GUEST COLUMN Character Micro-Growth in a Series by Kelly Brakenhoff
I visualize my mystery series as one TV season. Recently, I completed the third book in my Cassandra Sato academic mystery series and gained a better understanding for how each book fits into the whole. While the main character will be very different at the end of the series than she was on page one, in each book Cassandra experiences microscopic moments of character growth. These slight changes may seem minor during each episode but play a key role in her overall transformation within the series. As an example, in Dead of Winter Break, Cassandra Sato is learning American Sign Language (ASL). Growing up on Oahu, Hawai’i, among her Japanese American family, she already knows phrases from several languages and has been exposed to the multicultural cornucopia of island life. It’s common for people there to switch between several languages during one conversation, fitting the best phrases to the context. Learning a second (or third) language is an enormous challenge for adults. Cassandra’s co-worker friend Meg, an ASL interpreter at Morton College, had already taught Cassandra a few ASL phrases in Death by Dissertation and Dead Week, the first two books in the series. But whenever she has a longer conversation with a Deaf student or faculty member, Cassandra relies on Meg’s expertise to interpret the complete message. Cassandra often says she knows enough signs to match an average toddler’s vocabulary level. She has a long way to go! 58 | UncagedBooks.com
This time, Cassandra is more motivated to learn. She’s working on a grant proposal with Dr. Bryant, a Deaf Studies professor and community activist. Meg is at home on vacation and Cassandra plans to meet with him alone over winter break. Although Cassandra bingestudies YouTube videos and practices another student, she feels frustrated by the difficulty of learning a new language. As an ASL Interpreter for over thirty years, I spend my workdays switching between two languages and cultures simult a n e o u s l y. I interpret in university classrooms where I convey the lectures and class discussions between the Deaf students and teacher in English and ASL. Including my experiences and feelings is one of my favorite parts of writing and brings authenticity to the college setting for the readers. Becoming fluent in a second language took me years of study and practice. Before going on vacations abroad, I like to study enough foreign language phrases to use in basic everyday communication. Interpreting requires a much higher level of understanding both languages than chatting with a taxi driver or ordering food in a restaurant. Luckily, on vacation I can get away with a very limited awareness. In this story, Cassandra is highly motivated to learn ASL and she has found readily available practice partners. If you ever have tried learning a second language, immersing yourself in a place with native users of the language is much faster and easier than studying a book or video. Years ago, while I was learning ASL and improving my proficiency, I worked at an agency that served Deaf sen-