Andie asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Hello again! I have a question about Ivan. I seem to recall reading somewhere that your characters had quite decided personalities and so writing with them was an adventure, not always what you expected. Did you always know that Ivan was quite bright, even when he seemed to be Ivan-you-idiot? Or did he grow into that as he matured? I liked him very much by the later books, but not as much in the beginning. TY :)

Lois McMaster Bujold
Ivan always had capacity, but he really was pretty feckless and thoughtless as a youngster and teen. He earned his moniker through a string of boneheaded gaffes, misadventures, and remarks, not recounted. (Nor made up by me in detail, so don't ask, but his nearest and dearest witnessed and remembered, to his later annoyance.) But, like the more fortunate among us, he survived and learned better over time. By 25, he was much improved, and by 35 hardly off-putting at all.

He also, of course, grew in the writing, as did all the ongoing series characters. When he first stumbled onto my page in 1984 in my second-ever book (WA) he was mainly a foil for Miles, though already with his own voice. When the chance to reuse him came up in my fifth, Brothers in Arms he had not only the in-story time but also the page space to develop.

Ta, L.

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