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October 31, 2005

Flirting with... Jill Winters!

Quick note: The Literary Chicks would like to thank Beth Kendrick, Jennifer O'Connell, Shanna Swendson, Teresa Medeiros, Laura Resnick, Joyce Millman and Jill Winters for joining us this month! And for those of you wanting to know who won a copy of Flirting With Pride and Prejudice... we think you might want to read the rest of this entry. Wink wink.

From where I sit, flirting is at its best when it’s innocuous. Flirting for the sheer fun of it, without agenda, without real purpose. Men and women alike indulge in this very natural impulse, almost automatically, and just for the hell of it. If you observe people at banks, stores, post offices, on the subway, in restaurants, you’ll notice how many brief, flirtatious encounters spark between total strangers, and are over almost as quickly as they’ve begun. Interactions like these – flirtatious smiles, glib conversation, chivalrous courtesy and its subsequent appreciation – are ephemeral and mutually uplifting. They bring nothing more than the instant gratification that comes from feeling attractive to the opposite sex, and that’s when flirting, to me, is most satisfying.

But when the act of flirting changes – when it shifts into something else entirely – is when it’s infused with desperation. It’s an ugly word, but let’s just call it what it is. Flirtatious behavior that is part of a deliberate, conscious strategy to find a relationship is rarely subtle. The wanting shows, the need shows, the desperate desire for a partner shows. Now flirting becomes calculated. It becomes hopeful, agenda-driven. It’s wholly different than when, for example, the gas guy flirts with you when you get your tank filled, and you flash him a dazzling smile back, before you peel out. Or when a man gets up and gives you his seat on the bus. Those incidents are never disappointing because they’re spontaneous—fleeting but flattering, natural and impulsive.

This is one of the things I love about Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The whole book revolves around hooking a husband (we’re talking about the nineteenth century, after all), yet the only real flirting that takes place carries with it no matrimonial designs. Rather, Elizabeth and Darcy flirt with each other in the most natural, impulsive sense of the word. They have no conscious interest in each other and neither considers the other a viable spouse, yet the verbal sparring that crackles between them is nothing less than exquisite flirtation. Their zinging repartee fuels their attraction, and their attraction, in turn, fuels their repartee. Neither character would’ve called it flirting, but that’s exactly what it was.

Bingley and Jane, on the other hand, don’t flirt. Instead they are drawn together with a distinct purpose in mind. Bingley may be charming and complimentary, but there is nothing innately casual about his attentions; rather, he makes his long-term interest in Jane quite clear. And she reciprocates it—demurely, but just as clearly. In fact, every interaction they have is steeped in Jane waiting for a marriage proposal and implicitly hoping not to blow it.

Marriage-driven Mr. Collins doesn’t bother with flirtation, either. He proposes to Elizabeth without any attempt to charm, engage, or attract her beforehand – and then ultimately marries Charlotte, who is just as practical, deliberate, and marriage-driven. The only two characters who sizzle on the page are Elizabeth and Darcy, which makes Pride and Prejudice a great showcase for the true delight of flirting.

Out now is the anthology Flirting with Pride and Prejudice, which offers a wide range of essays and fiction pieces about Jane Austen’s classic novel, and I had a wonderful time contributing to the book. I hope you’ll check it out – best wishes!

Jill Winters realized that she preferred fiction to term papers when she wrote her first novel Plum Girl instead of her master's dissertation. Coincidentally, this was around the same time she became a sleep-deprived, ruminating coffee-junkie. She is the author five humorous, sexy romantic mysteries, including Just Peachy, Raspberry Crush, and Lime Ricky, which will be released in May. Jill contributed the original essay "The Secret Life of Mary" for Flirting With Pride and Prejudice, available in stores now from BenBella Books! She is currently at work on her next novel, as well as another Smart Pop anthology for BenBella. You can visit her online at: www.jillwinters.com.

Thanks again, Jill and everyone! And now for the moment you've all been waiting for, the 10 winners of Flirting With Pride and Prejudice...

Dawn Chilson!
Brittney Caan!
Holly Gault!
Jackie Wisherd!
Joy Isley!
Karen Gray!
Nicole Hulst!
Carol Mintz!
Sheri Maderos!
and...
Debbie Fluehr!

Congratulations, all winners! And thanks to everyone who entered! More cool stuff to come next month, when the Lovely and Talented Whitney Gaskell joins us! Her new book, She, Myself and I is totally fab and available now!

Posted by Lani at 6:00 AM