WSF was originally written in third person (she/her) instead of first person (I/me). I generally prefer writing in third person, but I found Ara felt too difficult to empathize with in the early drafts, and part of the problem was the distance third person creates between the character and the reader. I made the switch to first person, and found this made it easier to relate to Ara's anxieties and struggles.

The reason Kav is half-Larik, half-Turian is because of an accidental goof I made when naming her. I was so used to naming characters following the typical Larik naming convention (consonant, short vowel, consonant) that I defaulted to that pattern, completely forgetting that she was a Turian! By the time I realized, I'd been calling her Kav for too long to change it. I decided the simplest solution was to make her half-Larik, thus explaining her non-Turian name.

I mentioned this once before, but there is a continuity error in WSF that I totally missed! Ara veers north when she leaves the night road, but magically transports to the south side of the road later on. Originally, Ara's journey did take place on the north side, but I ended up changing my mind about which side of the road the many locations she visits should be on. I made the necessary changes in the story, but missed the scene where she first leaves the road. Oops!

In an earlier version of the book, I had Ara sipping her tea from a spoon, until someone pointed this out as odd. The reason I wrote Ara using a spoon? Because I always drink hot beverages with a spoon until they've cooled, and I forgot that this wasn't normal for most people!