Jane continued to pursue her writing as an adult. Between 1793-5 she wrote, Lady Susan, a short epistolary novel (written as a series of letters).  After completion, she started work on her first full-length novel Elinor and Marianne, also in an epistolary format, which would later become Sense and Sensibility. Though it's unknown how much of the original writing was included.

 

Although Jane never married, her flirtation with Tom Lefroy, the Irish nephew of one of her neighbours, is often romanticized in popular culture (for example in the film Becoming Jane).  In reality, Tom only visited the neighbourhood for two months from December 1795, when Jane was 20, following the completion of his university degree. December was a time of many balls, so Tom and Jane danced together often. They shared a common interest in books, and Tom lent her a copy of Tom Jones, a particularly racy novel of the era. In Janaury 1796, Tom went to London to study to become a barrister. Some believe that his aunt Anne Lefroy sent him away to avoid an imprudent match, but there is no evidence of this and Jane was good friends with Anne. By the following Spring Tom was engaged to Mary Paul, the sister of a college friend. He later returned to Ireland where he became a prominent politician, however, he did return to England pay his respects following Austen's death. He later admitted to his nephew that the love he had for Jane was a "boyish love". 

 

In 1797, Austen completed the first draft of the novel First Impressions, which would later become Pride and Prejudice.  Jane read the novel aloud to her family and it became a favourite amongst them. Her father believed in her so much that he attempted to have the novel published by sending it to Thomas Cadell, an established publisher in London, at the authors financial risk. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately?), the novel was declined by return of post. Austen then returned to work on Elinor and Marianne, turning the epistolary format into third person narrative of Sense and Sensibility.

 

During 1798, Austen began work on Susan, which would later become Northanger Abbey. She completed the novel the following year and her brother Henry gave the novel to a London Publisher, Benjamin Crosby, who paid £10 for the copyright. The manuscript remained in his hands unpublished for many years.

 

When George Austen (Snr) retired in 1800, the family moved from Stevenage to Bath. Jane did little writing during this time, making revisions to Susan, and starting then abadoning The Watsons. One reason it is thought she abadoned this novel is due to her father's death, which drew comparisons with the father in the novel.

 

However, during this time in Bath, Jane did receive her only documented marriage proposal in 1802. She and her sister Cassandra visited their friends Alethea and Catherine Bigg near Basingstoke, where their brother Harris Bigg-Wither was residing following completed of his studies at Oxford. Jane initially accepted his proposal as the match would have been favourable for her family but the following morning she withdrew her acceptance. We shouldn't feel too bad for Harris though as he married two years later. 

 

Following her father's death in 1805, the family had a period of financial instability. Mrs Austen and her daughters rented accommodation in Bath before staying with family in Steventon & Godmersham in 1805. They then spent the autumn in Worthing where Jane Austen wrote Lady Susan. It is thought that the setting of Worthing inspired Jane to write her unfinished novel Sanditon, which is set in a fictional seaside resort in Sussex. In 1806 they moved to Southampton to share a house with her brother Frank Austen and his new wife, and for the next few years they would spend their time visiting family, relying on their good will.

 

In 1809, Jane wrote an angry letter to Richard Crosby, the publisher who still owned the copy of Susan (later Northanger Abbey), requesting that he return the manuscript to her so she could find another publisher - "I can only account for such an extraordinary circumstance by supposing the MS by some carelessness to have been lost". They responded within two days, but Jane did not have the £10 required to repurchase the novel.  

 

Following a period of being passed between family members, Edward Knight, Jane's brother, offered the ladies a more settled home life in a cottage in Chawton (now the Jane Austen house museum), which was part of Edward's Chawton estate. They lived a quiet life here and Jane took this opportunity to pursue more of her writing. During her time at Chawton, four of her novels were successfully published. 

 

Her brother Henry helped her once again and conversed with the published Thomas Egerton, who agreed to publish Sense and Sensibility in 1811. The novel was well received and sold out by mid 1813. This success led to Pride and Prejudice's publication by Egerton in early 1813, which was advertised widely and even had a second edition published in the same year. He then published Mansfield Park in 1814, which sold within six months and her earnings were larger than for her other novels. 

 

Although Jane's novels were published anonymously (published as "by a lady" and then "by the author of"), as was typical for female writers of the era, the Prince Regent was a great admirer of her work and kept a set at each of his residences. In November 1815, James Stanier, the Prince Regent's librarian invited Jane to visit the Prince's London residence, Carlton House, and hinted that Jane should dedicate her next novel (Emma) to the Prince by stating that she had permission to do so. Jane disliked the self-indulgent Prince but she couldn't refuse the requests.

 

Despite the success of her novels so far, Jane moved her work from Egerton to the publisher John Murray, who was a better known London publisher. He published Emma in December 1815 and a second edition of Mansfield Park in February 1816. Emma sold well but the new edition of Mansfield Park did not.

 

Shortly after the publication of Emma, Henry Austen repurchased Susan from the publisher Crosby. However, Henry's bank failed in 1816, depriving him of all his assets, and his brothers Edward, James, and Frank were all affected by the collapse. Henry and Frank could no longer afford the contributions they had previously made to support their mother and sisters, and Susan remained unpublished. 

 

Unfortunately, Mansfield Park and Emma were to be the last novels published in Jane's lifetime. She did begin writing a new novel, then titled The Elliots, which was later published as Persuasion after her death. She finished her first draft in July 1816.