I’ve said it before, and I’ll admit it again. Dee began as a one-line joke at a conference. But then, some of my favorite characters began as one line of some kind. Dee’s line was that she was a shape-shifter who couldn’t have sex, because every time she tried, she turned into the guy’s mother.

Honestly, it was just a throwaway line. It wasn’t until Jenny and Krissie and I were well into the brainstorming process that it occurred to me that I had to find out why Dee kept turning into the guy’s mother. It was during a period when I kept writing about Dee’s attempts to get Mare to do what was good for her, and Jenny kept objecting to it, that I stumbled upon Dee’s motivation. Jenny might have made some comment about my having mothering issues. (worse, Mare and Lizzie objected. That never happens when I write the whole book myself. All younger siblings are eternally grateful) (and if you believe that I’d like to tell you that my pseudonym is J.K. Rowling). So I objected back. Delicately.

Which was when it hit me. I don’t have mothering issues(although, as an oldest sister myself, I could certainly empathize with Dee. Nobody really understands or appreciates us), but Dee does have mothering issues. She’s been taking care of her sisters her whole life. Her whole focus has been keeping them safe, not only as growing girls with extra normal powers, but as the target of their less-than-benevolent Aunt Xan. Dee’s broke, she’s the only one who understands how perilous their situation is, and she’s stuck in a bank counting other people’s money when she’d so much rather be painting great art in Montmartre.

Dee can’t see a way out. She loves her sisters more than life, but she’s tired of always being the heavy, of always taking on all the responsibility, of always carrying the load(at least in her mind). She wants more. And instead, every time she tries to have a relationship with a guy, she finds out he’s just looking for a mother, too. It’s not a huge leap to see what would transpire in a girl’s subconscious. Poof! Green smoke. The guy ends up in therapy–if he’s lucky–and she ends up the Oldest Virgin in North America (self-claimed title).

Dee’s story is how she comes to find the one man who might not inspire the same reaction, and the courage she has to have to attempt the act. Well, that and dealing with her sisters, her aunt, her magic, and the fast-approaching feast of Beltane, the ultimate celebration of fertility. Never let it be said, though, that Dee isn’t up for a challenge.

Eileen