Endings - When is it time for a sequel, and when should the damn story be left alone?

Another novel comes to an end. Two Doors Down (still not happy with that title) has reached the final chapter. It's a pretty dramatic feeling.

Page 400. Never thought I'd get here.

Don't fret, this doesn't give away anything major (not that you'll know what the story is actually about). By the time this novel gets a release, you won't even remember seeing this picture. Plus, there's no way you can read every word of this. My heiroglyphics can be somewhat troublesome to decipher.

It's been a long journey with Ari (who lost her phone and needed a job to replace it) and the old bat from down the road (who gave her a job, but what a job it is). It's changed both characters (as it should - your story MUST have an arc, people!), and I've enjoyed tagging along for every minute of their discoveries. But they're about to move on without me. They don't need me anymore.

Now, I believe I've discussed endings in the past (here, somewhere, maybe), but I haven't really gone into what it means for the author. Months on end are spent with these characters and their stories. What happens when the story is done? Is there always room for a sequel? Should there be?

Even if there's never a sequel, these characters (if we've written them well, if we've made them sing) never leave us. If I was asked to put any one of my characters into a specific scene or situation, if I was asked to write them right now, I know that they'd snap immediately back to life for me. I know how they'd react. I lived with them all for long enough.

I wrote a novel YEARS ago (massive comic fantasy, I mean huge), and the lead characters Louisa Laloupe and Geraldine Floure still pop up in my head sometimes. A real pair of idiots. I loved writing them. That book was so much fun to discover. I kind-of wish I could write it again. I definitely wish I could get somebody to read about them. It was demented. Body swaps, musical numbers, extraordinary violence, supreme stupidity, Lead Astray had it all. Man, I miss it.
And we're talking 17, 18 years since I finished writing it. Gerald and Louisa are still with me. I still know what stupid things they'd do. I think that when you're having fun with a character, or you're at least interested in them yourself, then your writer's work is going well. They should be unusual. They should be strange. They should be bloody-minded. They should occasionally be cowardly in the face of dangerous. They should, at least sometimes, be stupid. They should be like us. And we should miss them when it's all over. After all if the writer doesn't miss them, then why on earth should any reader care?

Getting to the final act of A Graveyard Visible was a relief, because I thought I would never get there. That novel stopped and started so many times that I was convinced it was out of gas and would have to be abandoned in a ditch. Importantly, however, when I wrote the final line I was sad it was over and I was out of that world (for a while at least; need to let these scratchings rest before attempting the next draft), and I was also proud, because the work had that feeling of completeness. It was whole. It felt right. It felt done. It's hard stepping away when the story's done, though. I'd spent a lot of time with Caleb and Misha. They're a part of me.

Honestly? AGV is a dark place - but also an incredibly interesting one.

Layers of shadow and light.

Technically, there is room for more story in the world of AGV - but I'm tempted to leave it alone. Let it stand. Let readers make of it what they will. It's a very dark world to be in, and if I returned I would only find it darker, pitch black almost. As a contrast, Two Doors Down has been packed with lively bright energy. That's not to say that AGV is slow-paced - quite the opposite. The difference is that Two Doors Down feels complete, a story that has been told in its entirety.

It's funny how some novels you write could go on after the end, but it doesn't feel right. That's what it's all about, the feeling of completeness. If the writer goes too far and tries to wring another book out of the characters, it can dilute the appeal of the first book. It can leave a sour taste. That can't be worth it. This is probably too famous an example really, too obvious a choice, but look at the Star Wars prequels. That whole debacle should feature in writing classes - How To Ruin A Property and Really Upset the Fan Base. Never force the story. (Just noticed I wrote 'Star Wars' and 'force' near to each other. Ignore that.)

There's stuff up in the air with AGV, though. So, more is possible. Or not. I could change my mind, though.

As for Macadamian Pliers, have I said 'so long' to him? No. That story isn't over. That's going to be a trilogy. Second volume is pretty much done. No endings there yet. Reaching the end of the first book was more a case of 'so long for now'.

Macadamian Pliers

Out now. Go on.

A Graveyard Visible

Also out now. Go on, seriously

Laters.

(Hey, look, that was an ending.)
(Or was it?)

Next up, a series of spooky blogs. Halloween is coming...

Endings part 2. (Will it ever end?)

There's nothing worse than that git at a party who won't bugger off home. It's particularly annoying when it's your party in your house. We've all had a lovely time (some of us a bit too lovely), but if good things aren't allowed to end they become boring, agitating things that beg to be kicked out of the door.

You don't want anyone to feel that way about your book, do you? What I'm trying to say is, it's very important to know when to wrap things up. More words isn't necessarily better value.

Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed The Diviners by Libba Bray. I went through a period of a couple of days where I was picking up a book, and not getting much further than a page before deciding it wasn't for me. Sometimes I get really fussy, and nothing will do. So for The Diviners to tickle my interest was no mean feat.

Seriously good cover.

But boy did it take a long time to end.

I REALLY enjoyed the book. The author gets a great handle on the time and place, makes the reader feel the atmosphere of Manhatten in the 1920's, the excitement of the nightclubs, the danger of Prohibition. The lead character is a bit wild, so when she does anything a little crazy it doesn't feel out of place.

I had a little niggle with the book as it went along, and it had to do with the horror elements. There were a couple of sequences involving the Big Bad at the centre of the story (as there had to be), where he stalks and kills his victims, and they felt a little strong, a touch out of place. Overall though, this book is pretty much the berries (you'll get the reference when you read it (and you should read it)). But the ending. It goes on a bit.

After the climactic battle with the Big Bad (won't tell you who won!), there are a lot of pages left to go. Not many of these are spent wrapping up loose ends. The majority of this space is filled with placing some brand new threads, a whole bunch of them left dangling in a not so subtle manner which says 'There's another book coming and now you're going to have to read it'. I don't mind a book that has all its characters (however many survive) at the end and it is clear that there is a possibility of more adventures. I also don't mind if there's a larger arc make crystal clear from the beginning, then I know what I'm in for. But ending a story and suddenly sticking in a bunch (and I do mean a bunch) of conspiracies and mysteries that need solving? One a time, please. One at a time.

Everything seems to have sequels these days. It seems almost impossible to pick up a book and find it's a stand alone beast and not one of triplets (at the least). That's okay - unless it feels forced. Three stories stretched to breaking point, or one that is complete and whole and satisfying? That's a pretty easy choice.

Two Doors Down (the novel I've nearly nearly finished) seems to have a similar problem. The big climax is done with, and it's a pretty damned action-packed sequence if I do say so myself. There's a few things to wrap up afterwards, but my concern is that it's going to be a bit of a drag after all the fun of the finale. Usually, once I've had my blockbuster end sequence, I tend to wrap up the novel pretty quickly. I mean, I really don't like to hang around. When the story's done, it's done. No hanging about to see how the characters lives turn out after all the hoo-ha. This time, there are events that legitimately have to happen after the adrenaline sequence, there's no avoiding it, no changing stuff around because it simply wouldn't make sense any other way. I feel okay about myself in that way - the writer must always be true to the story, and most importantly true to the characters. All developments must come naturally. A reader will always sense any wrongness, and there's no worse cheat than a fudged ending.

However, things need to be tightened up in Two Doors Down. Remember the famous equation: Second draft = first draft -10%

Basically, fellow writers, rock up at the party, give it some groove, show your trick, then get out while they're still clapping.

I'm reading the sequel to The Diviners now. Honestly, I almost didn't bother because of that whole ending shenanigan - but again, I was struggling for anything else to read. (See how a drawn-out ending can potentially put your reader off coming back for seconds?) Amazingly, it's jam-packed with another one of my bugbears - dream sequences. Even more amazingly, despite all that, I'm still quite enjoying it. Miss Bray really is that good with character and place. (Note: I've read a fair bit more of the book since starting this blog, and I'm not really digging it, even with the focus on dream sequences. It's lost a bit of the party-atmosphere pizzazz of the first novel though.)

And hey, if you fancy checking out how I end a novel, click the pic at the bottom of this post, grab yourself a good horror read - and give me some grief if you don't like the way it all turns out. :)

Laters

Why does the second book deal feel better than the first?

A second horrible child is on the way. And I couldn't be happier.

(By the way, this episode is all about me. Deal with it.)

A Graveyard Visible has done what I thought was impossible. It has landed a publishing contract. All going well, it will tear itself loose around October/November 2017.

Currently I have the pleasure of choosing images to inspire the designer of my new front cover. I used to dream of such days... I can't tell you how much fun I'm having, imagining what the final product will look like in my hands. Another real actual book, sitting next to Mac Pliers on the shelf!

This is pretty cool - it's got the hill, craggy old tree,

headstones dotted about. A bit grey, but mood is about right.

This is a wow. Love love love.

I'd read a book with this cover in a heartbeat.

Wowzer, right?

Too zombie-ish for my novel, but still...

I could always stick a zombie in.

That's about a quarter of one percent of the amount of stuff I've actually looked at (and in truth none of these has actually been chosen to pass along for inspiration, and - for the record - I don't own any of them, okay? So no-one freak out).

I've written a hell of a lot since I started tapping away on my knacky electronic typewriter 20-some years ago. I'm about to finish my tenth full length novel. (There's various scripts and attempts at short stories on top of that. Even a poem or two. We all try stuff out. Some sticks, some... bad times.) So, until I got the incredible news about A Graveyard Visible, I had a single novel and 3 short stories published over the course of those 2 decades. One novel. 20 years. Mac Pliers looked like a fluke.

People always say this - it took J K Rowling x amount of attempts before she got published, you know. It's usually Rowling they refer to. And the amount of attempts varies from 20 to 30 submissions to publishing houses. I wish I had that kind of average! We're talking in the hundreds for submissions here. Not hundred. Hundreds.

There was only one conclusion: either my targeting was way off, or I simply can't write, and Mac Pliers was an accident bound to happen when one has committed so many strings of words to paper.

A discouraging thought, I'm sure you'll agree.

So, as happens every few months (for I am a stroppy writer, don't you know), I decided that my most recent submissions would be my last. I was wasting my time, other people's time who had to read my queries, and all in all that seemed to be a lot of time going up the spout. Best to get on living, and keep my scribbles to myself.

I meant it this time.

I really did.

I sent it, gave up on it, and we had a busy Christmas in which everything but food, drink and cats up trees was forgotten, and then in the first week of the new year an offer of a contract came. I'm pretty certain I cleared the high jump world record. 2nd time really is the charm, folks. It's much harder even for stroppy writery me to believe in a double fluke. I might actually be good at this. In fact, I'm actually doing it, I'm being a writer. Plus, another novel of mine received 2 very positive bits of feedback in the very same week. Not an acceptance, but positive feedback. 2017 has been very nice so far.

No hidden morals in this story. I mean seriously everyone, if I can keep going after THIS LONG and finally get to where I want to be, then there's hope for every single one of you. It simply needed a teeny tiny touch more patience than originally anticipated.

Perhaps I'll stick with this novel game a while longer. Only this time, I need to get a good grasp on promotion.

This time.

Don't forget - this guy gets re-released at the end of Jan 2017

Laters