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

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. #62: Conveying Emotion Through Character Thoughts and Free Indirect Speech

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. #40: Use Distractions, Interruptions, and Red Herrings

#40: Use Distractions, Interruptions, and Red Herrings

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #40: Use Distractions, Interruptions, and Red Herrings

If a character is seeking to discover something and she immediately discovers it fully and completely, then there is no story. For a story is about the journey, it is about the process, it is about the striving.

In the novel Persuasion, Anne Elliot has various questions that she seeks answers for, various things that she seeks to discover.

The initial question presented in the first few chapters of the book is:

  1. How can her family financially survive?

As this question is established, so are larger questions:

  1. What is Anne’s place in the world and her family?
  2. What will Anne’s future look like?

These two questions are big questions, which require large discoveries: they are asking fundamental questions about her identity, who she is, and who she wants to become.

In fiction, discovery is often about answering the fundamental questions of self. Yet it is difficult to “know thyself” and it is difficult to change and progress and become. As such, the discovery of answers to these fundamental questions should be difficult for characters.

Related to these fundamental questions in Persuasion are questions about relationships:

  1. Does Anne still have feelings for Captain Wentworth?
  2. Does Captain Wentworth have feelings for Anne?
  3. Can Anne and Wentworth reconcile?

While questions 2 and 3 relate largely to Anne’s internal journey, questions 4-6 related to Anne’s external journey. These questions are related to the larger plot arc of the story, and, once again, must be challenging to answer, or they would not be strong enough questions to sustain an entire novel.

Yet as a writer, how do you make discovery difficult for your characters? Jane Austen makes discovery difficult through three primary methods:

  1. Requiring a progression of knowledge discovery—knowledge that requires multiples steps to gain, or multiple types of knowledge.
  2. Using antagonists who interfere with the discovery process.
  3. Creating distractions, interruptions, and red herrings, all which make discovering the true answers more difficult.

We’ve discussed discovery progression and antagonists in other posts, so in this post we’ll discuss how to use distractions, interruptions, and red herrings.

Distractions

Distraction: A distraction draws the attention of the main character elsewhere, away from the core questions they are pursuing. Jane Austen Writing Lessons

A distraction draws the attention of the main character elsewhere, away from the core questions they are pursuing.

Two of the distractions in Persuasion come in the form of two other gentlemen who are interested in Anne Elliot: Captain Benwick and her cousin, Mr. Elliot.

The first time that Anne sees her cousin, Mr. Elliot, she does not know who he is:

When they came to the steps, leading upwards from the beach, a gentleman at the same moment preparing to come down, politely drew back, and stopped to give them way. They ascended and passed him; and as they passed, Anne’s face caught his eye, and he looked at her with a degree of earnest admiration, which she could not be insensible of….It was evident that the gentleman, (completely a gentleman in manner) admired her exceedingly.

The interest of Captain Benwick and Mr. Elliot help her in her quest of answering the second and third questions: What is her place in the world and her family? What will her future look like? With them, she can visualize different possible futures and different possible roles.

On the surface, the time and attention she pays to Captain Benwick and Mr. Elliot is a distraction from asking the three key questions regarding the plot—whether Anne still likes Captain Wentworth, whether Captain Wentworth likes Anne, and whether or not they can reconcile.

Yet in the hands of a master like Austen, distractions do not simply draw away the character’s attention from their process of discovery.

These distractions ultimately help Anne consider what it that she wants. Her interactions with these men help her choose the path of taking more initiative. Her interactions with Benwick and Elliot make her realize how much she still loves Wentworth. And finally, her interactions with Benwick and Elliot create jealousy within Wentworth, and help him realize that he has the risk of losing Anne.

Good distractions help the character learn and act in ways that will ultimately help them in the discovery process.

Interruptions

Interruption: An interruption halts possible discovery or disrupts forward movement toward the discovery. Jane Austen Writing Lessons

An interruption halts possible discovery or disrupts forward movement toward the discovery.

After Anne sees her cousin Mr. Elliot for the first time, and Mr. Elliot admires her, there is a key moment between Anne and Captain Wentworth:

Captain Wentworth looked round at her instantly in a way which shewed his noticing of it. He gave her a momentary glance—a glance of brightness, which seemed to say, ‘That man is struck with you,–and even I, at this moment, see something like Anne Elliot again.’

These two sentences open the possibility of future discovery about and between Anne and Captain Wentworth. Both Anne and Wentworth are more aware of each other, and Captain Wentworth seems to remember his interest in Anne. If an interruption had not occurred, they might have resolved their past and their future much more quickly.

But an interruption does occur:

Louisa falls and experiences a head injury. As a result, Anne returns to her family, and it also places Captain Wentworth in a position of obligation with Louisa. He has been pursuing her, and now that she is injured, he cannot simply begin pursuing Anne: his duty as a gentleman demands that he continue to assist Louisa, and even potentially become engaged to her.

When Anne returns to live with her father and older sister, she goes from being in a group that appreciates and understands her to being largely unappreciated and misunderstood. Yet she does not wallow in inactivity, for instance, spending time with her friend Mrs. Smith even though her family disapproves of it.

Wentworth is able to see more fully the result of his actions. When Louisa becomes engaged to someone else, he is free to choose anew what he wants, and he begins more actively reestablishing a relationship with Anne.

Interruptions create hardships or difficulties for characters, often in ways that help them grow internally.

Red Herrings

A red herring is a conclusion or path which seems to be the truth, but ultimately is a false conclusion or a false path.

Earlier in the novel Persuasion, Anne follows a red herring. She sees Captain Wentworth’s pursuit of Louisa and concludes that Captain Wentworth has completely moved on from their relationship. She believes that he feels nothing for her, and that there is no possibility of a future between them.

Anne did not wish for more of such looks and speeches. His cold politeness, his ceremonious grace, were worse than any thing.

In this first half of the novel, Anne is quiet and unassertive, and she does not pursue her interests, in part because of her belief in this red herring.

Jane Austen’s novel Emma arguably uses more red herrings than any of her other novels. Emma consistently notices the wrong things about people, which leads her to great trouble in relationships. She takes clues and carries them to false conclusions, and then she pursues these red herrings relentlessly, which blinds her to the truths and the real clues around her.

For instance, when she paints a portrait of her friend Harriet, Mr. Elton excitedly offers to have the portrait framed in London. Emma takes this as a clue for Mr. Elton’s interest in Harriet, and does everything to set up a relationship between Elton and Harriet. Yet this is a red herring. Mr. Elton is interested in Emma, and it was for this reason that he was enthusiastic about the portrait.

Red herrings make it more difficult to find the truth, creating internal and external obstacles that the character must overcome in order to continue the path of discovery.

Conclusion

Distractions, interruptions, and red herrings are essential elements of storytelling. They don’t exist simply to make the story take longer. They exist because struggle is essential for refining character, and because the things that characters most want and need should be initially outside of their grasp if they are truly worth seeking.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1:

Write out answers to these questions about your personal life:

  • What everyday things distract you from your goals? Is there a time when you have had a larger distraction from your goals?
  • What sort of everyday interruptions do you experience? What is a large interruption you have experienced which has halted for a time or changed the progression of your life?
  • Are there any times in your life when you have come to false conclusions, or headed down a path that seemed like the right path but turned out to be the wrong one?
  • What can you learn about distractions, interruptions, and red herrings from your own personal life that you can apply to writing fiction?

Exercise 2:

Take a scene that you have written and add a distraction, interruption, or red herring to it. (Or, if you’d like, you can add more than one!) This distraction, interruption, or red herring can be small and localized (and could potentially be overcome by the end of the scene), or it could be larger, with implications for later in the story.

Exercise 3:

Picture the classic character of Little Red Riding Hood, who desires to visit her grandmother in the woods. Set a timer for 5 to 10 minutes, and create a list of as many possible distractions, interruptions, and red herrings that she could encounter on her journey. This list can include those in the original tale, but should not be limited to them. Circle the three ideas that seem the most interesting to you.

Bonus: Write a new version of the Little Red Riding Hood story using your chosen distractions/interruptions/red herrings.

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #39: Create a Progression of Knowledge Discovery

#39: Create a Progression of Knowledge Discovery

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #39: Create a Progression of Knowledge Discovery

In lesson 37, we talked giving your characters things to discover, and how this compels both the characters and the reader forward in the story. In lesson 38, we discussed five ways to create these “information gaps”—gaps between what we know and what we want to know.

Yet it’s not enough to simply have a number of information gaps and discoveries in a story: unless you’re using an episodic structure, larger discoveries should often be connected to each other and build on each other.

But how do you create this progression of knowledge discovery?

Let’s consider how Jane Austen does it, first in the novel Northanger Abbey, and then in Pride and Prejudice.

Murder? Imprisonment? Or Tragic Death?

The first time that Catherine Morland hears of Mrs. Tilney, Mrs. Allen is attempting to establish the basic facts of Mrs. Tilney’s existence (or lack of existence):

“And are Mr. and Mrs. Tilney in Bath?” [Catherine asked Mrs. Allen.]

“Yes, I fancy they are, but I am not quite certain. Upon recollection, however, I have a notion they are both dead; at least the mother is; yes, I am sure Mrs. Tilney is dead, because Mrs. Hughes told me there was a very beautiful set of pearls that Mr. Drummond gave his daughter on her wedding-day and that Miss Tilney has got now, for they were put by for her when her mother died.”

Later, when Catherine is visiting the Tilney estate, Northanger Abbey, she learns more of the facts from her friend, Miss Eleanor Tilney, and asks questions which might help her define these facts (label them in ways to help her understand them) and determine what these facts indicate or mean about Mrs. Tilney’s type of death (was it truly a sudden death? Or was wrongful behavior involved?)

Catherine had never heard Mrs. Tilney mentioned in the family before, and the interest excited by this tender remembrance showed itself directly in her altered countenance, and in the attentive pause with which she waited for something more.

“I used to walk here so often with her!” added Eleanor; “though I never loved it then, as I have loved it since. At that time indeed I used to wonder at her choice. But her memory endears it now.”

“And ought it not,” reflected Catherine, “to endear it to her husband? Yet the general would not enter it.” Miss Tilney continuing silent, she ventured to say, “Her death must have been a great affliction!”

….“Was she a very charming woman? Was she handsome? Was there any picture of her in the abbey? And why had she been so partial to that grove? Was it from dejection of spirits?”—were questions now eagerly poured forth; the first three received a ready affirmative, the two others were passed by; and Catherine’s interest in the deceased Mrs. Tilney augmented with every question, whether answered or not. Of her unhappiness in marriage, she felt persuaded. The general certainly had been an unkind husband. He did not love her walk: could he therefore have loved her? And besides, handsome as he was, there was a something in the turn of his features which spoke his not having behaved well to her.

“Her picture, I suppose,” blushing at the consummate art of her own question, “hangs in your father’s room?”

No; it was intended for the drawing-room; but my father was dissatisfied with the painting, and for some time it had no place. Soon after her death I obtained it for my own, and hung it in my bed-chamber—where I shall be happy to show it you; it is very like.” Here was another proof. A portrait—very like—of a departed wife, not valued by the husband! He must have been dreadfully cruel to her!

Catherine attempted no longer to hide from herself the nature of the feelings which, in spite of all his attentions, he had previously excited; and what had been terror and dislike before, was now absolute aversion. Yes, aversion! His cruelty to such a charming woman made him odious to her. She had often read of such characters, characters which Mr. Allen had been used to call unnatural and overdrawn; but here was proof positive of the contrary.

Catherine continues to gather knowledge, such as the facts that neither of the Tilney children were there when Mrs. Tilney died, and that Mrs. Tilney’s room are off-limits. From these discoveries, Catherine determines a course of action (or policy) to follow: to go, when alone, and search Mrs. Tilney’s rooms. When she does so, she discovers more facts (the lack of evidence of ill-treatment) and new definitions and understandings of the quality or nature of Mrs. Tilney’s death from her son, Henry Tilney. Ultimately, she realizes that all of her suspicions around Mrs. Tilney’s death were due to an overactive imagination.

These discoveries build on each other and create a progression across multiple chapters, a progression which interferes with her romantic interest in Henry Tilney, and which teaches Catherine more about herself and her relationship with others.

Northanger Abbey is not limited to this single progression of discoveries; in the lesson on character arcs, I discussed the progression (with accompanying setbacks) of Catherine coming to understand John Thorpe’s character. Often a novel will have a number of discovery progressions, sometimes at different points in time, and sometimes layered concurrently.

A Framework for Understanding These Progressions: Stasis Theory

Aristotle, Hermagoras, Quintilian, Cicero, and others developed a theory that we now call stasis theory.

Stasis theory is a way to understand the different spaces where argument can occur: in other words, the different spaces where people can disagree about knowledge. This can be a useful theory if you’re writing an argument between two characters, but it also can help us understand the different categories of information gaps that can occur.

In stasis theory, there are four main places where arguments occur:

  • Fact

  • Definition

  • Quality

  • Procedure

As I define each of these different stases, we’ll consider a progression of discovery from Pride and Prejudice.

Fact

Often, the characters must determine the facts. What happened? What caused something? What actually occurred?

While facts seem non-debatable, it’s actually very common to have extensive debates on the facts, and it can take much effort to acquire them (and to get people to agree upon them).

A Fact Information Gap in Pride and Prejudice

  • What happened between Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham? What caused their cold greeting?

Definition

Once you have facts, you must categorize and define them. Did what happen cause a problem or a conflict? If so, what type of problem is it? How are the facts related and what connects them?

A Definition Information Gap in Pride and Prejudice

  • As Elizabeth learns more about Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham’s interconnected pasts, she attempts to find a satisfactory definition to explain them. What she initially discovers leads her to define what happened as a disregard of the elder Mr. Darcy’s wishes and a removal of Mr. Wickham’s intended inheritance.

Quality

Following discoveries related to definition, judgments about quality are often made. What is the nature of what happened? Is it good or bad? Can we pass a judgment on a character, event, or situation?

A Quality Information Gap in Pride and Prejudice

  • Elizabeth decides what she has discovered indicates a severe mistreatment of Mr. Wickham by Mr. Darcy. She has made a judgment on quality.
  • Then, after she rejects Mr. Darcy’s proposal, he informs her of additional facts which lead her to change her definitions of the situation and her judgments on quality (Mr. Withrow squandered his inheritance and attempted to elope with the young Miss Darcy—clearly, the blame and fault lies with him).

Procedure

Once quality has been determined comes the question of procedure: what should be done? What is the best way to deal with this information gap or problem? Will the chosen procedure be effective?

A Procedure Information Gap in Pride and Prejudice

  • Prior to the start of the novel, Mr. Darcy, upon learning of Mr. Wickham’s true nature, rescued his sister and determined to keep the situation secret in order to protect his sister.
  • Once Elizabeth learns of the true nature of events, she agrees with his procedure: keep what happened a secret. She considers changing her procedure when she returns home, but decides not to.
  • For many chapters, this procedure seems to be a good one. But then Elizabeth’s sister Lydia elopes with Mr. Wickham, and it becomes clear that the procedure did not lead to the intended results. Which leads to a new question: what should now be done? Ultimately, Mr. Darcy decides to solve the problem by forcing Mr. Wickham to marry Lydia.

Bonus resources on stasis theory: Silva Rhetoricae on Stasis Theory; Purdue Writing Lab on Stasis Theory.

Creating a Progression of Knowledge Discovery

Sometimes a series of discoveries in a novel are sequenced so that a character moves directly from fact to definition to quality to procedure. At other times, as in Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice, certain types of discoveries are repeated or returned to again and again. And in other stories, a series of discovery may not need a certain type of information gap.

Yet regardless of what exactly the progression looks like, creating a progression helps create movement and a feeling of continuity in the story. Often these key discoveries (such as Mr. Wickham’s true nature) become important for key plot events later (Mr. Wickham running off with Lydia), and by creating a progression it creates better foreshadowing and more satisfying pay-offs for the reader.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1:

While all genres of fiction have great examples of using a progression of discovery, one genre that is particularly known for it is the mystery genre. Watch a mystery film or read a mystery novel, and track different discoveries. What is revealed when? Which stases are used? How is a progression created, and how do these discoveries relate to and build on each other?

Exercise 2:

Choose an event or topic that involves disagreement. This could be a current/recent event (for example, something in the news), or something from your own life.

For this topic, consider how one group of people would define the facts, and how another group might consider the facts differently. Then consider how their perspectives would differ on definition, quality, and procedure, and fill out the following chart.

Perspective 1 Perspective 2
Fact
Definition
Quality
Procedure

How could understanding these different perspectives create plot conflict if this event or topic was included in a fictional story?

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. Bonus Lesson: Imperfections and Sending Your Story into the World

Jane Austen on Imperfections and Sending Your Stories into the World

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. Bonus Lesson: Imperfections and Sending Your Story into the World

I am traveling and have a number of other deadlines over the next few weeks, so instead of a regular Jane Austen Writing Lesson, I will instead offer several thoughts on writing, inspired by two of Jane Austen’s letters.

Pride and Prejudice was published on January 28, 1813, and on the 29th Jane wrote a letter to her sister Cassandra, telling her that she had received a copy of her book:

I want to tell you that I have got my own darling child from London.

This book was her “darling child,” and she immediately began reading it aloud to a friend, a Miss B. who had dined with them.

She really does seem to admire Elizabeth. I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her at least, I do not know.

Like Austen, I am completely unable to tolerate people who dislike Elizabeth Bennet.

I really like what Austen writes next, about errors or shortfalls in her work:

There are a few typical errors; and a “said he,” or a “said she,” would sometimes make the dialogue more immediately clear; but “I do not write for such dull elves” as have not a great deal of ingenuity themselves. The second volume is shorter than I could wish, but the difference is not so much in reality as in look, there being a larger proportion of narrative in that part. I have lop’t and crop’t so successfully, however, that I imagine it must be rather shorter than “Sense and Sensibility” altogether.

I am currently working on proofreads of my second novel, and I have this overwhelming terror of having errors in the book (because there were a few errors that made it into the published version of my first novel). Yet even Jane Austen had to finish revising her novels and unleash them into the world, knowing that they were as good as she could make them at the time. Furthermore, if she had not left a few lines of dialogue unclear as to the speaker, modern scholars would lose out on all the fun they have debating about who to attribute those particular lines to.

In another letter penned the following week, Austen updated her sister after having read more of the novel aloud:

Upon the whole, however, I am quite vain enough and well satisfied enough.

May we all work to make our writing as good as we can possibly make it, and then may we be “well satisfied enough” to find joy in our work.

[Make sure to come back on August 4th—I’ll be back to my normal schedule of a new Jane Austen Writing Lesson every other Wednesday. Also, if you scroll down you can subscribe so you never miss a lesson!]

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #38: Establish an Information Gap

#38: Establish an Information Gap

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #38: Establish an Information Gap

In the last lesson, I talked about the importance of giving your character something to discover—this creates curiosity in the reader and a desire to continue reading the narrative. In order to establish this curiosity about discovery, writers create an information gap for both the characters and the readers. As George Loewenstein explained, an information gap is a gap “between what we know and what we want to know.”

But how, as writers, do we create this information gap? How do we make readers aware of the gap between what they know and what they want to know?

1. Establish an Information Gap by Using Character Anticipation

One of the simplest ways to establish an information gap is to show the characters anticipating something, in their thoughts and words and actions. If the characters desire to know something, then not only do readers learn about this desire, but they begin to develop this desire also.

In Emma, almost all the characters anticipate meeting Frank Churchill and learning what he is like, which creates an awareness of him for the reader, as well as a knowledge that we do not know his character. Coming to know him is established as something intrinsically interesting:

Mr. Frank Churchill was one of the boasts of Highbury, and a lively curiosity to see him prevailed, though the compliment was so little returned that he had never been there in his life. His coming to visit his father had been often talked of but never achieved.

2. Establish an Information Gap by Breaking a Pattern

The human brain relies on patterns to make sense of the world. The book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Dies explains that our attention is drawn when a pattern is broken.

There are many “patterns” in Emma, and many of these are related to societal expectations. First, we expect that someone will meet there verbal and written commitments. Mr. Churchill commits to come to Highbury to visit his father, but then he does not. This breaks a pattern:

“Where is the young man?” said John Knightley. “Has he been here on this occasion—or has he not?”

“He has not been here yet,” replied Emma. “There was a strong expectation of his coming soon after the marriage, but it ended in nothing; and I have not heard him mentioned lately.”

There is also a societal expectation that someone will behave in a “proper manner” to family members. This respect and consideration would include visiting them, but Mr. Churchill does not visit.

Any time that a pattern is broken in a story, especially if it is a behavioral pattern, then it creates an information gap: we want to know why this pattern has been broken. Another famous example of breaking a pattern in Emma is when Jane Fairfax receives an unexpected gift from an undisclosed person of a pianoforte. People do not simply receive pianofortes from mysterious benefactors, then or today, and this breaking of a pattern immediately creates an information gap, a mystery that Emma is compelled to unravel.

Gif of Jane Fairfax playing the pianoforte in the 2020 film Emma

Gif of Jane Fairfax playing the pianoforte in the 2020 film Emma.

3. Establish an Information Gap by Giving Consequence to Not Finding Out

There are endless things that a character might not know, but we only care about them as readers—they only become actual information gaps for readers—if there is a consequence to not finding out. There must be a reason the characters need to discover something. If there are not consequences to not discovering something, in other words, if the information gap has no stakes, then the character has no reason to fill the information gap, and the reader will not care whether or not they do.

In Emma, we like the character of Mr. Weston and we like his new wife, Mrs. Weston. They are good people, who mean a lot to Emma and to others in the community. And so we care that Mr. Weston’s son, Frank Churchill, refuses to visit.

Yet the stakes are not just for the Westons. Emma’s desire to come to know Mr. Churchill and his character relates to her own personal wants and desires. She is a matchmaker, and she has envisioned a match for herself:

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. He seemed by this connexion between the families, quite to belong to her. She could not but suppose it to be a match that every body who knew them must think of. That Mr. and Mrs. Weston did think of it, she was very strongly persuaded; and though not meaning to be induced by him, or by any body else, to give up a situation which she believed more replete with good than any she could change it for, she had a great curiosity to see him, a decided intention of finding him pleasant, of being liked by him to a certain degree, and a sort of pleasure in the idea of their being coupled in their friends’ imaginations.

Filling this information gap—coming to know Mr. Churchill and his character—has personal consequences for Emma and her future happiness.

4. Establish an Information Gap by Raising New Questions When Questions are Answered

There is a risk in creating something for your characters to discover: once they have discovered it, why should we keep reading? For big questions, when a question is answered, then a new question is often raised.

In Emma, Frank Churchill does ultimately come to Highbury. We meet him, we see him in front of us. Yet a new question is brought to the fore: what is Frank Churhill’s character? Yes, he has come, but is he the sort of man Emma has expected? Will he meet Emma’s matchmaking expectations and fall in love with her? How will he behavior to various parties now that he is in Highbury? Will there be a ball, and who will he dance with at the ball?

New questions about Frank Churchill are raised with every question that is answered, and in a sense, the larger question that was established before his arrival—what is Frank Churchill’s character?—is never clearly answered. It requires the full novel to answer that question, and each little detail is just one piece of the puzzle.

5. Establish an Information Gap by Revealing Key Information

While it is common to conceal information in order to create an information gap, the reverse can also be done. Revealing key information can actually create an information gap as we become curious about the consequences of this information. This is especially true when what is revealed has the potential to disrupt the forward path of the protagonist.

Austen’s novel Emma relies on concealing information, but her novel Mansfield Park reveals information in order to create a need for discovery.

In Mansfield Park, the main character, Fanny Price, has watched with disapproval as a new neighbor, Henry Crawford, flirts shamelessly with her cousins Maria and Julia, despite the fact that Maria is engaged. Then Maria weds and both her and Julia leave Mansfield Park, and Henry Crawford decides to turn his attentions to Fanny.

At this point, Austen could have created the information gap by simply continuing to show Fanny’s viewpoint. Through Fanny’s eyes, we would begin to see Henry’s attentions to Fanny, and we would wonder at the cause of them. We would wonder if he had changed on a fundamental level, and we would desire to know what both he and Fanny will choose to do as a result of these intentions.

Yet Austen does not follow this storytelling path. Instead, Austen reveals a huge piece of information before Henry begins to pay his attentions to Fanny. Austen provides the following scene between Henry Crawford and his sister Mary:

“And how do you think I mean to amuse myself, Mary, on the days that I do not hunt? I am grown too old to go out more than three times a week; but I have a plan for the intermediate days, and what do you think it is?”

“To walk and ride with me, to be sure.”

“Not exactly, though I shall be happy to do both, but that would be exercise only to my body, and I must take care of my mind. Besides, that would be all recreation and indulgence, without the wholesome alloy of labour, and I do not like to eat the bread of idleness. No, my plan is to make Fanny Price in love with me.”

“Fanny Price! Nonsense! No, no. You ought to be satisfied with her two cousins.”

“But I cannot be satisfied without Fanny Price, without making a small hole in Fanny Price’s heart.”

Providing this key information to the reader actually raises the stakes and raises our curiosity: we know that Mr. Crawford intends to make Fanny fall in love with him simply because he likes playing with women’s hearts and he wants to amuse himself.

We know from the start that his attentions are not genuine, which heightens the information gap because we feel a strong need for Fanny to discover this.

The other questions are still raised: Will Henry Crawford change? Will his affections become genuine? What will Henry Crawford and Fanny decide to do?

In this particular case, the key information is revealed to the reader but not to the protagonist, yet at times the key information which creates an information gap can be revealed to both the reader and to the protagonist.

In Conclusion

The five key techniques Jane Austen uses to create information gaps and a thirst for discovery are:

  1. Using character anticipation
  2. Breaking a pattern
  3. Giving consequence to not finding out
  4. Raising new questions when questions are answered
  5. Revealing key information

Each of these is a power tool to create a gap between what the reader and character know, and what the reader and character want to know. These five techniques can be used individually or in combination.

In the next lesson, I’ll talk about the four categories of things that a reader and a character might want to discover.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Breaking a pattern

Write a brief scene which includes a number of people doing ordinary or expected things in a place (i.e. a grocery store, a sports game, or a family gathering). Quickly establish the normal pattern of behavior, and then have someone break the pattern.

Exercise 2: Set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes. During this time, make a list of as many events, secrets, characteristics, etc. as possible that be something that characters must discover. Once you’re done, categorize each item on the list as one of the following:

H: Information that, at first, should be hidden or only hinted at—the process of discovery is finding out this information.

R: Information that should be revealed early on to the reader and/or to the character. The information gap and the process of discovery comes from the implications of this revelation.

H or R: This information could work equally well as hidden information or revealed information, though doing so would change the direction of the story.

Exercise 3: Find a story where a character is actively trying to discover something and analyze it: When is the information gap set up? What techniques are used to establish the information gap? Are there multiple information gaps?

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #37: Give Your Characters Something to Discover

#37: Give Your Characters Something to Discover

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #37: Give Your Characters Something to Discover

In one of the famous scenes in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy dance at Netherfield Ball. After Elizabeth asks him a series of questions, Mr. Darcy says:

“May I ask to what these questions tend?”

“Merely to the illustration of your character,” said she, endeavouring to shake off her gravity. “I am trying to make it out.”

“And what is your success?”

She shook her head. “I do not get on at all. I hear such different accounts of you as puzzle me exceedingly.”

Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy dancing in 2005 Pride and Prejudice

Gif of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy dancing in the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice

Throughout Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth attempts to discover Mr. Darcy’s character, through conversations with him, conversations with others (including Mr. Wickham and Miss Bingley), and through observation of his behavior. In a sense, Mr. Darcy’s character is a mystery, and Elizabeth the detective.

While most of Jane Austen’s novels would not be considered mystery novels on the surface (with the exception of Northanger Abbey, which is a Gothic pastiche), every single Jane Austen novel contains mysteries, things big and small which the characters are attempting to discover. And whenever Austen’s characters are on the road to discovery, readers are hungry for discovery as well.

People in general—and readers especially—are curious, and this is why we like mysteries, this is why we like reading about the process of discovery.

Scientific research backs this up, particularly the theory called the information gap of curiosity.

The information gap theory of curiosity

An article in Wired magazine, “The Itch of Curiosity,” provides a good explanation of the information gap:

The information gap theory of curiosity…was first developed by George Loewenstein of Carnegie-Mellon in the early 90s. According to Loewenstein, curiosity is rather simple: It comes when we feel a gap ‘between what we know and what we want to know’. This gap has emotional consequences: it feels like a mental itch, a mosquito bite on the brain. We seek out new knowledge because we that’s how we scratch the itch.

Jane Austen constantly constructs information gaps which provoke the curiosity of readers and keep them turning the pages.

Sometimes these information gaps are small. For example, as Elizabeth arrives at Netherfield Ball, there are a series of information gaps:

  • Where is Mr. Wickham?
  • Is Mr. Wickham even going to attend the ball?
  • What is Mr. Wickham’s real reason for staying away?

And then, the novel has larger information gaps, gaps that take a large portion of the narrative to answer:

  • Who is right—Mr. Wickham or Mr. Darcy?
  • And what should be done once that knowledge is obtained?

There is also a series of questions which invite discovery about Mr. Bingley:

  • What will Mr. Bingley be like?
  • Will Mr. Bingley be interested in one of the Bennet daughters?
  • Why has Mr. Bingley left?
  • Will Jane see Mr. Bingley in London?
  • Will Jane and Mr. Bingley find happiness?

In his famous screenwriting book, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, Robert McKee writes, “Curiosity is the intellectual need to answer questions and close open patterns. Story plays to this universal desire by doing the opposite, posing questions and opening situations.”

Over the coming weeks, we’ll discuss different aspects of incorporating mystery and discovery into fiction of all genres and styles. By following Austen’s example, and creating possibilities for discovery, we can make our stories more compelling and pique readers’ curiosity.

*Note: There’s a great article by scholar Ellen R. Belton titled “Mystery Without Murder: The Detective Plots of Jane Austen.” Belton makes the argument that Austen’s novels are not simply using aspects of mystery and discovery, but are bona fide detective novels—the protagonists are “not investigating criminals, but potential marriage partners.”

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Rush write a short reflection on the following: What is something that makes you curious? When did you first become interested and why? What makes you want to find out more?

Exercise 2: Choose a published story that’s not in the mystery genre. Make a list of examples of information gaps, mysteries, and discoveries within the story.

Exercise 3: Write a scene about a character doing something that is ordinary or routine, such as taking the subway or drinking coffee. The catch? The scene must include an information gap—a mystery, something that must be discovered.

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