Silo series (from the book Wool)

I must say, I had no idea what I was in for when my better informed half announced one evening that we will watch Silo. I was like, mheah, fine, whatever!

He was concerned, as usually sci-fi is not the genre I go for, although I love fantastic fiction and at times they overlap. Anyway, we sit down to watch it and episode after episode I am entranced by the world, the objects, the ideas, to construct.

Oh my! What an amazing work of art! Of course I start looking up information about it and I find out about the books. Uuuuuu! Likey!

And then I look up the author Hugh Howey. A must read for aspiring writers is a series on his website called Writing Insights, in which he generously shares of his experience as a writer and some of the lessons learnt along the way.

I really recommend this section, it is written in an engaging way and it truly provides insightful info. Also, it is nice to find out bits and pieces about the author’s own writing journey.

But I do not want to give out too much, if you read it you will see how interesting and useful it is.

The TV series has 2 seasons one released in 2023 and one in 2024. I must confess that I liked the first season better than the second, but even so, because I liked the world so much, I enjoyed watching the second also.

Even now, more than a week after we finished watching it, I find myself thinking about the silo. I liked a lot how it was represented in the series, the building, the little studios where the people lived. The kitchens that had something of the 1950s and steam punk in them. The way the people dressed.

The world they created in the series is extremely appealing to me, and now that I have started reading the books it is nice to imagine the characters there, in the same silo as the TV series.

It is one of those rare moments when the TV adaptation in a way works with the written work. Usually I do not like them, the TV or movie adaptations, I feel so much is lost (although I do understand they are different mediums and they need to tell the story differently for it to work), but this time, in a way, I like that I saw the series first as now, from the first page of the book, I had the characters placed and ready to go, instead of building the silo in my head slowly.

This is something that I felt I missed in the book, a bit more descriptions of the environment and the characters. I am not complaining though, I am truly enjoying the book so far, and the writing is very interesting in its details and I look forward to discover some of the things that did not make it in the series.

For example, one fun fact, in the book Bernard (IT Manager and later Mayor and overall villain, or maybe not?) is described as a short, a bit overweight man. In the TV series he is played by a towering Tim Robbins. Just an interesting bit, I do not mind it at all, I have accepted that they represent different visions and are created by different people.

I like how Hugh Howie writes and I like the way he transports us into a totally new and fascinating world of his making. Job well done!

I am truly grateful to have come across his writing and creation, not only from an entertainment perspective, but also from a learning perspective, as I did gain some new info and ideas about my own writing (and how to go about it) from his insights mentioned above.

If you give them a read let me know how you liked them. And if you see - or saw - the series, let me know about that also.