Can You Write Like Jane Austen?
If you’re a Jane Austen fan, you don’t want to miss this. My friends & colleagues over at Adams Media are running a Bad Austen writing competition. In the tradition…
If you're a Jane Austen fan, you don't want to miss this.
My friends & colleagues over at Adams Media are running a Bad Austen writing competition.
In the tradition of the Bulwer-Lytton Contest and the Bad Hemingway and Bad Faulkner contests, here’s your chance pen a scene of a “classic” novel Jane Austen never wrote.
How is it done?
- Write a scene no longer than 800 words.
- You are free to determine plot, characters, and setting.
- Obviously the style must parody Austen.
- Other rules apply, which you can read about here.
The top reader-voted scene will receive special recognition in Bad Austen, the book. So … go forth and write like Jane Austen!
Related fun: Jane Austen quotes

Jane Friedman is a full-time entrepreneur (since 2014) and has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. She is the co-founder of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors, and is the former publisher of Writer’s Digest. In addition to being a columnist with Publishers Weekly and a professor with The Great Courses, Jane maintains an award-winning blog for writers at JaneFriedman.com. Jane’s newest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press, 2018).