Alli
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I love your work and my all time favorite series (not just of yours) is The Sharing Knife. I'm in a intercultural marriage so this series really hit home for me. One thing I admire about characters you write is that you show their intelligence. I always feel like I learn from your them. Could share any insight or tidbits on how you developed Dag and Fawn?
Lois McMaster Bujold
It's been a while... A lot of things about Dag & Fawn arrived together -- both of their starting-points at first meeting (Dag with a longer, but not more important, backstory than Fawn), their ages and heights, the uneven command of magic but equal smarts (actually, Fawn has the edge there, camouflaged by her lack of experience) the bare basics but not yet all the details of their respective cultures and families and world history, much of which was developed as the story went along.
Having set up their bare-bones backstories, I basically set the pair in motion in the opening scenes and let them show me their tale as they moved through it, adding more characters and material as needs arose. We were frequently all of us surprised.
The first two volumes were initially a single bigger one, split on publication, but ending on a down-ish if promising note. There was plainly more tale to be told and more world to be explored as both characters broke free from the constraints of family and clan and found new room to grow; the second pair of volumes became the "there and back again" of all that.
Ta, L.
It's been a while... A lot of things about Dag & Fawn arrived together -- both of their starting-points at first meeting (Dag with a longer, but not more important, backstory than Fawn), their ages and heights, the uneven command of magic but equal smarts (actually, Fawn has the edge there, camouflaged by her lack of experience) the bare basics but not yet all the details of their respective cultures and families and world history, much of which was developed as the story went along.
Having set up their bare-bones backstories, I basically set the pair in motion in the opening scenes and let them show me their tale as they moved through it, adding more characters and material as needs arose. We were frequently all of us surprised.
The first two volumes were initially a single bigger one, split on publication, but ending on a down-ish if promising note. There was plainly more tale to be told and more world to be explored as both characters broke free from the constraints of family and clan and found new room to grow; the second pair of volumes became the "there and back again" of all that.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
J C
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
A few questions: 1) did I mention how much I love the books? Because I love your books, the characterization, exploration of themes, your writing style. 2) how big is House Cordonah? I imagine an orbiting space station with ~40k people, including children. What's the corporate structure look like; do the denizens have voting shares? 3) are wormholes affected by gravity? What do they orbit?
Rhode PVD
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Although Miles' romances are always with women significantly taller than he is (in part because nearly everybody is) I've noticed the cover art always finds a way to avoid showing a short man with a tall woman. Either we see people head to head or a secondary character with his girl instead of Miles, etc. How do you feel about this phenomenon?
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