Q&A 5

[truepenny]

Let's take the questions about Felix and Mildmay this time.

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Q: In the movie that is (surely! for God is a just God and wants me to have the pleasure!) to be made of these delicious books, who plays Mildmay and who plays Felix?

A: Felix is easy, as matociquala demonstrated to me: he's David Bowie circa the Thin White Duke. (When I started writing these books, and in fact up until a couple years ago, the only time I'd seen David Bowie was in Labyrinth--wherein he is extremely hot, thank you, but does not look much like himself. So the almost eerily accurate mapping is convergent evolution.)

For Mildmay, I have no clue. 5'8", stocky (built kind of like a Russian gymnast, actually), very deep-voiced. V. sharp cheekbones.

Actually, what I would love would be for someone to do serious animated movies. Yes, with the NC-17 stuff and all.

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Q: how do you, as their author/owner/mom, see Felix and Mildmay's relationship? (Horribly abusive? Affectionate? Codependent? Some messed-up blend of all three? Or something else entirely?)

A: Firstly, I repudiate any suggestion that my relationship with either of them is in any way maternal. *g* But to actually answer the question, I see both Felix and Mildmay as people who were horribly damaged by their childhoods and have no real idea of how to be part of any kind of non-dysfunctional serious relationship--using the word "relationship" fairly broadly rather than in a strictly romantic context. (Yeah, Mildmay's relationship with Ginevra looks okay, but if you look carefully at what he says about it, it's clear that it's working because he's only giving her about a quarter of himself and she's too self-involved to push.) So one of the things the series is about is the two of them learning how to not fuck up a relationship. And, you know, some days that works better than others.

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Q: Is it difficult for you to transition between the narrative voices of Felix and Mildmay?

A: Actually, no, it's extremely easy. What's hard is switching between Felix and Mehitabel (and to a lesser extent, Felix and Kay, the third narrator in Corambis), because neither of them has the verbal tics that characterize Mildmay's narration. Distinguishing Mehitabel's voice from Felix's was a real bitch, and I'm not 100% sure I succeeded. I do occasionally have to go back and change a sentence in Mildmay's PoV that sounds too much like Felix, but never the other way around.

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Q: What gave you the idea or inspiration to work the incredible sexual tension between Felix and Mildmay into the books?

A: Honestly, because it was the worst thing I could think of to do to them.

Also, because it was inevitable that Felix, when faced with feelings of affection and trust for a man, would try to translate that into sex. And equally inevitable that Mildmay would refuse.

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Q: Where does Mildmay's name come from?

A: Interestingly, this one got asked twice, with two different candidates. I appropriated Mildmay's name from Mildmay Fane, the Second Earl of Westmorland and an undistinguished Cavalier poet. (I'd never heard of Frank Mildmay, or the Naval Officer, so thank you to the person who told me about it.) I suspect Lord Westmorland's name may have been pronounced with a short i; the clue to the pronunciation of my Mildmay's name is in the back-formation I invented.

Comments

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'd put it the other way round. Your mother, a psychiatrist, is validating my attempt at a psychologically damaged character. Which is pretty nifty.