Julia, Tinker, Fabulo

Approaching publication day, we’re counting down the top ten points of interest in the Gas-Lit Empire novels, as revealed in readers’ comments and questions. In the last episode I wrote about the 4th most commonly commented on topic: Gender presentation and gender identity. The third most frequently referred to topic is:

Number 3: Secondary characters

Book reviews tend to have three aspects: a plot summary or précis, an emotional response to the book and a discussion of themes that the reviewer engaged with. Secondary characters are mentioned in most reviews that give a précis of the story. But secondary characters also appear in the discussion of themes. That’s the part I’m going to talk about here. Three characters are mentioned in particular: Fabulo, Tinker and Julia.

Fabulo is mentioned less often than the others. Yet he is the one I personally love the most. He is a small person in stature, but expansive in character. When he is first introduced in The Bullet Catcher’s daughter, we see him being kicked and ordered around. He has suffered a life of this treatment due to his stature. As a result of the discrimination, he has had to develop strong emotional armour. His abrasive manner is part of that. And his apparent thick skin. Insults seem to have no effect on him.

I loved him when I first encountered him. But it was in The Custodian of Marvels that I had a opportunity to really explore his psychology. I’m not going to spell out the backstory here. It would be a spoiler for anyone who is yet to read Custodian. But I can tell you that I hadn’t consciously worked it out in advance. Yet when I came to write Custodian, I found that I did know it. And when I looked back at The Bullet Catcher’s Daughter, I found all the clues were in place.

Whilst writing Custodian, I came to a scene where all seems lost and Fabulo tells Elizabeth a truth about himself for the first time. He relates it in the form of a Mulla Nasruddin story. I wrote that scene and I wept.

Tinker is mentioned in the reviews more than Fabulo. I hadn’t expected that. Indeed, it was partly because of the warmth with which he was received in the Bullet Catcher’s Daughter that I increased his visibility in Unseemly Science.

There are three secrets to writing Tinker. One is that he will stay silent in preference to speaking, and in speaking he’ll use the fewest possible words. The second is that from the moment Elizabeth gives him an apple in The Bullet Catcher’s Daughter, he is entirely devoted to her. She is the parent he has longed for, though he couldn’t admit it, even to himself. And the third trick is that in his actions and the words that I use to describe his movement and habits, he is like cat. I’m probably giving away too many writerly secrets here. But if you re-read the books, you’ll see it’s true.

My strongest emotional response with Tinker came when he recognised Elizabeth in her male guise. It was entirely matter-of-fact to him. He doesn’t even know that this ability is special. It is a mystery to him that other people can’t recognise the person who is the centre of his world. (Tove Jansson fans, may recognise a parallel here with Moomin Mama’s recognition of Moomintroll after he has come out of the Hobgoblin’s hat!)

But it is Julia that reviewers respond tend to talk about the most. What do we know about her? She is 2 years younger than Elizabeth. She comes from a settled family - by which I mean she has lived all her life in one house with two parents. This contrasts with Elizabeth’s experience of being raised in a travelling show by her father alone. The difference magnetises the two women together. Each sees in the other...

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