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

[almightychrissy.livejournal.com]

My life may never, ever, ever be the same again now that Mildmay has been associated with Russian gymnasts. It's a nice association, to be sure, but more than slightly brainbreaking.

[rarelylynne.livejournal.com]

We just watched Labyrinth yesterday--it was my first time, as we are busily undoing my "mundane" upbringing ... and michaeldthomas turned to me and said "d'ya think that Monette was influenced by this movie or what?."

So, umm, yeah. Right there with ya on the Bowie/Labyrinth thing.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I'm loving the backstory. (Also the obscure Cavalier poet. Wow.)

In your head, does Mehitabel go on to succeed and flourish in her dual career as actor/mistress?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I've been wondering for a while how the name Mildmay is supposed to be pronounced -- not just in the context of your book, but the name in general. There were several Mildmays running around in the Elizabethan period (surname, not given name), and I've never been sure if it should be a long i or a short one.

[(Anonymous)]

"In your head, does Mehitabel go on to succeed and flourish in her dual career as actor/mistress?"

Forget about Mehitabel flourishing, what happens to Vincent!? For some reason, I'm having trouble picturing him as a secretary...

Also, will we see more oneiromancy/dream-constructs?

[ginny-t.livejournal.com]

I'd wondered about Mildmay's pronunciation. "Milly-fox" threw me off. I'm going to have to retrain myself. ack.

[junkilope.livejournal.com]

I have been reading the series aloud to my mother on our car trips. (we are just about to get to the more incestuous parts of the virtu and I am mentally preparing myself...) Anyway she is a psychiatrists and when we talk about the books she likes to remark on Felix's 'attachment disorder' and his relationship with mildmay. Its cool to see you sort of validate it! (Not that I would ever doubt my mother.)
My question is what happened to Arachnid? sorry Arakhne? She was introduced and then sullenly wandered away. I am curious as to her purpose as well, was she just a tool to show topside!felix is only half nice?

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Um. Maybe?

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I do not know. I'm sure that somewhere out there, someone does, but I don't.

(I do know that Francis Beaumont's name was pronounced Bay-mont, but that doesn't really help.)

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Yes, but Vincent has motivation.

And, yes, there will be more oneiromancy in book 4.

[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.

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

I may have audibly squealed when I read your descriptions of the characters here. I love the cover art for The Virtu *so much* because it largely matches my imagined version of Mildmay, but the gymnast observation adds depth to that picture.

[gwendolynflight.livejournal.com]

Yes! ::was right:: (And undistinguished, but often mentioned in relation to Marvell. In 60s criticism. I know of him through a set of strange circumstances ...)

[romp.livejournal.com]

Last week, I was flipping through an old book of English surnames and came across Mildmay--I'd thought it pure invention for the books. I'll try to see if pronunciation was included.

[crybabymommie.livejournal.com]

this actor may not be everyones cup of tea,but I pictured Mildmay as looking a little bit like Mark Wahlberg :)

http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/Mark-Wahlberg-Photograph-C12150238.jpeg

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Personally, no. (Possibly, hell no. But then, I dislike Mark Wahlberg rather a lot.)

But, you know, to each their own imagination.

[(Anonymous)]

How about the guy that played Victor Krum in HP?
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1648506/

[romp.livejournal.com]

Not sure if this helps but The Etymological Dictionary of Family & Christian Names by William Arthur (1857) states:

MILDMAY. Said to be derived from the Saxon Mild, soft or tender, and dema, a judge, and was given to one of the early ancestors of the family from his tempering the severity of the law with mercy.

So that does, I think, suggest a short i with Mild pronounced like in mildew.

[meerkat.livejournal.com]

I *thought* that was where Mildmay's name might have come from- I found a book of Mildmay Fane's poetry in the library a while back and figured he'd been an interesting source of inspiration. Was Mehitabel at all borrowed from the work of Don Marquis? Your characters all have such colorful and wonderful names!

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

When I was little, our neighbors had a cat named Mehitabel. She was probably named for Don Marquis' mehitabel, but I didn't learn about that mehitabel until much later.

The other place the name comes from, in my personal history, is Hitty: Her First Hundred Years, which is a children's book whose first person narrator is a doll named Mehitabel, or "Hitty" for short.

I am very geeky about names.

[ayawinner.livejournal.com]

You just totally revived my love for David Bowie. I wonder why I stopped listening to his music in the first place, so - yeah. Thank you ;)