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Pride and Prejudice Variation Rec Post
Oct. 23rd, 2023 08:54 pmMy qualifications: I went through a phase where I only read these. I have read nearly 200 of these.
Some thoughts, before the recs:
These are mostly canon divergence AUs. I have read very few modern adaptations of Pride and Prejudice.
Most of the mediocre ones suffer from the same few problems. One, fix-its with no conflict. A lot of the ones I've read start with the premise that with a little tweaking, Elizabeth and Darcy could have fallen in love immediately. Lots of ways to do this, many of them interesting, but the issue is that once you strip out the conflict between them that sustains the plot of the original, you are now left with a whole book of two people happily being in love. This can sustain a short story, but it's not usually enough to sustain a novel. Either you need a new interpersonal conflict or you need some external conflict to drive the plot along.
Two, bad writing. Very few of these have been bad enough to warrant notice. Most of them are just underwhelming: trying and failing to ape Austen's style, bland prose, an overreliance on romance cliches.
Three, too much sex or misogyny or both. We get it, Elizabeth isn't like other girls, but if the plot of your book is just Elizabeth being the Only Woman with brains/independence/dignity then I'm putting it down. I also find it tedious when the romance is all lust and no actual moments of emotional bonding. This is annoying in a lot of romances, not just this subgenre, but it annoys me especially here.
Okay! Let's go. Broken up by premise.
( recs below )
Some thoughts, before the recs:
These are mostly canon divergence AUs. I have read very few modern adaptations of Pride and Prejudice.
Most of the mediocre ones suffer from the same few problems. One, fix-its with no conflict. A lot of the ones I've read start with the premise that with a little tweaking, Elizabeth and Darcy could have fallen in love immediately. Lots of ways to do this, many of them interesting, but the issue is that once you strip out the conflict between them that sustains the plot of the original, you are now left with a whole book of two people happily being in love. This can sustain a short story, but it's not usually enough to sustain a novel. Either you need a new interpersonal conflict or you need some external conflict to drive the plot along.
Two, bad writing. Very few of these have been bad enough to warrant notice. Most of them are just underwhelming: trying and failing to ape Austen's style, bland prose, an overreliance on romance cliches.
Three, too much sex or misogyny or both. We get it, Elizabeth isn't like other girls, but if the plot of your book is just Elizabeth being the Only Woman with brains/independence/dignity then I'm putting it down. I also find it tedious when the romance is all lust and no actual moments of emotional bonding. This is annoying in a lot of romances, not just this subgenre, but it annoys me especially here.
Okay! Let's go. Broken up by premise.
( recs below )
