Shuden’s comments on marriage early in this chapter have often earned me smiles and jibes from my friends. An author puts a little of himself into every character he crafts, and sometimes we find a particular character being our voice in one way or another. I’ll admit, the way marriage is treated in this book does have a little bit of a connection to my own personal thoughts on the subject. It isn’t that I’m avoiding the institution. . .I just find the formalities leading up to it to be a dreadful pain.
I had a bit of trouble in this book devising personalities for all of the noblemen who would be hanging around Sarene. Some of them, such as Shuden, don’t get very much screen time, and so it was a challenge to make them interesting and distinctive. In the end, however—after several drafts—I had their characters down so well that when my agent suggested cutting one of them, I just couldn’t do it. So, perhaps there are a few too many names—but this is a political intrigue book. Lots of people to keep track of is a good thing.
This is before he was dating his now-wife.
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