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What early writings did Jane Austen create as a teenager?

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Portrait of Jane Austen seated, wearing a light blue dress and bonnet, holding a closed book on her lap with a thoughtful expression. — Jane Austen Jane Austen, a 19th-century engraving likely derived from a portrait by her sister, Cassandra Austen, c. 1810.

Jane Austen’s earliest known writings date from approximately 1787. Between that year and 1793, she produced a significant body of work that has been preserved in three manuscript notebooks: Volume the First, Volume the Second, and Volume the Third.1

These notebooks contain a variety of literary forms, including plays, verses, short novels, and other prose. Much of this early writing demonstrates Austen’s engagement in the parody of existing literary genres, particularly the sentimental novel and sentimental comedy. Additionally, she wrote several satirical sketches during the late 1780s and early 1790s, such as Evelyn, Kitty, or the Bower, and Jack and Alice, which highlight her developing talent and sharp sense of humor.12

By 1793–94, her writing began to shift toward a more serious view of life, as evidenced by Lady Susan, a short epistolary novel that explores themes of social frustration and the limitations placed on women’s talents.1