Larissa Pham

So and the third meaning of discipline, which is kind of maybe the sexiest, right?

Discipline and punish, which, you know, it's a book about revenge, right?

So it's also kind of a book about punishment and or this idea of like disciplining someone for something they've done wrong, which Christine is very interested in.

But I think that the definition of discipline that most appeals to me is this kind of rigor, this interest in, you know, working really hard and working really devotedly to make something, to create something.

When I think of the word discipline, I always think of like someone sitting up really straight.

And I think of Christine as someone with a really good posture.

And I think that's sort of like.

a reflection of how much discipline she does have.

She's able to really carry herself in this way.

And so I enjoyed playing with those multiple meanings, like thinking about how such a loaded word could also be refracted so many different ways.

And it was interesting because it wasn't the original title for the book.

It actually took some time to arrive at.

And I think it was actually in that chapter,

where Francis and Christine are talking, and Christine is like, I'm not like you.

I lacked discipline.

I was like, wait a second.

Like, I think this could really work for the whole thing.

The very first title that I kind of ran with for a bit was Tracks.

I was thinking of it as like, you know, the old painter is following the tracks that Christine is leaving.

There's something kind of mysterious about it, maybe too mysterious.