#crawford body swap concept

[whenthegoldrays]

Okay I do want to start plotting out the Mansfield Park fic (mentioned in this post) but I’m trying to figure out how the world-hopping occurs.

Does our hero time travel?

Does he dimension hop?

If he time travels, then how does that redefine what the Mansfield Park novel is?

Is it a true story that Austen wrote down? (Plausible, since the bittersweet ending feels the most like a real life story out of her novels.)

Whatever it is he does, is this rooted in a sci-fi explanation or is it straight up fantasy?

Does he magically fall into the story? (The original idea, but it brings up other concerns.)

Does he actually land in the world of Austen in the body of Henry Crawford? If so, how?

If he lands there as himself, what turn of events leads to his acting as Henry? Why do Mary and the Grants go along with it?

Is he Henry’s doppelgänger somehow??

Where is Crawford now during the events of this story?

Very importantly!! Does our hero get to stay in the Austenverse or does he have to go back to his own world?

If he gets to stay, what happens to the real Henry?

If he has to leave, what happens to Fanny?

Writing all these points down has actually helped me sort of form a solution, but I would appreciate any input y’all can give me on the mechanics of the story. If I can get this down, the main plot itself shouldn’t be too difficult.

[avegetariancannibal]

Bodyswap concept

Jack Crawford and Winston the dog, both wanting to find Will Graham, agree to do a body swap. Now with the combined intelligence of a human being, and the acute senses of a dog, Jackston sets off on a wild journey across the globe.

Unfortunately, he couldn't tell anyone else at the FBI that his old body was now being controlled by a dog or they would have tried to stop him. So Winford now has to run the BSU without anyone catching on.

[whenthegoldrays]

Okay. Further thoughts about the Not-Henry-Crawford story.

Our protagonist is simultaneously in love with Fanny and wants to keep the novel on track, so he wants to get Fanny to her original happy ending while minimizing the damage. There are a few ways to do this, but I’m compelled by the idea of him just trying to Darcy his way through the story, being cold to Fanny on the surface but secretly doing nice things for her, like getting William’s promotion, and maybe later visiting her in Portsmouth. Although if he Darcies too hard, he might actually win Fanny over, and that’s not really what we’re going for.

For a more comedic tone, perhaps he’s only read up to the part where Henry has decided to propose to Fanny, and then he falls into the Austenverse thinking that Henry Crawford is the male lead of Mansfield Park. So he does the nicest things he can think of for Fanny, but none of it is working, and he’s mortified that he’s screwed up the whole story.

[whenthegoldrays]

Especially compelling if the body swap occurs after Henry has already flirted with Maria and won Fanny’s disdain, because there’s no way to rewrite that part. What can our hero do? He doesn’t want to leave Fanny to her luck with all those Bertrams, but he’s already too late to convince her to come somewhere safer with him.

It’s interesting that “heroine enters the world of Pride and Prejudice or interacts with its characters somehow” has become a genre in and of itself, and yet you don’t really see this for any other Austen novel. Where is my story where the heroine (or hero perhaps) gets magicked into Mansfield Park and starts defending Fanny???

[whenthegoldrays]

Yes, I do think fantasy will be the best, though if it were science fiction, we’d of course rework it to be as if the original novel was “true” or existed in an alternate universe.

Thanks for the ideas! I’m considering all options right now and I appreciate the input!

The Advil is a need, you’re so right.

Okay I do want to start plotting out the Mansfield Park fic (mentioned in this post) but I’m trying to figure out how the world-hopping occurs.

Does our hero time travel?

Does he dimension hop?

If he time travels, then how does that redefine what the Mansfield Park novel is?

Is it a true story that Austen wrote down? (Plausible, since the bittersweet ending feels the most like a real life story out of her novels.)

Whatever it is he does, is this rooted in a sci-fi explanation or is it straight up fantasy?

Does he magically fall into the story? (The original idea, but it brings up other concerns.)

Does he actually land in the world of Austen in the body of Henry Crawford? If so, how?

If he lands there as himself, what turn of events leads to his acting as Henry? Why do Mary and the Grants go along with it?

Is he Henry’s doppelgänger somehow??

Where is Crawford now during the events of this story?

Very importantly!! Does our hero get to stay in the Austenverse or does he have to go back to his own world?

If he gets to stay, what happens to the real Henry?

If he has to leave, what happens to Fanny?

Writing all these points down has actually helped me sort of form a solution, but I would appreciate any input y’all can give me on the mechanics of the story. If I can get this down, the main plot itself shouldn’t be too difficult.