The Clan Chronicles: The Stratification Cycle

Reap the Wild Wind
Reap the Wild Wind
Reap the Wild Wind

Stratification begins the story of the Clan at a time when they were something very different indeed, unaware of the Trade Pact or their own potential.

Meet Aryl Sarc, Om'ray and Yena,
who yearns to fly.

 

Treat - Click to Show or Hide
Researching my own work. There is a box, somewhere in the basement, with the rest of my notes. These will show you something of what I had to sift through. Not only notes, but the published stories as well. Luckily, I’d promised an annotated set of Trade Pact books to a charity auction and doing those was a great help. (If time consuming. Mike was wonderfully patient.) I wrote out a copy for myself, since the books weren’t mine to keep. As for the folder? Yes. That's the one. The original, with the first pages I ever wrote (and handwritten) about Sira and Morgan inside. Will I share one day? Maybe after Reunification. Remind me.

 

Stratific Cycle

 

Pen
The worldbuilding for Stratification was fun. And maddening. The fun? Cersi, the planet, and its local environments, the two new alien races (the Oud and the Tikitik). The weeks researching rainforests, mountains, deserts, and weird biology were pure joy.

The maddening bit? Having combed the existing trilogy, the Trade Pact, and all my notes, I was left with a daunting list, dozens of pages long, of "stuff" referenced in those books that must be in Stratification too. Trust me, there were times it wasn't at all obvious how I'd do it. But I did. (Though I've learned my lesson. Even one simple cussword can lead to all manner of worldbuilding complications when you have to deal with it in a related story.)

- Julie