Hello fellow readers,
today I have the pleasure of hosting J.Marie Croft, author of 'A little Whimsical in His Civilities'.
Welcome J.Marie Croft, thank you for stopping by, to do a guest post and giveaway. I have certainly enjoyed following the blog tour and considering I have little time, a novella sounds highly agreeable; especially in light of the fact, we get Darcy's POV!
First off, thank you, Tamara, for so graciously allowing this visit. Secondly, since this is the final stop on the Whimsical blog tour, I thank Jakki Leatherberry for arranging the schedule and the fifteen hostesses for their participation. Last but not least, thanks to all who dropped by and commented on the excerpts, guest posts, and reviews.
Today I’ll reveal a bit about myself and why the novella is told entirely from Mr. Darcy’s point of view. Why, you may ask, did I ever think I could write a story from his viewpoint? I’m not male, handsome, tall, wealthy, heroic, or fictional.
Back in 2011, when A Little Whimsical in His Civilities was posted online as a two-part short story, a reader left a comment ending with, “The way the author’s mind works to bring Darcy so alive is amazing.”
Amazing? Nah. Imagining myself inside his head (reading Darcy like a book, if you will) wasn’t much of a stretch, really. There’s a great similarity in the turn of our minds, you see. Darcy and I have but one mind and one way of thinking. There is a most remarkable resemblance of character and ideas between us. We seem to have been designed for each other.
Elizabeth Bennet may beg to differ.
She might say he and I have unsocial, taciturn dispositions. We know Darcy is slow to reveal his emotions. Jane Austen told us so: “He was at the same time haughty, reserved, and fastidious ...”
I’m definitely reserved and, perhaps, a tad fastidious. Hopefully, I’m never haughty, but I am shy; and sometimes that comes across as aloof. Darcy, on the other hand isn’t shy. He’s filled to the gills with aplomb. I wish I had even half his assertiveness.
Call me what you will – reserved, shy, introverted – I’m as dull as dishwater in person. I don’t have the talent which some people possess of conversing easily with those I’ve never seen before. I’d like to chit-chat with eloquence and fluency and come up with zingers on the spur of the moment, but what I should have said only occurs to me long after the fact.
Like Darcy, I’m a private person, ill qualified to recommend myself to strangers. If I was more confident and sociable, book promotion would be much easier. Don’t get me wrong. I love writing guest posts. Coming up with hundreds of words is far easier than tweeting on Twitter in 140 characters or updating my Facebook status. And writing dialogue is infinitely easier than – heaven forfend! – speaking in public.
Because there’s humour in my writing, readers who’ve never met me assume I’m the life of the party. Hah!
The truth is quite the opposite, I assure you. Mingling at a party and socializing with people I’m not well acquainted with can be exhausting. Rather than whooping it up, I’d rather sit quietly, taking pleasure from a good book or from conversation with a good friend.
Mrs. Bennet: I was rather surprised to see you at the Meryton assembly last night, Mrs. Croft.
Me: An assembly? Oh! So, that’s why all those people were disturbing Mary and me while we were trying to read.
Standing about by himself in a stupid manner, occupied as he is with his own thoughts and feelings, Darcy is certainly no extrovert either.
These two guys have rather differing definitions for extrovert.
There’s something else I just might share in common with Mr. Darcy. We both search for appropriate words. He studies too much for four syllable ones, and I'm a word nerd who enjoys vocabulary building.
At Darcy’s insistence – while we wrote A Little Whimsical in His Civilities – my lexicon was expanded to include acerbic adjectives and unmuzzled put-downs à la Shakespeare. I don’t know why I let Darcy dictate to me in such a way; but, I have to admit, his channelling The Bard’s contumely was diverting.
Of course, gentleman that he is, Darcy only thinks abusive remarks in the novella. Privately, he may call the assembly’s master of ceremonies a roynish clown, a prating, pompous popinjay, a goatish coxcomb, or a paunchy puttock. But, publicly, he courteously addresses him as Sir William. Darcy is, after all, a member of Polite Society.
For good or for bad, I do think Fitzwilliam Darcy and I share a few personality traits.
Word-nerd fact: The original sense of ‘trait’ was ‘stroke of the pen or pencil in a picture’. That meaning gave rise to the 18th century sense ‘a particular feature of mind or character’.
So, if you were sketching Mr. Darcy’s character, would you depict him as an introvert?
Please don’t be shy. Let your opinion be known.
Thank you J.Marie Croft, for sharing your post with us. I am unsure how I would depict Darcy, as indeed you are correct, it all comes down to interpretation. I do admire his assertiveness, or arrogance, however you choose to interpret it lol!
Indeed fellow readers, let your opinion be known and share your thoughts with J.Marie Croft.
For a chance to win a copy of 'A Little Whimsical in His Civilities', just enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway below.
I would like to thank Leatherbound reviews, Meryton Press & J.Marie Croft for another delightful Blog Tour. Good luck in the giveaway everyone!
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Told entirely from Fitzwilliam Darcy’s point of view, J. Marie Croft’s humorous novella, A Little Whimsical in His Civilities, spans one moonlit, autumnal night upon the gentleman’s return to Hertfordshire in pursuit of Elizabeth Bennet.
“We
take the turning which places us on Meryton’s main road, and—oh, gad! There it
is—the base-court building which passes for an assembly hall in this
godforsaken place. For me, the venue shall be either a heaven or a hell
tonight. My palms grow clammy, my gut churns, and I regret that second helping
of onion-laden vegetable pie forced on me before we left.”
Accompany
Darcy as he, intent on reversing the disastrous first impression he made there,
braves another Meryton assembly and seeks to win his heart’s desire.
Thanks for stopping by.
It's been lovely to follow your blog tour Joanne. You sound so much like me! I come across as much more outgoing on paper or screen than in real life. In some situations I do have a tendency to 'come over all Darcy' and prefer to stand about in a atupid manner in a corner and my shyness has been taken for aloofness or stuffiness at times. Now, my sister is very much a Bingley or Colonel Fitzwilliam personality.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to Darcy himself, at the time we first meet him, there's a lot going on in his head. First of all, there's his innate reserve, which probably is part of his natural personality. He's been raised as the heir of Pemberley and to great responsibility. His mother died young and he was around 23 when his father passed away, so that great responsibility landed on him at a young age. At the same he also became guardian to Georgiana. I expect that as soon as he reached his majority, the mothers of the ton started hunting him for their daughters so he's had around six or seven years of that to deal with. Then on top of everything else, there's been the constant irritant of George Wickham, culminating in the almost fiasco at Ramsgate. That event took place only a matter of maybe a couple of months before the Meryton Assembly.
Is it any wonder he's uneasy around strangers, especially once he's met Mrs. Bennet who's obviously husband hunting for her daughters?
So yes, I do think he's an introvert coupled with a very large amount of caution.
Thanks so much for all of your very entertaining posts on this tour.
Thank you Angela, for your insightful analysis. I am so eager to read this now!
DeleteHello, kindred spirit.
DeleteAs a private person, it was a challenge for me to open up even this tiny bit, so I really appreciate your understanding.
I like that you took the time to delve further into not only Darcy’s mind but his spirit. You’re quite right about the man’s need for caution.
I’m grateful for every supportive comment you’ve left at various Whimsical blog tour stops, Anji. Thank you!
It's a fun novella! Great post.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds a lot of fun 😄
DeleteThanks, Christina, for your support of (and tweets about) my novella.
DeleteI've loved all the stops on your blog tour, Joanne. Loved your very funny captions, your woman on the street report, the post where you talked Bingley off the ledge, and all the great pictures you've created. You've taken cut and paste to a whole new level, oh Queen of Mod Podge.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on publishing your novella, Joanne. I hope everyone will read A Little Whimsical in His Civilities. It's as clever and special as its author.
Indeed, the pics and captions were great 😄 I'm glad you enjoyed the tour!
DeleteYay, Debbie dropped by!
DeleteIn case anyone doesn’t know it, Debbie Styne is the novella’s editor extraordinaire, and she’s done more than just putting in a good word for A Little Whimsical in His Civilities. She put in dozens of them! And, aw shucks, that last sentence in her comment almost brought tears to my eyes. Cut it out, Debbie! Seriously, thanks for collaborating with me on this project. It would be sheer delete to work with you again. (Yikes! Hopefully, the editor puns herein haven’t ruined my chances of that happening!)
It's hard to say whether I believe Darcy is an introvert. I mainly just want to label him as 'reserved'. However, if the only 2 choices were introvert and extrovert, I'd have to pick introvert.
ReplyDeleteI’m certainly no expert on the subject of Fitzwilliam Darcy. All we really have to go on is that he’s, as you mentioned, reserved.
DeleteThanks for following me around (so to speak) on this blog tour, Ginna. It’s been a fun couple of weeks, thanks to people like you.
Tamara, thanks again for being a part of the Whimsical tour and allowing me to write a guest post for your lovely blog. Being here today was a nice way to end my fortnight of fun.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that you've taken your introverted nature and used it to help write a good Darcy character. He falls more into that camp than the extroverted group, but that's not a bad thing. Both types have strengths and weaknesses.
ReplyDeleteGreat tour and engaging posts!
Introvert: I write better than I speak - I completely agree! It's hard being an introvert sometimes so I think I quite understand poor Darcy's inability to mingle with crowds and strangers. The stress and the anxiety! Anyways, thank you for the giveaway opportunity, great tour and hopefully I'll get to read your novel soon!
ReplyDeleteI, too, enjoyed reading this book.
ReplyDeleteI'm a private person too. I've considered myself to be a blend of both Darcy & Elizabeth. A social introvert. I can turn on or off my ability to introduce myself at a social gathering but it takes a lot out of me. I don't prefer it. It gives me social anxiety. I usually target one or two individuals and introduce myself so my anxiety level can go down a bit...
ReplyDelete