Collins Hemingway

Alumni Author Spotlight

PHOTO COURTESY COLLINS HEMINGWAY

For years, Collins Hemingway told the stories of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, now he’s telling the tale of Jane Austen.

He’s just completed the final book in his trilogy “The Marriage of Jane Austen.” From his Bend, Oregon, home, Collins’ historical fiction novels imagine a full life for the British author during a period where little is known of her life. 

Before embarking on his literary career, Collins helped shape the story of Microsoft. From 1987 to 1992, he managed the Microsoft systems public relations account for the company’s outside agency, Waggener Edstrom. He then came inside the company working for Microsoft’s systems public relations, international marketing and business development for the Business Systems Group. From 1997 to 1999, he handled communications for Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.

“I was fortunate to be part of the company’s rise in the PC industry during these 12 eventful years,” he said.

While at Microsoft, he collaborated with Bill Gates to write “Business @ the Speed of Thought.” He went on to write several other collaborations, including the gold standard for retail strategy, “Built for Growth,” with Arthur Rubinfeld of Starbucks. 

Collins, 68, took time to talk about “The Marriage of Jane Austen,” his writing process and what’s next, including presenting to the Jane Austin Society of North America this fall.
 
In your own words, what is “The Marriage of Jane Austen” about? “The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen” is a love story that resolves the mystery of Austen’s life during the “missing years” of her twenties, of which almost nothing is known. Why the enduring rumors of a lost love or tragic affair? Why, afterward, did the vivacious Jane shut herself away to write books? Why did her beloved sister destroy her letters and journals? An accurate rendering of her life and tumultuous times, this literary fiction fills in the blanks of Austen’s lost years with a riveting romance that also engages the protagonist in the most important and the dramatic events of the Regency era. 

Who should read it and why would they love it? My target market is the book club: people who love great stories told in an interesting way. The book has a terrific female lead who falls in love with a man whose intelligence and sensitivity are equal to hers but whose personality and worldview differ greatly. They love and challenge each other in every scene. They have soaring moments together, and they struggle with ordinary life. These are real people. Together, they take on the world. 

Number of books you have published: Eight, including “Business @ the Speed of Thought,” with Bill Gates; “The Fifth Wave,” with Robert Marcus, another Microsoft alumnus, about the digital revolution; “Built for Growth,” with Arthur Rubinfeld of Starbucks, a book that’s become the gold standard for retail strategy; “What Happy Companies Know,” with Dan Baker, about using positive corporate culture to outperform competitors; “Maximum Brainpower,” with Shlomo Breznitz, about ways to keep our brains healthy and our minds active throughout life.

What was it about Jane Austen that intrigued you to want to write novels about her? I was a student of the early 1800s and wanted to create a story that seriously tested a woman then, when everything was against her — law, society, biology. As I began, the voice that emerged was Austen’s — that intelligent, sly, ironic, but ultimately kind voice. She had been a literary favorite since college, and I had continued to reread her books. I wanted to see how Austen would react, wanted to see what she was made of, and how she might write about it—freed of the strictures of her time. After rereading several biographies, I realized that a critical seven-year gap in her life would enable me to tell the story about her. My Austenesque character became Austen herself. 

What’s your favorite Jane Austen book and why? Tie between “Pride and Prejudice” and “Persuasion.” P&P because it’s the one novel in which the heroine goes toe to toe with every man (and woman) she meets; “Persuasion” because it’s the deepest and most emotional novel, written as Austen’s fatal illness progressed inexorably toward the end. 

Your latest book was the last in a trilogy. How did you decide that your story needed to be told in three books? Length! The tale begins like “Pride and Prejudice” and morphs into “War and Peace.” It’s the sweeping story of a mature relationship set in one of the most turbulent periods of history. But unless your name is Tolstoy, no one wants to publish a thousand-page novel. The tale broke naturally into three parts: a courtship novel like Austen’s but with twists; a deeply personal look at marriage from the woman’s point of view; and a conclusion that tests the heroine’s courage and moral convictions. So, I published that way. 

You’ve spoken to a number of Austen groups and this autumn will lecture at the annual general meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America. That’s kind of like Comic-Con for Jane Austen fans. What is it like to present your work to this rabid fan base? Just like Comic-Con attendees know every detail of Dr. Who or Psych, the JASNA attendees know every detail of Austen’s novels and settings. If you make a mistake, they pounce. Someone once challenged me about a comment I made regarding descriptions of Liz Bennet in “Pride and Prejudice.” The person’s “proof” was a small, obscure and debatable phrase in the book. Another time, someone tried to stump me by asking where a dung cart appeared in Austen’s work. Fortunately, I’d just read an article that had the answer — “Persuasion.” (Admiral Croft, a great sailor but a terrible driver, is kept from running his carriage into a dung cart by the adept help of his wife.) But the experience is fun. It’s great to be with people who care that much, and Jane is a rock star to them.  

You’ve co-written other books that have nothing to do with Jane Austen or historical fiction? Talk a little about those and what made you decide to delve into the historical fiction genre? My nonfiction projects have involved collaborations. The two questions were always: Was the topic meaningful to me? Could I learn from, and enjoy working with, the other person? The Bill book is self-answering: a chance to work with high tech’s top thinker while also calling on my own experience in the industry. The Starbucks book took me into the heart of an entirely different field. The book on corporate culture gave me the academic underpinnings for management beliefs I’d developed at work. The book with Microsoft alum Robert Marcus brought me up to speed on the latest in the digital revolution. The brain book gave me the equivalent of an advanced degree in cognitive psychology. All with great people. 

The fiction is my own thing. I didn’t so much choose historical fiction as choose a situation that required an historical setting. The research and the dedication required is the same for all these projects. 

What was the most rewarding part about writing historical fiction and completing the trilogy? Weaving the history in with the personal story. In too much historical fiction, the history takes over. The characters end up watching the parade or being minor flag bearers. The secret is to always ensure that the history serves the story, and not the other way around. And to use no more historical detail than is necessary. In this trilogy, Austen’s actions and decisions drive the plot, and history comes along. She has a reason to become involved in every big event of the era. It was an intellectual challenge to ensure that there was also a good reason within my own story for Jane to show up at the few known events of her life from 1802 to 1809. 

Where do you find inspiration? I’m not so much inspired to write as driven. If I’m not at a keyboard for more than a few hours, my fingers begin to twitch. Then the rest of my body. Some people are inspired by a world view or a cause they believe in, or something they read about, or a scenario they see in passing. Some people want to experiment with language or with structure or with presentation. I am drawn to the foundational relationships that affect all others. The Austen trilogy is a love story. I dived as deep as possible into a relation between two adults who love each other. I explored every aspect of what it was like to fall in love, live with a real, fallible someone you love, and deal with all the good and bad things that real life brings. In every novel I write, I want to go deeper than anyone ever has gone before into how relationships work, or don’t. 

What technology do you use when you’re writing? Microsoft Word, Outlook, and Edge/internet. I also resort to an ink pen when thoughts need to be coaxed out. Once I have the flow, back to the PC.

So much historical information is now available online. If I had written this trilogy in 1990, I would have had to be parked at a major research library instead of in a small town in Oregon. 

Do you prefer to read a physical book, or an eBook? I prefer a physical book for pleasure reading and to make notes for research. However, when I need to look up a particular passage, e-books are far superior. Only a small number of the books for this project were available in digital form, though. 

Do you have a soundtrack when you write? I prefer silence for fiction and classic soft rock for nonfiction. 

Must have drink when writing? Usually water or a soft drink. 

Did you get an "advance on your first book" and what did you do with it? Bill and I did “Business @ the Speed of Thought” … as Microsoft employees. We received no additional payment beyond our usual compensation. The authors’ royalties were donated to charity via the Microsoft Foundation, now Microsoft Philanthropies.

After leaving Microsoft, I received advances on the business books. I used the advances to finish those books and to pay the rent while I worked on my fiction.  

What roadblock did you hit when first trying to get published? The digital revolution has collapsed the publishing industry — taken all the profit out of it. Publishers, editors, agents, have disappeared, consolidated, moved around. With everything changing constantly, it is challenging to find an agent and publisher interested in your specific project at a specific time. I lost one editor between the time she bought the book and the time it was completed. 

Did you like to read as a child? Absolutely. Lots of sci-fi, lots of light fiction — more serious as I got older. Read the newspaper page by page every day. My mother scraped together her pennies to buy a complete set of the World Book. I read every volume, and every annual update. Probably the best investment she ever made in my future. 

Your favorite childhood book? Strangely, I don’t recall a particular book from my childhood, but I checked out books from the Boys Club library or the city library every week. In my teens, it was a tossup between Asimov’s “Foundation” trilogy, and Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Maybe that’s why I wrote a trilogy … 

Favorite literary hero and villain? For hero, another tie, between Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Hardy) and Anna Karenina (Tolstoy). Two women who were destroyed because they wanted nothing more than to live their lives in peace and love, in their own way. Favorite villain: Richard III. 

Was there any book that made you want to be a writer? No, I always wanted to be a writer, when I wasn’t wanting to be an astronaut. A lot of people ask if my surname has anything to do with it, but I knew I would be a writer before I knew who the other Hemingway was. My older brother became a journalist, and some friends thought I was following in his footsteps. But he was four years older, and we didn’t talk much. I was surprised when he started working for a newspaper. Must be in the genes. 

First thing you ever got published? I wrote for both my junior high and high school newspapers, so publication came early. My first paid article would have been about a high school football game. I was hired as a sportswriter for the local newspaper before my senior year. 

When did you start writing your first book and when did you finish your first book? My first book was a 300-page technical manual on a computer programming language, written for a small software company in Portland, Oregon, in 1980. I had been hired as a technical writer after learning computers on the job in newspapers. In 1984, I took off three months from work, then worked part time for another six months, to write my first novel. It did not deserve to see the light of day. Around my corporate life, I mostly wrote short stories — all I had time to concentrate on. Once I left Microsoft, I alternated nonfiction and fiction. 

One thing you hate about the writing and publishing process? Diminishing returns. During the final editing, you must hold in your head every detail and keep that detail — a character, a street, a house — consistent across hundreds of pages. For every half-dozen errors corrected, you inject at least one new one; it’s a step-wise process to fix bugs. And you must do this at the very moment you are most exhausted physically and psychologically. It requires a tremendous act of will and physical drive to persevere toward perfection. But it’s a necessity. In Volume II, I discovered at the very last moment that I had accidentally changed the name of a minor character halfway through. 

The publishing process is similar. You must check and recheck things you’ve read a dozen times. My most frustrating experience was with “Business @ the Speed of Thought.” I did multiple final reviews of the book, and Bill made two independent passes of his own. Three people, including an editor from Microsoft Press, proofed everything. This was late 1998, when the publishing industry had begun to use electronic files, but our publisher went the old way — having a compositor set the book by hand. Which meant that, after all the work to submit an error-free 500-page manuscript, I got back a galley that contained multiple new errors on every page. I also had to compare both versions line by line to ensure nothing had been left out. My planned holiday became a three-day proofing marathon. 

Today, of course, every publisher accepts a digital source, but, even then, weird errors pop up in the strangest ways. You have to read hard, no matter the fatigue. You must set out determined to find errors — if you don’t, then the book is probably clean. 

Do you read your book reviews? And do the ones that contain critical advice help you to change the next book? I have read all the reviews of my work, not that there are a lot of them. None has offered any kind of critique that might shape my writing. Having published all my life, I understand that every reader/reviewer has his or her own point of view, and you live with it. For example, a section of Volume I contains correspondence between Austen and her beau. It’s a tip of the hat to the novel-writing style when Austen began writing. Most readers love the letters because they’re so personal; a few think they slow the story down. Every book strikes different readers differently. 

What is one thing people don't know about your writing genre that they need to know? There are a lot of awful bodice-rippers, soft porn (erotica), and poorly written Austen knockoffs in fiction set in the early 1800s. But there are also a few very fine novels, including (I humbly submit) my own. 

What is one question you have always wanted to be asked in an interview? Q: After working for Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, what was it like working for Jane Austen? A: Much harder. Bill and Steve occupied my days, but Jane also woke me in the middle of the night. She had a story to tell, and my sleep kept interfering. 

What's next for you? I’m working on a series of critical essays about Austen’s fiction. My hope is to publish in various journals and perhaps put together a nonfiction book based on the decade of research I’ve done. The fiction and nonfiction will complement each other. Then on to other fiction. 

If you could invite three other authors over for a dinner party, who would they be and why? Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, and Virginia Woolf. (Or a whole shelf of Russian writers.) Austen and Hardy wrote about women at the beginning and end of the 1800s, respectively. Each showed in different ways the limitations and constraints that society imposed on females. Writing as a woman, Austen pushed the envelope as far as she could. Mid-century, the Bronte sisters and George Eliot had to take the names of men in order to publish on serious topics. It took Hardy to write the truth about what most likely would have happened to many of the earlier heroines. Being a man, he was the only one allowed, and even then, he was chased from the novel-writing profession for his trouble. Woolf began with the hopes of a new century and yet faced many of the same challenges as the women authors before her. I see her as Austen V2.0. 

The saddest thing is to realize how little changed for women over more than a hundred years, especially those who wanted to express their artistic or political selves.

I’d like to hear these writers speak about their life experiences, what they had hoped to achieve as writers, and whether they felt they had. 

Finally, what advice do you have for alumni aspiring to write and publish a book? Everyone has at least one story to tell. It might be your story, or your grandparents’, or your people’s. Figure out the story that you can uniquely tell. Remember what the early English novelist Henry Fielding said: “The purpose of a writer is to invent a good story and tell it well.” 

Once you begin, treat it like a product launch — that’s exactly what it is. Have the same discipline, the same work ethic. Put in the hours. It’s a yearlong project. There will be redefinitions of features and scope. There will be snags and detours. There will be bugs. Focus on quality. Ship on deadline if you can, but remember: Once you’ve shipped, no one will remember whether you shipped on time — only whether the product was any good. 

Learn more about Collins here.

Find more about "The Marriage of Jane Austen" here.