Carly Micó
Carly Micó asked Lily King:

I'm intrigued by the process of creating characters based on real people; how was it different from unraveling a protagonist who exists only in your imagination? Did your prior research on the true anthropologists inspire you or did it somehow constrict your own creative process?

Lily King Hey Carly!!! Such a good question. I learned you can't read about someone in a biography and feel like you know them or know how they speak or think. You just don't. I had to make them all up just like I make up other characters. And at first I did feel constricted, until I gave myself the freedom to let them do or say anything they wanted, until I just left all history behind and let the story go where it wanted to go.

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