Vive La Différence — Roslyn Sinclair

As I wrote in a previous blog entry, I originally posted my longest femslash story, Truth and Measure, in 2008. It was a Mirandy fanfic that got pretty popular over time, and which I recently divided into two books.

Given the original story’s popularity, I had to walk a fine line between keeping what people loved in the original, deleting what no longer worked, and writing new material. I thought it would be interesting to write about the changes I made and why I made them!

So, without further ado, I updated the original fanfic to reflect:

Changes in modern technology

Remember this phone?

Well, you’ve probably noticed, but smartphones are a thing now! A big one! We text more and call less. You can summon rideshares with an app, order any food, and access more forms of social media than Andy and Miranda had to deal with in 2008.

You can also FaceTime your assistant in the middle of the night when you’re lonely and just want to see her face, for reasons that remain totally opaque to you. You know, normal boss/employee stuff.

Also, say bye-bye to print. In the original story, Nigel started a new men’s magazine. That wouldn’t fly now. Instead, Simon starts an online upscale consignment store aimed at Gen Z, based on my research at what would be appealing and successful to the market everybody wants to capture.

Changes in culture

I don’t know if you heard, but Miranda is Andy’s boss.

The original fic notes that boss/employee romantic relationships are frowned upon, but this conversation has moved to the forefront in recent years with the #MeToo movement. Rightly so. I also contended with this in my rewrite of The X Ingredient.

I wanted to show that Vivian’s aware that this is seriously dicey. I also had to show that she understands the risks for Jules, too, and is anxious to provide safeguards that Miranda never thought about. To this end, she offers to help Jules find another job and shares her own distaste of workplace harassment.

Vivian fisted her hands in her skirt. “I do need you, but not like that. I have ethical limits, believe it or not.”
“If we’re not having sex, why does it matter? We’re having dinner, we’re—doing whatever you imagine us doing, hanging out and talking. I don’t know. How is HR going to fire anybody for that?”
“I don’t care about HR!” Vivian rose to her feet, hands clenched at her sides. “I can stand anything except you feeling obligated or coerced.”

Good job, V.

Coming out

Miranda and Andy never came out in the original story; they just sort of moved in together and let it be an open secret rather than a huge scandal. Again, times have changed. I know that there is more than one kind of queer narrative, and that coming out is not the only story there is, but I couldn’t imagine writing this book and not having Jules and Vivian be out as a couple. It also made sense to me for Jules to identify openly as bi, and even though Vivian eschews labels, she at least has to think about them.

And, yes, the new books gave me the space to write my absolute favorite addition to the series: their failed coming-out at the regatta. Look, they tried, y’all.

Adding/subtracting characters

So who went? Who arrived?

Biggest change: farewell to Miranda’s twins. Oh, the twins. I really enjoyed writing Caroline and Cassidy in the original fic. They also just…didn’t need to be there in the retelling. Vivian didn’t need to have kids. In fact, I thought it’d be an interesting spin if she didn’t. It would give her and Jules something else to connect over. She and Jules are different in age, career status, and material wealth, that’s very true. But neither woman has ever been a mother. They’re going to learn about it together. That’s a huge deal for them both.

Next up: exit Christian Thompson, enter Monique Leung.

Christian had a job to do. He made Miranda jealous, and I do love a jealous ice queen. He also opened up professional opportunities for Andy, and Jules needed that too. But the last thing I wanted was some straight, white, American, freelance writer dude taking up space. Why not, instead, create a character who was as powerful as Vivian, as magnetic as Vivian, and also a queer woman of color?

I had to be careful: I wanted Monique to be an interesting character in her own right, rather than a POC who exists solely to power a white character’s actualization. Which is tough, given that Christian’s other purpose was to do just that for Andy, and I couldn’t eliminate it from Monique’s place in the story. So I gave Monique her own goal–starting a fashion line–for which she would find Jules useful. I didn’t want her to help Jules because she thought she was the cat’s pajamas. She sees that Jules can have value for her enterprise, and when it doesn’t work out, she doesn’t cry into her pillow. It won’t be hard to hire somebody else. She moves on with her fabulous life, having served her narrative purpose.

Did it work? Only the reader can be the judge, but I sure hope so. I really like Monique.

Plus I imagined her as Gong Li, and I am but a humble lesbian, helpless against the tide.

Changes in characterization

Now we’re getting to it.

Like Miranda Priestly, Vivian Carlisle is the editor-in-chief of the world’s most influential fashion magazine. Like Andy Sachs, Jules Moretti is a personal assistant who wants to be a writer. What changed?

Again, I had to be careful. People loved Miranda and Andy. (Okay, let’s face it–mostly Miranda.) I didn’t want to lose what made those characters compelling in the fic, but there were definitely elements that needed changing. Not just to make the book more original, but to satisfy me as a writer and the person I’ve become over time.

Let’s start with Jules.

Updating that personality:

I’ll be blunt: in the fic, Andy was sometimes a doormat. When I was in my late twenties and writing DWP, and more scared of sticking up for myself, I identified with Andy doing what she was told, when she was told to do it, afraid to demand respect. Now that I’m in my early forties, you wouldn’t like to see what I’d do if my boss told me to “bore someone else with my questions.”

Jules needed more than smarts and professional drive: she needed a backbone if she was going to be a suitable partner for a powerful, influential woman in her forties! So where Andy rolled over and meekly accepted a lot of Miranda’s subpar treatment, Jules is more assertive. For example: unlike Andy, after the “coup” scene in Above All Things, Jules tells Vivian that she expects to be included in major decisions that affect their relationship. She’s not unsupportive, but she is direct and unapologetic.

New goals and interests:

Andy’s future was never in fashion. I thought it would be fun, and would make more sense for Vivian and Jules as a couple, for them to have a love of fashion in common. I wanted Jules to be less entitled than Andy and more passionate about what she did. Then, when Vivian’s talking her into their “platonic” arrangement, one of the real appeals she makes to Jules is how much they enjoy sharing that passion:

Vivian sighed deeply. “You think this is ridiculous, don’t you?” She shook her head before Jules could reply affirmatively. “So was the Iris van Herpen collection, and what did you think about that?”
“It’s genius.”
“And ridiculous.”
“But genius,” Jules conceded. “All right. I’m thinking about it. Keep going.”

Speaking of Vivian…

Sanding down the edges:

Let’s face it: Miranda Priestly is cruel.

Charismatic, iconic, but cruel. DWP fans go into stories knowing that, ready for it, because they already know and love Miranda for who she is. But that’s fanfic. Romance, especially sapphic romance, is different. Why should readers root for a complete jackass to have a happy ending?

So Vivian couldn’t be a complete jackass. Nor, frankly, did I want to write a complete jackass. I wanted to write about two people who were suited for each other from the beginning; they just had to figure it out together. Yes, that involves Vivian learning to give more, to take a risk and open up. That’s all part of the fun. It does not involve emotional abuse, which–let’s be honest–is part of Miranda’s canonical character.

Am I saying, “You’re wrong if you enjoy the original fic because Miranda is a jerk”? Absolutely not! I love that you enjoy the fic, and I even kind of love that Miranda is a jerk! But it’s not what I wanted in the rewrite, not what I wanted my own character to be.

As an example, remember in the original story when Miranda summons Andy to London at Christmas, taking her away from her family? And she never apologizes? In fact, she gets kind of nasty at even the suggestion that she should?

Well, Vivian summons Jules too, because–like Miranda–she needs her faithful assistant at her side for reasons she can’t make herself examine yet. But unlike Miranda, she takes that assistant’s feelings into account. Sort of. As much as ice queens generally do, anyway.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Vivian said.
“I’m not being ridiculous,” Jules replied. “It’s not like I expect a present or anything.”
What would a present from Vivian Carlisle be? A book titled An Underling’s Guide to Debasing Yourself More Efficiently?
“You don’t?” Vivian asked. “Then you must not have noticed the one you just got.”
“Huh?”
Vivian gave her a level look. “Didn’t you just say you appreciated meeting some of the most powerful people in publishing?”
Jules returned her look, dumbfounded.
“Do you think that disease-riddled PA was going to sit at my table? Or that she was attending at all?”
Jules’s head was spinning again. The luncheon had been her Christmas present? It was supposed to make up for snatching her out of the bosom of her own family?
Yes, it was. In Vivian’s world, it was adequate compensation and then some. She had fled from Toledo, Ohio, to more glamorous things as soon as she could. She couldn’t imagine that everybody else wouldn’t have done the same. She’d given Jules the kind of present she would have wanted for herself.
It was weirdly sweet. And also pretty messed up.

I mean. She gave it her best shot.

Yes, successful relationships involve effort and compromise. But love isn’t a task you accomplish in spite of who your partner is. Love is the reward you find because of who your partner is. That’s what I wanted to write, and that’s who I hope Vivian became. She’s still brilliant, icy, and hard, like all diamonds are. She’s also more generous and self-aware. And I came to love her, as I hope you did too.

The more things change…

There’s more I could say, much more, and I welcome questions! I understand that the changes won’t sit well with everyone. I’ve heard one reviewer say that she was glad the twins are gone, and other readers messaged me to lament their disappearance. It was always going to be impossible to please everyone, so I had to give up trying and just write the best books I could. I’m proud of what the story eventually became, especially with all the support I had (particular thanks to Lee Winter and my brilliant wife).

And I’m more grateful than I can say for all the love the original story’s gotten over the years, regardless of the changes I made. I’m grateful for the DWP fandom, still going strong after all these years. I’m so happy about that too–so happy that Andy and Miranda still have their devotees. They deserve them.

I’m grateful to you, too. Thanks for reading. If the changes didn’t work for you, I’m sorry and I wish they had, but I hope this blog entry explains why I made those choices. If the changes did work, hooray and I’m so glad! If you haven’t read the books yet, I hope you’ll take a chance on them.

And I hope you’ll find that chance pays off.