feel a certain way about unmet characters (this can be positive or negative).
  2. It focuses our attention on the character and the role that they will play.
  3. It allows a character to influence the plot before they appear physically on the page.
  4. It sets up a sense of relationships and can add a community focus to the story—it is not just individual relationships at stake, but an integrated network of people.
  5. It draws attention to the lens through which we see characters. The narrator is already providing a lens through with which to see the characters and the story, but this adds lenses. As the story progresses, sometimes we find that we agree with the lenses we’ve been given, while other times we disagree.
  6. It reveals character for all the characters: both the character we have not yet met, and the characters who are thinking or speaking of that character.

Even once a character has appeared in scene, the evolving perceptions of various people in the story continue to reveal things about character to the reader. For example, in Emma, the way that each of the characters interpret Frank Churchill’s behavior informs us both about them and about Frank. Differing perceptions of character can also be revelatory: in Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy’s negative perceptions of Mr. Wickham warn us of Wickham’s true character, even though many of the characters, such as Elizabeth, do not yet trust Mr. Darcy’s perceptions because of his pride.

Character perceptions are a powerful narrative tool, and using these perceptions to reveal character can be a powerful way to both introduce characters and show their relationships with others throughout the story.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Spend about five minutes brainstorming a character. Then play Enemy, Friend, Lover to introduce the character to the reader.

Enemy, Friend, Lover: A Writing Game (Jane Austen Writing Lessons)

Enemy, Friend, Lover: The character you have brainstormed is not present. How would they be talked about by an enemy, by a friend, and by a lover?

You can interpret enemy, friend, lover in any way you choose. For example, an enemy could be a coworker the character doesn’t get along with or a member of a multi-family feud. A friend could be a BFF or a new acquaintance with a shared interest. A lover could be a boyfriend, a spouse, someone involved in an illicit liaison, etc.

Consider also that an enemy, friend, or lover may at times attempt to hide, disguise, or downplay their relationship with the character. If they do that, that reveals things about both the character and themselves.

Write three brief introductions, one each by the enemy, friend, and lover. These descriptions could range from a brief sentence to several paragraphs long.

Exercise 2: Read the first thirty pages of a book or watch the first 30 minutes of a film. Write down every time a character is introduced, and how they are introduced (moment of tension, in dialogue with another character, being talked about while they are not physically present, or through a different method—if a different method, please categorize). Does the story use multiple types of character introductions, or mostly one type? How does the manner in which they are introduced impact the audience?

Exercise 3: Take a story that you have written and choose one of your characters that you have introduced by showing them physically present in a scene. Write a new scene which would introduce them through another character’s perceptions of them.

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