else who could bear it?
~Nicholas Rowe
I finished a story today. Well, the deadline was two weeks ago but it went into pre-edits so I wouldn't have plot holes big enough to drive a tractor trailer through. Thank goodness for a good friend who happens to be my editor. She knows she can be honest and tell me what isn't working and what needs resuscitative CPR.
This story is near and dear for a few reasons - I wrenched it out of a dark corner of my mind where it wallowed since 2007. Never thought it would see the light of day...
And also because I alternately hated and loved seeing it transform and evolve from a story with a lot of insurmountable issues I didn't have the talent to deal with, to a workable story.
It began to live and breathe.
Only a writer understands that concept. It doesn't matter if you're the least-talented writer with the worst story on the planet, or the NYT bestselling author...your stories and characters become a part of you.
This was my story, it is a part of me.
Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending
~Lazurus Long
And now I have to say goodbye. I nearly cried. What am I going to do without my fun heroine, who (sort of) took the stick out of her a$$ long enough to fall in love? How will I leave my lovely, dark, brooding hero who thought he'd live forever in the Darkness?
Now I know why authors write series. They can't let go.
Thank you, Decadent Publishing, for having faith and allowing me to bring it forth. And for my writing friends, you know who you are, who listened to me whine and bitch and cry because it wasn't happening or I couldn't do it, or something wasn't working. You guys are stellar friends and every writer needs one or two like you!
Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened
~Theodor Seuss Geisel
Can't wait to read this new one its gonna ROCK...
ReplyDeleteWow! I echo Dominique's comment. Can't wait to read it. Anything you worked this hard to bring to life is surely going to be awesome. (I'm still mad at you for the scary email saying good-bye. Bad Valerie!)
ReplyDeleteYeah I write series but I don't know what I'm going to do when they're done. I'll prob cry to be honest.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I feel your pain. I go through it too. It helps to write more than one story at a time--or at least it works for me.
ReplyDeleteAhh, I know how you feel. Don't worry, though, another story will happen along and you'll fall in love all over again.
ReplyDeleteI remember hitting a 'finish' with my Caribbean Spell Neverending Pirate Saga...and I cried for three days. Then I couldn't stand it and started another book, set several years in the future...
ReplyDeleteI refused to say goodbye!
I had a contemporary series that I just finished up late last year. I had worked on it forever, and finally ironed out all the problems. The biggest problem was letting go, saying goodbye to the family, and it was four brothers that I knew (well not personally I guess, but still I knew them).
ReplyDeleteI hated not being able to invent another. It bothered me, so I struggled with the last book, took me forever and I guess most of the readers thought, well, "she won't finish the series". But I finally did.
Now that it is gone and out there, I'm better.
Wrapping that whole family up and telling them goodbbye was like parting with family. They could have been my brothers, since I don't have any.
Yes, I know the feeling. I feel for you kid, but time makes it better, that, and getting involved in something new!
Love and blessings
Rita
It does hurt to end a story you have spent many hours, days, and sometimes years on. The characters become so important to you. I wish you all the best with Hey You. I can't wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds seriously fabulous and your fans will flip. I have this same reaction at times to the last line. I hate to put it down because then I will have to walk away from characters that I have cried for and send them out for public adoration and ridicule. I knew you could do it though. And I can't imagine anything but fantastic responses. :-D
ReplyDeleteIt's really strange. I know *exactly* what you mean by the characters in a story coming to life. I've got characters in my head from... More stories than I want to admit, really. They get in fights with one another. They try to get into one another's stories. Sometimes I feel like a den mother, or the director of a Home for Imaginary friends. Some of those characters are... *WAY* less subdued than others (Please, Lord, do NOT let Tenly and X into the same 'verse. KTHXBAI)
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, thing is, I don't get the 'oh, no, I'll never write anything else'. By the time one story is done, someone *else* is in the queue waiting to come out. Also, I don't often get the 'oh, no, this is good bye', either, because... I guess because it's never goodbye. Farewell? Maybe. A farewell that may well become permanent? Again, maybe. But if those characters have more stories, they'll get back in the queue.
They're NOT shy...