Further adventures of Giulia (and probably Hugh)

[Toby Frost]

I've got a question for everyone who's read Up To The Throne and Blood Under Water. Are they "Giulia" novels or "Giulia and Hugh" novels now? In other words, if Giulia went and had an adventure on her own, or we had a flashback to her earlier life, would that seem "wrong" somehow?

 

[nixie]

For me they are about Giulia, a solo adventure wouldn't be wrong. Flashback or future would both work.

I like Hugh but he's a secondary character. You could always give Hugh his own adventure, he's in his twilight years, you've got a wealth of material for his flashback adventures.

 

[Boneman]

Giulia, definitely.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Yes, Giulia. She's the main character, and Hugh is secondary. Although that doesn't mean that you couldn't write a book where their roles as main character and secondary character were reversed, still it seems to me that the series is about Giulia and writing an adventure about her in which he doesn't appear sounds like it would be perfectly satisfying to readers. I mean, some readers might miss him, of course. Readers do get attached to secondary characters or even sometimes quite minor ones. But the real question is, would it be satisfying to you to write a story that is Giulia's adventure alone. You're the writer and if that is where your inspiration takes you ....

 

[Danny McG]

Like I said on this same question on Facebook.
Hugh deffo.

Think of Oliver Reed in the Prince and the Pauper (1977)

 

[Toby Frost]

Cheers guys, that's pretty much what I'd hoped you'd say! I find the whole character dynamics thing really interesting in a nerdy way, and I feel that the books work better not being a Holmes and Watson type partnership. Which isn't to say that Hugh will disappear or be killed off, just that I don't really want them to be equal (mismatched) partners in a crime-fighting-duo sort of way.