Guide to Jane Austen’s Writing Style

The following is an overview of the main points that encompass Jane Austen’s writing Style.  We also use these guidelines as standards for critiquing.

  • There should be evidence of carefully constructed story, plot, and characters.
  • Any story should be reasonably compact.  Anything nearing or over 2000 pages is much too much for a novel, and quite beyond anything to be published on this website.
  • It is appropriate to maintain a restrained tone, avoiding the melodrama and over sentimentality characteristic of less respectable works.
  • Moral themes and messages should emerge naturally from the story, most preferably without a long winded speech.
  • Strong commitment to clear and rational explanations is key.  Coincidences, as they happen so infrequently in real life, should be equally minimized or avoided all together as plot advancement devises.
  • Characters should be realistic; even if they behave irrational, it should be within the kind of irrationality one might encounter in a real person.
  • Ideal marriages exist between two people who complement and impart unique benefits to each other.  The notion of opposites attracting is best kept for whirlwind romances.