WHAT I LOATHE ABOUT MY CHARACTERS

It’s a question of where to start with Brankaresh, the Queen’s Chief Wizard.  He’s power hungry, sexist and known to kill to advance his career.  He does not believe in waiting for dead men’s shoes!  Indeed he has been responsible for the dead men being dead. He mistakenly feels he can force the Queen’s hand and plans to marry her to gain access to the vast powerhouse of spells the fairy royals own.  The fact she’s gorgeous is a bonus but Manatrix, an old rival, feels Brankaresh would make love to a gargoyle if it helped his career.  Brankaresh ends up allying himself with the Witch and together they do briefly overthrow the Queen but it all ends in tears - and the Queen is one of those characters determined to ensure they’re not hers.


the Queen has difficulty understanding the need to distinguish between confidence and arrogance.  It didn’t occur to her Eileen would resent continually being sent out on dangerous missions, that it definitely looked as if Eileen was being sent out of the way which would get up anyone’s nose.  The Queen, believing duty is all, feels that must automatically make her right, which it doesn’t.  The Queen does acknowledge she needs L’Evallier as a kind of conscience which is to her credit but she has the ability of her ancestor, Gwendolyn, to aggravate everyone.  The Queen desperately needs to learn to be more humble.


Eileen can mishandle relationships.  Tact is a foreign language to her.  She’s happy to deceive Derek about who and what she is (though she feels she’s protecting him) but would be the first to complain if someone did that to her.  Hypocrisy isn’t a problem for Eileen (which helps make her fun to write for!).  She likes freedom of choice but is stunned when Jennifer marries Paul.  Eileen does not take this graciously.  She snipes at Paul.  This looks suspiciously like sulking her daughter did not listen to her!   Eileen likes to run the world her way, any world come to that.  She has more in common with the Queen than she cares to admit and even more with the Witch!