Since announcing my idea for this summer series back in May, I’ve been cooking up ideas and reaching out to potential partners and guests to bring as much special content as possible to you, my lovely readers. Today’s post is one of a few especially special secrets I’ve kept all summer.

I was lucky enough to get in touch with Bernie Su, an award-winning writer and creator of, among other things, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Emma Approved webseries.

Hank Green and Bernie Su co-created The Lizzie Bennet Diaries series, a modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. After establishing a brand-new “transmedia” way of storytelling, the show became the first webseries to ever win an Emmy.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Emma Approved (an adaptation of Emma) created a new viewer experience through the use of transmedia storytelling, aka using multiple media platforms to build the world and convey the story. You can just watch the official series of Lizzie’s videos — you won’t miss any important plot points or major developments — but if you want more, Lydia Bennet made her own videos and kept a tumblr blog, and the characters all interacted on Twitter. The experience while the show was running live was completely immersive.

This summer, Bernie sat down with me (virtually) and discussed this unique style of storytelling, the challenges of adapting Austen’s famous work, and behind-the-scenes details about story canon (what’s the story of the soy sauce joke? Does Jane Austen exist in Lizzie’s world? Did Lizzie and Darcy ever get married??)