Libby
asked
Jo Walton:
This question contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[Hello! Is it an *intentional* side-effect of reading My Real Children that I'll never be able to read Ada Palmer's blog without crying again? Harrumph! (hide spoiler)]
Jo Walton
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[No, and I feel terribly guilty about that. I love Ex Urbe and I'd like it to continue to be a joy to you. This is like a special and worse case of people complaining I've made them cry -- it's very difficult to know what to say. When one writes about whole lives, then writing about death and grief is inevitable. When a reader grieves for the characters, that's a special case of grief, and I never know what to say -- I'm glad you care, but I'm sorry to distress you?
The first time I was in Florence after writing the book I couldn't help crying, I just kept tearing up all the time. It was as if I had them with me in my head whenever I looked at anything, or rather as if I was seeing it all through their eyes as well, a doubling.
When Ada and I were there in September, we took Perche No! a copy of the book, with all the mentions of them highlighted, and they were absolutely thrilled.
None of this is helping, is it?
Sorry.
I think all I can say is general advice for grief -- time helps and softens, live well for them, that's what they'd want, be glad you're in a world that has Ex Urbe in it. (hide spoiler)]
The first time I was in Florence after writing the book I couldn't help crying, I just kept tearing up all the time. It was as if I had them with me in my head whenever I looked at anything, or rather as if I was seeing it all through their eyes as well, a doubling.
When Ada and I were there in September, we took Perche No! a copy of the book, with all the mentions of them highlighted, and they were absolutely thrilled.
None of this is helping, is it?
Sorry.
I think all I can say is general advice for grief -- time helps and softens, live well for them, that's what they'd want, be glad you're in a world that has Ex Urbe in it. (hide spoiler)]
More Answered Questions
Sam
asked
Jo Walton:
How do you reconcile feminism with Plato's following quote: "Completeness seems to require that something should be briefly said about other animals: first of women, who are probably degenerate and cowardly men" from Timaeus? And how do you rate highly someone who thought extreme eugenics is the way to go?
Trudy
asked
Jo Walton:
I just finished the Small Change trilogy in three days; it was brilliant! One tiny thing bothered me: did you ever tell us what happened to Viola? The fates of other characters from Ha'Penny were mentioned in Half a Crown. I can guess what likely happened to Viola, but did you leave her fate unclear on purpose (or did I miss it by devouring the books so quickly, which is definitely possible)?
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