Cast in Silence

     Back in 2006 I picked up a book called Cast in Silence by Michelle Sagara. Thinking back four years ago I can't remember what originally drew me to the book, other than the neat name itself, but it certainly wasn't the bland cover. ( It's bad, I know, but usually a book's cover determines whether I'll bother to read the synopsis on the back). One of the things I do recall from back then is that I wasn't very impressed when reading the book. I didn't dislike it, but I think I felt a bit lost in all the information that had been thrown at me. Nevertheless, I became fond of the very colorful characters and picked up the second book of the series when it was published. Then the third. Then the fourth. And again with each passing year. ( The yearly publication schedule is one of the many things that makes me love the series and the author). I'm not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the line I really fell in love with Kaylin, the main character, and the city of Elantra.
     The sixth book of the series, Cast in Chaos was published this September and I devoured the book in a few days. It was brilliant, as expected, but I also found something else. I COULDN'T REMEMBER WHAT THE HELL SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WERE REFERENCED WERE. Naturally, I was bugged.  So I decided to go back and re-read the series again starting with Cast in Silence. I finished it today and- to put it simply- I was astounded. Knowing the characters and events from the later novels, I watched as Ms. Sagara placed the framework for them. A seemingly inconsequential phrase here, a brief character introduction there, all point to hints at important story arcs and developments in the later novels. It was also amazing to see Kaylin for the first time again, and to know just how much her character (and the others, for that matter) will grow.
     All in all, seeing just how carefully Ms. Sagara planned out her novels, it makes me realize just how much I have to grow as a writer. Lesson learned: Don't just sit at my laptop and write! Make a gosh darned framework first! If I get confused with my own character motivations how the heck are my readers going to feel? So it's back to the beginning for my book until I have a proper set up for it.

CNWC (current novel word count): 1,073