New Faces on the Scene

Imagine the scene…

You’re sitting on the couch, completely ensconced with your beverage of choice, a warm blanket on your lap and the latest P&P Vagary to hit the proverbial shelves. As you’re swiping through the pages at a rate that suggests you’ll be finished the book before dawn, everything screeches to a halt. Your favorite character was sitting in the parlor and *someone* walked in. Someone whose name you don’t recognize.

You flip to your electronic copy of P&P to do a quick search for the name of this unrecognized character. Your memory did not fail you: this apparition on the page is a figment of the author’s imagination. And not Ms. Austen’s.

How do you feel about new characters making appearances in vagaries/variations of your favorite novels? What does it take for an author to pull it off and make it acceptable to you?

In my next novel, I have inserted a version of my own husband as a potential love interest for Georgiana. Maybe potential is a bit of an understatement — she has loved him for years, the dear girl. I am on tenterhooks to see how he will be received. Obviously, in my estimation he deserves a character worthy of inclusion in an Austen vagary, and I want him to be welcomed by readers.

It is a delicate balance to strike, writing in new characters. I was wondering your thoughts on the addition of non-canon characters. Do you approve or should authors stick to the usual roster?