Some authors like to end their stories with all the threads thoroughly knotted and no loose ends to plague the reader with “what happened to…?” Other authors leave you hanging, not unlike season finale cliffhangers on television. Then there are the stories that can stand alone or provide the basis for furthering a series that will continue the story.
It seems to me that there is a real art to mastering this, because I am not sure a story is ever really done. Much like our own lives, the lives of our characters continue to develop unless we kill them off in our stories – and with a paranormal romance, even that is not necessarily a permanent thing. I really enjoy reading series. There is something about immersing myself in the world that an author has created that I find more appealing than a standalone story. The original Dune series is probably one of my favorites and when Frank Herbert passed away I was seriously depressed that the series was over. When his son decided to carry on with the prequels, I was ecstatic and have bought each new book as it has come out. A series lets the reader really get to know the characters and the culture from the different points of view in a way that is simply not possible in a standalone book.
Unfortunately, some authors do not seem to realize when the storyline is played out. As a novice writer, I’ve pondered how I can prevent cannibalizing my storylines or sucking the life out of them. When is it time to hit “save” and push away from the computer? The knee-jerk response is when the characters stop “talking” to you but even that isn’t a safe guideline to adhere to. As with your day to day interactions, not everyone talking is actually saying something of significance.
For now, I plan to trust my critique partners and my editor to help me strike that balance between giving just enough to keep my readers coming back for more.
Fourteen Years
3 weeks ago
