Endings and Beginnings

I’m not good at bidding farewell to things—worn out clothes, mementos, old china, or raggedy stuffies. If I truly like something, I tend to embrace it as part of my mental domain, to have, hold, and protect forever like a lioness with her cubs. As you can imagine, the sort of cleaning that empties closets and tidies basements does not come without inner trauma.

Ending a book series is even harder. Bidding farewell to the world, the characters, and the excitement of weaving those stories can send authors into a kind of depression. That’s not to say there isn’t also relief. Wrapping up a long-running narrative is hard work. And, probably, there’s also a joyous recognition that new stories beckon, and the necessity to write another book to keep income flowing. All these things can be true at once. For me, though, the goodbyes are hard.

The best antidote to post-series blues is a solid finish. No regrets. No loose ends. If all the plot threads tie up in a good and logical manner, I can move on more easily. That doesn’t always mean a happy ending for every character, just one that makes sense for that person. This approach keeps the accusatory hallucinations at 3:00 am down to a dull roar. There is nothing worse than the Ghost of Protagonists Past.

Plus, if the series is packed away neatly, there’s nothing to say that it can’t be unboxed for another group of adventures at a later date. This is a lovely carrot to dangle when the wrap up gets rocky and I start looking for an excuse for sequels.

I don’t do extra books lightly. There is a significant difference between series with an overarching plot and those without. The latter kind may be related on the surface, as with the “twelve siblings looking for romance” where each character’s book can stand alone and the connective tissue between them is occasional appearances by the other relations. These series can go on forever with the judicious application of loveless cousins.

My series tend to have an overarching plot thread running through the books. In Camelot Reborn, the oncoming war with the fae is the main engine driving the action. It begins with the disastrous results of Merlin’s spell and ends with his attempt to repair the damage he caused. Of course, each book has a fully-realized romance, but also supplies a building block that comes into play at the end. This format takes planning, but ramps up the stakes nicely from book to book until the grand finale.

And thus the series ends. I will deeply miss Medievaland, but I don’t feel anything has been left dangling. That’s not to say I couldn’t come up with something else for Arthur and the boys to do. The round table had a lot of knights, and they only found some of their lost warriors. And who doesn’t love a Grail quest?  But I digress. The truth is, I’m sentimental and after spending so much time with characters, they have become friends.

But the reverse side of the ending coin is beginning something new. Creating a really good arc with meaningful character arcs underneath it—that takes thought, sometimes research, and a fair amount of serendipity. I won’t be rush in unprepared.

But I won’t be timid, either. And I’ve been planning. For now, some story worlds take a well-earned rest. Another is stirring, ready to challenge me and hopefully delight readers. Onwards!