David Wooddell
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
As you know, I'm a long-time fan of your books. I've often wondered why you created two of your major characters with physical disabilities? I'm referring to Dag in the Sharing Knife books, and Miles in the Vorkosigan series. The characters have made me think about the limits of human experience (as well as my own limits.) - David W. Wooddell
Lois McMaster Bujold
I can't actually answer that, as they both walked on stage as-is, and could never have been any other way.
So it was never a matter of "I am interested in writing about disabilities, therefore I will compose these characters to frame those issues," but rather, "Huh. That's one way to slow him down a bit. So what is he going to do now? Let's see what happens..."
The first reader to point out that I was writing about disabilities actually fastened on the quaddies, whom I did not think of as handicapped at all, but rather, hyper-adapted -- as long as they were in the right environment. We had some really interesting early exchanges on the subject.
Ta, L.
So it was never a matter of "I am interested in writing about disabilities, therefore I will compose these characters to frame those issues," but rather, "Huh. That's one way to slow him down a bit. So what is he going to do now? Let's see what happens..."
The first reader to point out that I was writing about disabilities actually fastened on the quaddies, whom I did not think of as handicapped at all, but rather, hyper-adapted -- as long as they were in the right environment. We had some really interesting early exchanges on the subject.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Anna Phillips
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Have you seen that book 5 of the Queen's Thief series (Megan Whalen Turner) is coming out in May? I found out about this series through you. Also, I don't know if you care for podcasts, but a main character of the S-town podcast reminded me a bit of Miles if his life had taken a different tack. It's good listening and I'd love to know what you think of it should you happen to give it a try!
pauliree
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Hi Lois, your Barrayarans are some of my favourite people in the world. i loved the mix of cultures involved. Did you do much research into Russia and Greece beforehand or did you wing it? I am trying to write something set in Russia and I know scarily little about the culture. I was hoping you might have some tips on research.
Stephen McKee
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
If you were writing the Vorkosigan books for the first time in 2022, do you think you'd still choose to refer to hermaphrodites like Bel Thorne as "it" or would you use "they/them" instead? If so, have you thought about maybe doing an updated edition of the books to reflect this? I think the use of "it" is a bit jarring to modern readers.
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