BoM/TWS Message Forum

I had a very kind comment today from a reader which started calling JM reckless, and I wanted to expand a little on that, because I completely agree!

One of the hardest parts of BoM is keeping track of different character personalities - mainly because there are so many. But as we were spending so much time in JM's head, and not simply as Will interpreting JM's thoughts, I wanted to give her a personality that was both familiar and distinct.

JM is more reckless than Will, and part of that stems from her unreliable narration. She constantly sees herself as downtrodden, despite the fact she is extremely wealthy and clearly has talents: wakeboarding is really hard! She is plain but definitely not ugly, and although she constantly thinks of herself as unwilling to get what she wants, the exact opposite is true: when she spots a chance, she leaps at it without considering the consequences.

If you look at the past few chapters, you can see this in action. She ambushes Stephanie Wyatt in a public restroom; she tries on the mask in the girls' bathroom and is interrupted; she impersonates Stephanie without even considering she might also be at the lake; she sticks around with Mark even though it's in her interest to leave; and she impersonates Mathilde without even considering she won't be able to do her accent. All of these are incredibly dumb things to do, and while Will occasionally takes risks, he at least has a plan and can improvise. JM doesn't and can't (at least, not as well as Will), and relies on backtracking.

Part of this is her upbringing. Although she's unconscious of it, JM lives in a world where she gets away with things other kids can't. She has never faced a serious consequence in her life - to the point that her biggest punishment is basically being grounded in a luxury mansion for two weeks. But the grass, as they say, is always greener. JM only sees Stephanie Wyatt's body or Mathilde Ambard's life and compares it with what she hasn't got, rather than what she has.

Basically, just because JM thinks something it doesn't mean it's true. One day I would love to see Will step into her identity, if only as a stepping stone to someone else. I imagine his take on the world of Jocelyn Moss would be very different.