Why would she watch her tongue? What am I missing?

Um, me being worried that Portia is a little too over-the-top and trying to tone her down?

Um, me being worried that Portia is a little too over-the-top and trying to tone her down?

Ahhhhhhhhh. Got it. Would that be served or accomplished as well by having her rather too obviously biting back sharp comments? "Really, Lucy, your taste is - peculiar. You do want the oddest things for such a brown-complexioned little thing. But," rather too obvious, with the "crap, they're going to hate me some more, I should cool it", obvious to Lucy at least, no matter who else gets fooled, "if you think your complexion can carry that, I suppose...."

That sort of thing. (Sorry, my brain is UXBing)

Oooh, I like that, deb.

Of all the characters that's coming more to the fore now that I've written out Cordelia, Portia is the greatest challenge to write, just because I have relatively little real-life experience of her type. Passive-agressive, I've both given and received. "We don't like you that much so we'll mostly ignore you" is the story of my high school life. But out-and-out catty bitchiness I mostly missed out on.

Thing about the catty bitchy thing is, you're going to want to define where it's coming from, with this particular character. Does she secretly doubt herself, and this is her out? Or does she have the Bush-think "I am Privileged! You are Poor Annoying Beneath Me SCUM!" thing going on? Or is she just reeeeeeeeeeeeally shallow?

What's her thing?

I love my husband. At my left elbow is a current London A to Z (street map, detailed), the same thing from 1915, one ginormous coffee table book called London from the Air, showing detailed views of the Isle of Dogs and docklands from the eighties, the volumes of both the 1911 and 1941 Brittanicas with details about that area at those times, and (prize! prize!) one paperback copy of "Danger UXB".

I'm in hog heaven.

It's the Bush thing (it really bugs her to have a close relative as common as Lucy), with a side of envy and hunger for power. Portia is the youngest, and was never quite so highly valued in the family as her two older brothers. So when Lucy arrives on the scene, Portia finally has someone lower than her on the pecking order that she can pick on. And it bothers her that while on the whole they're near-equals in intellect and ability, Lucy is more talented at music and riding. (Portia is better at anything to do with the visual arts--watercolors, sketching, needlework, and the like--but since Lucy views them as necessary evils she must learn just well enough to teach them if she has to become a governess, Portia can't use them to score points off her very effectively.)

What I'm having trouble figuring out is how that childhood dynamic should play out now that they're 18 and 19.

You've got her down - excellent.

As for the dynamic, I'm assuming you have no sisters? I have two, and a shitload of female cousins who all competed with each other; this dynamic sounds a bit different, in that my cousins, by and large, weren't snobs, but I can see Portia seeing no reason whatsoever for the original schoolroom dynamic - her as Queen and Bully, Lucy as Poor Relation, not worthy of Portia's castoffs - to ever change,l and being extremely counfounded and even more sharp-tongued when Lucy refuses to play that game the way she used to.

No sisters, just brothers who were all teenagers when I was born, so I'm for all intents and purposes an only. Writing sibling dynamics is a combination of guesswork and paying attention to how other people talk about brothers and sisters.

So far my proudest moment as a writer was when I wrote a Lois & Clark futurefic back in 1995 or so where the heroine was the middle of Lois and Clark's three daughters. After I posted it, someone sent me a feedback email that said, "I'm a middle child, and I know you must be one, too, because you NAILED the dynamic."

Go me! I wrote what I didn't know well enough to fool someone who did!

Heh. I'm the youngest by a lightyear, so I watched the dynamic with a canny eye.

Heading offline for a bit, but before I do, I want to share: my Gallery page at Readerville has been updated (how do I love thee, karen Templer, let me count the incredible number of ways) with a nice teasing excerpt from Famous Flower.

The Prologue, in fact. Happy me.

Cool!

I just discovered that both of my Lois & Clark stories are still findable online, and received occasional reviews and nominations for awards long after I left the fandom. The internet really is forever.

Popping back in because I have just got the best kind of feedback: a good review from Publishers Weekly.

gawdDAMN, I was worried about this one. But here it is:

More ghost story than crime caper, Grabien's second novel to mix historical sleuthing and old English ballads makes good use of its source material. As in The Weaver and the Factory Maid (2003), theater producer Penny Wintercraft-Hawkes and her boyfriend, Ringan Laine, a folklorist and restorer of period buildings, combine their separate passions with a not always welcome affinity for legendary ghosts. The unexpected inheritance of an abandoned London theater from a practically unknown aunt allows Penny to give her company the luxury of a home base. The aunt not only left her the theater but thoughtfully supplied funds to restore it. Unfortunately, the theater is home to an active and vindictive female ghost, whose presence is forcefully announced even before Ringan can begin renovations. In order to lay the ghost to rest, the well-matched Penny and Ringan must discover who she is and what happened to her. Effective storytelling gives the ghost's manifestations a gloss of credibility, while Grabien's grasp of theater, folklore and history provides a feast of enjoyment. Agent, Jennifer Jackson at Donald Maass.

Man, short of a star? Couldn't be happier.