Tia asked Sherwood Smith:

Oh also.. There are so many seemingly small details that are woven back into the story, eg Joret noticing Cama as a boy, Dogpiss' egg story and Inda's escape. Where would you put yourself on the planner vs "pantser" spectrum? There are minor moments like Whipstick's discussion with Hadand's Runner about her annual grief - is it hard to choose which aside scenes should be in the book and which should be left out?

Sherwood Smith I'm both a planner and a pantser. Inda's series took twelve years to write (and that was after I got the germination of the idea twenty-five years before that). What to include, what not, is difficult to articulate in a short space. Trying to be brief, there are two criteria: character moments that strike me the way we remember things about people in our lives, and second, laying down tracks for the future. Sometimes that means stories way down the line. Thank you for asking these questions, and for your interest!

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