Rekindling my Fiction Addiction

I just finished rereading Captives by Jill Williamson. It. Was. AWESOME!!!! Jill is such a talented writer, and I never ceased to be amazed by how everything comes together so well in the pages of her books. As a writer myself (though unpublished), I have run into so many challenges getting it right. The plot has to be natural and exciting. The characters need to leap off the page and have meaningful arcs. The storyworld is a huge challenge. So many aspects of the cultures, politics, and setting have to be worked out in order for the story to be rich and cohesive. Then, the setting and the villain take turns trapping your hero in impossible dilemmas that it takes a week of brainstorming to get him out of. As a writer, I can appreciate so much more all the work that Jill put into this masterpiece. And as a reader, I can appreciate that I have two more books to read now!