Editing: Draft 5 done and sent to beta readers
Writing: Began a new novel. Surprise? This story feels like an unexpected birthday gift glittering in pretty paper. I already have almost all the key points fleshed out, and even an intro written in the mad zeal of a new idea, plus a few scenes. I wish I could talk about it, because it’s so much fun. I’ve drafted up 16,000 words that feel like pure play. Maybe this is me procrastinating, I don’t know, but I’m not going to stop now. I’m not foolish enough to send back gifts from the universe.
Books Read:
The Forest for the Trees by T. Nielson
Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning
Faefever by Karen Marie Moning
Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning
Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
I pushed through the last of my revisions and then I had to sit on my hands for a few weeks, going nuts. I know that my writing brain needed a break and a recharge, so I dove into books, specifically outside my usual comfort zone. Hello again, romance, and nice to meet you paranormal (which I have never read before).
Okay, so I do tend to go on binges of things, and if there’s a series, I will keep reading and reading like the hungry girl I am. The library is my <3 forever. It’s an enabler when you have no space to keep a lot of books, and not enough $$. And now there are e-books I can borrow so I don’t even have to walk sometimes.
Lately I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around series endings, and I haven’t formulated any particular thoughts. I haven’t written a trilogy or a series, so I don’t know what kind of forethought or planning might go into something like it. Here are a few random ones:
I do feel that Moning found her feet in the last 2 books, and think she improved quite a lot in her writing style as the series went on. I was pleasantly surprised at how she managed to tie everything up at the end, and making the resolution feel hard won.
I was also impressed by Stiefvater’s ending to the Raven Cycle books. It fit perfectly: tone, mood, expectation, payoff, while still surprising. The ending didn’t leave me feeling like pieces were missing. It left me feeling like the characters grew, changed, and earned the endings they got.
The endings of both series left this little nub of hope that makes you think that the lives of the characters go on, and have adventures without you. If I were to end a series, I’d want it to feel like that. Not a forever ending, just one, that the characters are bigger than a book.
Endings are a hard thing to pull off, and I think there’s no real formula. Maybe writing a satisfying ending depends on whether the kind of story you’ve been trying to tell matches the story you actually told. I really do think that at least these two authors must have thought out the end game from the beginning of their series’, because there were enough dropped hints woven through to make it feel like they didn’t come out of nowhere.
Maybe one day I’ll write a series, instead of “stand alone’s with series potential”. Maybe one day I’ll have to figure out how to wrap things up, or go on with the surety that I will be given the opportunity to finish a story. I’d like to have the kind of time to expand, and explore a little more, go a little deeper.
Also… currently adding a million books to my ‘for later’ shelf. Yeah, it keeps growing.