22/10, Emma Westray’s Birthday (TBA Readalong Bonus)

Today, as we will learn in the readalong post for the 30th October, is Emma Westray’s birthday. Isabel misses it, so we only hear about it belatedly, but I thought you might like to be reminded of it on time, so that we can collectively celebrate it.

The Butterfly Assassin takes place in 2029, and Emma Westray is turning eighteen. This means she was born in 2011 (horrifying), which means if she were real, today would be her twelfth birthday.

Happy birthday, Emma. You are, as far as I am aware, the only character in this trilogy who actually has a canon birth date, since Isabel’s birthday got cut from The Hummingbird Killer and now neither she nor I can remember what it was (it’s in April, that’s all I know). Congratulations. Please use this privilege well.

(Writers: do you give your characters birthdays? All the way down to the date, or just a vague sense of what month they were born?)

2 comments

  1. Chalkletters says:

    Happy Birthday Emma!

    I usually give my characters birthdays (including specific date) if they’re characters in our world. My fantasy worldbuilding is not robust enough to have different months, so in those cases I historically haven’t bothered.

    • Finn Longman says:

      Yeah, with fantasy calendars can get complicated fast!

      Isabel did have a specific birthday at one point, but after it got cut from the book I forgot what it was, and now (as of book 3) it’s canon that she’s not sure either 😅 Mostly this is not something I know about characters, although come to think of it, I think there are dates on a couple of gravestones later in the series which might give canon birthdays for other characters… 🤔 I think Emma is the only one who gets a birthday while alive though, lol.

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