Q1
Mairi was the last of your characters to appear in the story just after the Arc'teryx boarded Bravo-Four-Zero and still the one least known, albeit truer still it would be to place Trevor along side her in this respect. With all of the characters of The Story, there seems to be an essential component to their character, a flaw, a gift, and no unacceptable contradictions through the many appearances ahead. Are they telling you their story or are you telling theirs?
Trée: I'm tempted to say neither in that the story I'm telling is my story through them. As I've mentioned many times, each character in the story is a little bit of me, some more so than others with Kyra the one I most see as having my personality. Likewise, most of the chapters and events are educated by events in my own life rather than events I imagine or make up. Having said that, however, I would say the characters are telling me their story rather than me telling theirs. In other words, there is no master plan that a character is on a certain "track" to do certain things, to reach certain goals, to fulfill a certain objective within the story. I like that idea, that as long as the characters stay true to themselves, there is nothing predestined about what they may or may not do.
Q2
One of the first things we learn about Mairi is that she has always felt seperate from both the 'normal' children and the 'children of the shells', never quite feeling at home amongst either of them. We learn as she appears that she has kept herself to herself on board Bravo and though she begins to take centre stage on a number of occasions, with Dr X, Trev, Yul, most recently with Em, though we have seen her share some of her experience while captured and we have seen her hold her own ("Frail you farm boy")under verbal attack, there is still very much a sense of reservation, of her approaching when she is needed and retreating when that need is over. Given the desire she has expressed that carried through her childhood and onto Bravo of wanting to feel as though she belonged, as told in her regret over never approaching Kieran, another child of the shells before he was struck down by the Animus virus, do you think finally having to some extent at least her singularity defined has made her feel more or less at peace with who she is?
Trée: Mairi is moving in that direction but is not there yet. What seems to be an apparent inconsistency in her character, that is, on the one hand she is a Chatelaine and on the other seems to lack a certain sense of confidence in belonging, the two are actually a fascinating look into the layers we all have, which is to say, I believe we all harbor such complexities as to make our behavior appear, at times, to be inconsistent. I think to do otherwise with a character is to make them book-like, cardboard, or two-dimensional, and therefore less interesting, less real, less mysterious, and l think, less able to move in ways we don't imagine, which is to say, unpredictable, within reason. The bottom line is this: Mairi has a gift. She didn't know she had it until about a year ago. That gift is developing. And with each development she grows in confidence that she fits, that she belongs, that she can make a contribution. In short, if Mairi were a flower, her bud is opening to the sun of her gifts and the blossom gets more beautiful with each unfolding petal.
Q3
With Mairi, there has been much expression of regret, of guilt, in some ways she has a background similar to Yul. She speaks of feeling regret over not having approached Kieran, of having taken things for granted, guilt at what happened to Trevor, always and unspoken and so to say so is to say so without basis there seems to be a sense of self-reproach, an acceptance that she is destined to remain on the sidelines, as with Yul, it would appear that in Mairi's case too environment has convinced her of a truth that is nothing but an opinion. One of the few direct insights we gain into Mairi comes as she overhears Taren say; "I wouldn't want to be her" and we catch a glimpse of the inner workings of her mind and heart as she questions privately; Who else could she be? Where could she go to escape herself? She knew the answer. She knew the answer because she had asked herself the question a thousand times and the answer was always the same. In Evv-err, Mairi still with no clue of how essential her passage on Bravo would become to other members there, even knowing what she now knows, knowing that were it not for her, Dr X would not have been able aid Yul, Em would have the chance to regain her sight is Mairi any closer to understanding why fate dictated, however it came about, that she was meant to be aboard Bravo?
Trée: That is a great question and the answer is no. She doesn't think in those ways, in short because there is little fruit in visiting such a question. The immediate reality of their life is too overwhelming. I feel I have not done as good a job as I could have in painting the bleak picture of their reality, of what it means to be the last seven of your race, where the future is dark, you have no home, and the environment, unknown space, is hostile, dangerous and unforgiving. This reality overwhelms virtually all other thought and the crew is in danger of turning to drugs or sex or other unhealthy diversions to keep insanity at bay.
Now, having said that, what I really like about this question is the assumption that the crew of Bravo was handpicked, an idea not expressed in the story but begs to be addressed. That is, did Papa know about Mairi and put her onboard for that very reason? I don't know the answer to that question and perhaps we will see Ceru ask Papa that question if they make it to Silus. ;-)
Q4
It seems to be suggested that although a Chatelaine is a creature of stature and reverence, Mairi was searching for a place to belong and a place to hide all at the same time, in becoming a Chatelaine, she could bury herself, become someone else, be associated and accepted. Though rising to the top of her profession, her questioning after hearing Taren's comment indicates her training did little to dispel the thoughts of unworthiness and the question is did she merely succeed in disassociating herself further from where she truly wanted to belong, in short does she regret becoming a Chatelaine and if so, is it for the reason that in seeking not to care, in seeking to rise above it, in seeking to belong, ie in seeking to eradicate the thoughts that tormented her throughout childhood. does she feel that what was once imagined, she has made a reality?
Trée: Interesting question. Let me answer it like this. What is on the surface and what is underneath are not always the same. Mairi wants them to be the same. Right now, they are not. On the surface, she is an accomplished and skilled Chatelaine. Underneath, all the childhood insecurities are still there. Becoming a Chatelaine only covered up the issues. She hoped the training would transform her, but it didn't. So we see one person on the outside and another on the inside. Mairi has been, at some considerable cost, living a dual life--one public, one private. Now, on Bravo, there is no place to hide and no place really for her to a Chatelaine, to practice her trade and derive self-esteem from the practice, so she finds herself naked so to speak and all the insecurities bubble right back to the surface. Only her association with Dr X has given her reason to believe she is more than the outcast, that she has a place and can make a contribution.
Q5
How would you define the relationship between Mairi and Dr X by what we know to date?
Trée: In a word, Symbiotic. Fate has thrown them unexpectedly together. Dr X has the scientific find of a lifetime and he wants and needs to investigate. Mairi, as expressed before, is experiencing the transformational experience she has always longed for. So we have this rather strange beauty and the beast relationship, although to be fair to Dr X, my painting of him did a disservice to how handsome, in an alien sort of way, I picture him. :-D
7 friendly remarks:
I so much like the assumption pregnant in Q3 I've written a chapter to incorporate the idea. See, already an influence this site is. :-D
And what an interesting chapter it was, if in fact things really did occur that way. :-D
Thank you for being such an engaging interviewee. :-) Wonderful answers, all five.
Though readers have commented and you have confirmed and more often shared of your own accord, that events in your life past and present have many times been the inspiration for events within The Story, it was rather interesting to see you refer to The Story as your story in such direct terms . As many have also observed, one of the central reasons why the heart of your writing has the ability to jump straight into the heart of another is that you write what you know, what you have lived, what you have seen, you may do so in a fantastic setting, but to varying degrees we are all and often able to relate to situations that your characters find themselves in and this is a part of what draws the reader in so deeply.
It is the intriguing mix that is Mairi that resulted in her being first up in what hopefully will be the first of many Q5s. This particular complexity is not one that is very difficult to decipher, for although it seems and is contradictory as you wrote, protecting ourselves with a façade, even incorporating these thoughts and feelings, these traits, into our characters through practice so as to become dual and opposites within the same, is something many of us understand on an intimate level. In Mairi's case, it would seem by what you have written more a case of two very different personae, one real, one enacted perhaps believed, and I very much like what you wrote about her being outside of the comfort zone (so to speak) wherein she could continue to either repress or work to eliminate her insecurities, so that she now finds to herself stripped "naked", alone and apart from any thing on which to lean or reflect what she longs to see. So too that as she learns more about her gift, her confidence has, does and will grow. :-) I think, I have mentioned a time or two just how endearing your main characters are.
With regard to portraying accurate account of what their situation is, you have, many times, but as in life, the big picture as it is often refered to is not often blatant in its entirety in the day-to-day chapters. When we have seen it, up close and personal, however, it has been unforgettable. There have been the various discussions for instance, one recent would be the chapter where Von and Kyra spoke of connections, there has been the questions posed by Em in particular and Mairi privately within their quarters to cite another. The Chapel, which though I know goes right back to the beginning of The Story, was particularly memorable as a case in point also. In short, it is there, bubbling away under the surface, unspoken at times, painfully obvious at others, but always and ever present.
Fated was perhaps the wrong word to use in regard to how Mairi came to be upon Bravo, or any of the others for that matter, a word used in hindsight now that they are the eight that came to be and one cannot imagine a different outcome as anything real. Very likely I, reading, travelled too far along in my imaginings, however in Evv-err she questions Kyra, or at least so it is implied by Kyra's choice of answer which states that yes, she does feel guilty, guilty for being alive aboard Bravo when, and Kyra has been called on assuming too much in this respect, everyone left behind on Hyneria almost certainly perished. In the asking, one could interpret that she, Mairi, has(had) feelings of guilt and/or incomprehension as to why she is there when there are so many others that are not. As quiet as she is deep, to use a commonally accepted word, I'm delighted with what you answered here when you stated quite simply that no, she would not think in those terms, it adds itself to her own personal list of endearing and intriguing qualities.
The famed Dr Goldenhair Surprise portrait was quite something. :-D Perhaps we will see this new version more akin to how you now see him as he burrows deeper into the story. ;-)
Once again, thank you, I gained some valuable insight into Mairi from these answers. :-)
My dear, the pleasure was all mine. If "Blue as the Sky" did happen, and I'm not saying it did, it does highlight one aspect of Mairi's life we haven't visited--namely, she had friends she left behind, family too, that did not have a ticket to ride. Survivor guilt we have visited, and probably will again. The other side of the coin is this question: Was it better to survive? Think about that. Die with your family or escape, when they don't, and escape to what? To what? All they've been doing in running from one crisis to another, two years later and still no place to call home and the mating opportunities have been reduced by one. I need more coffee before I ramble more. :-)
What was it Cait said recently when refuting there had ever been an option to stay behind on Kul'myk? If you do not recall the words either, I shall go and find it for without remembering them, I do remember that she in those words spoke somewhat of what you ask here. None of us know what we would do until in that situation, none of them until they had that decision to make. Just as Rog went after Kyra leaving Yul alone, so too one imagines the others, like Von, would have found peace enough with their decisions at least to be able to walk away. How they have felt since now that reality is upon them day after day is likely something quite different. Unimaginable, that much is clear, what those goodbyes on the dock would have been like to live through and that is even with your having described (some of) them to so achingly.
Morning, x (coffee) :-)
Are my characters talking without me? What the heck. :-D
Not quite what I remembered, :-), but here is the passage I was thinking of. “And I just want you to know that staying, without you, knowing I would probably never see you again, knowing that you had been wrongly accused by someone with a vendetta, someone very powerful who invoked an ancient law, someone that was out to destroy you--and our family--at all cost,” Cait shook her head, “you see, without you, there is no family, there is no us. Staying, quite frankly, never entered my mind.”
I remember that. John was able to leave with his family--Cait and Ariel. They were lucky in that regard in the context of the Bravo crew. Just think of that very painful parting between Rog and Chaz or Aly and Yul or Kyra and Papa or Von and Ceru or LMAO . . . ;-)
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