Yesterday I flew back from London and on the plane I took advantage of two things, an economy plus seat and the ticking clock. I figured since I was flying from East to West I would use my extra 5 hours to think about A Marked Past and of course the sequel. I may have mentioned a few hundred times that I am about ¾ of the way through book 2. So in mid flight, armed with my laptop, a bottle of Coca-Cola, and my iTouch I settled in for 7 hours of self induced writing cocoon.
To be honest I think I’m struggling a bit to figure out the closing chapters. So far I’ve written 270 pages and about 85,000 words, but I’m still not sure how it’s going to play out in the end. Will the good girl win or the bad guys? Will my readers shake their heads in relief that the good guys walked away or shake them in defeat? No one wants to write a cliché but will the readers return if their hero is squashed like a bug? I have to think back to JK Rowling’s demise of Dumbledore and how she took that chance and killed our hero, Harry’s hero. I cried for him, literally wept so I believe that sometimes defeat is just as rewarding an experience as winning.
This dilemma haunted me in A Marked Past too and not until I actually wrote the closing chapter did I truly know how the book would end. So there I sat in 27C blinking cursor illuminating the tray table in front of me letting my mind wander as the British man next to me read every word that I typed on the screen. Probably even the words of this blog, he even chuckled at some of the high jinks I was writing so I maybe I’m on the right track after all. I guess we’ll know in 8 months or so when Book 2 is polished and released.
Hi Leslie,
ReplyDeleteI have a ms. where I wanted to kill off the MC because it made the most sense to me. I wrote 3 different endings and asked writers I admire & trust to read it. Turns out killing off the MC was a necessary cathartic step to me finishing the book satisfactorily, but it would've been the kiss of death to submit it that way. The ending is now none of the original 3 versions and I'm happy with it.
So my suggestion is to write it out, several ways if necessary, but not to publish until you get serious editorial feedback.