SvetlanaP
SvetlanaP asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Did you come up with the line "I'll trade you one Mark for the Commodore's 18 million" before or after you named the character himself? It's always been one of my favourite lines in the series because of the coincidence & brilliance needed for it to work, so I've always wondered how much of a coincidence it really was. Either way, thank you for writing books with such awesome & quotable lines!

Lois McMaster Bujold
That was serendipity. I do not remember at what point I gave Cordelia's late dad his full name, from which Mark's (and Miles's) actually come, whether it was in BiA or earlier. (Well, Da Naismith's first name of course came much earlier, when Miles was named after him.) The unit of money was also named way earlier. Though if my belatedly seized inspiration looks like long-laid planning, so much the better.

Ta, L.

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