Loki
asked
Erin Bow:
I just now read Scorpion Rules, and am looking forward to seeing Swan Riders when it comes out. I was a bit surprised to hear you could have in your future had Lake Erie become a mostly drained marshy muck, without it seeming to affect Lake Ontario's ability to supply potable water to the region. Even granting Lake Erie's shallow nature, how realistic did you think that possibility?
Erin Bow
FINALLY SOMEONE WHO NOTICED THE HYDROLOGY.
Yes, you're quite right, you can't drain Erie without affecting Ontario.
I did it anyway. I figured: Erie is shallower, and it has historical resonance as a troubled body of water. And most importantly, the geography of the conflict in the book meant that doing the same thing to Ontario didn't work.
There used to be a paragraph in the book about the PanPolar hydrology project that rescued Lake Ontario, but it turned out that none of the characters cared about it, so I took it out. It was pretty hand-wavy anyway, and mostly there to show the audience that the author did in fact know which order the Great Lakes flow. My early readers said that a) it was boring, and b) no one would notice about the lakes, and until now, no one has.
Yes, you're quite right, you can't drain Erie without affecting Ontario.
I did it anyway. I figured: Erie is shallower, and it has historical resonance as a troubled body of water. And most importantly, the geography of the conflict in the book meant that doing the same thing to Ontario didn't work.
There used to be a paragraph in the book about the PanPolar hydrology project that rescued Lake Ontario, but it turned out that none of the characters cared about it, so I took it out. It was pretty hand-wavy anyway, and mostly there to show the audience that the author did in fact know which order the Great Lakes flow. My early readers said that a) it was boring, and b) no one would notice about the lakes, and until now, no one has.
More Answered Questions
Brittany
asked
Erin Bow:
This might be an overly think-y question, but as a fellow proud Hufflepuff (why don't people understand it is about *values* not *traits*?) I thought I'd ask. I'm not sure I quite understand how the succession of hostages works in "The Scorpion Rules." The hostages leave at 18. Then who is the hostage for their country until they produce their own hostage?
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