Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy, ideas, and networking. If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
The awesome co-hosts for the March 2 posting of the IWSG are Janet Alcorn, Pat Garcia, Natalie Aguirre, and Shannon Lawrence!
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I'm trying to write the final book in my Menopausal Superhero series right now, and it's kicking my butt. It seems ridiculous, feeling frozen after four novels, 2 novellas, and a selection of shorts.
Maybe it's the finality of it.
This is the end, my chance to wrap it all up, and bring it together in a satisfying way, freeing myself to work on all the other projects that have been calling my name while I forced my focus down this one path to see it through to this moment.
And now that I'm here, I'm suddenly full of doubt.
What if I can't stick the landing? What if I took myself and my readers on this wild ride only to write that ending fails?
It's silly really. My publisher wouldn't let that happen. If I turn in a draft that doesn't do the job, they'll help me with some development edits. But first I have to give them something to edit, and that's where I'm stuck.
So my questions for the IWSG community today:
1. If you've finished writing a series, how did you wrap up it up? Any advice to make sure it satisfies?
2. What series have you read where you either LOVED the ending or were frustrated by it? Why? What makes a good series ending?
Or if you don't have any advice, sympathy is also appreciated! It's a good problem to have, I know, but I still need to solve it.
I hate endings. I'm horrible at endings. I read Stephen's King Dark Tower series and never, ever, finished the ending. They are important, but ugh. I think Harry Potter ended well. Although some major characters didn't make it, but it wrapped up the main plot. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI haven't wrapped up a series but I can imagine ending one would be stressful. I really loved how Jennifer Nielsen wrapped up her Traitor's Game YA trilogy. So much happened, and the ending what very satisfying with all the loose ends tied up. Maybe you should check it out.
ReplyDeleteI was having similar issues when I was getting near to writing the end of what I thought would be the end of my fantasy series—worried that I wouldn't be able to stick the landing and that I would disappoint the few readers I do have, and so on and so forth. I got through it by realizing that it wasn't going to be the end of the series after all.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if this will help at all, but I kept telling myself to leave the readers out of it and write the ending that best serves the story itself.
Best of luck to you. I know you'll come up with something fantastic!
I haven't written an ending to a series, however, I've watched a few on television.
ReplyDeleteLots to choose from: Supernatural's last show was quite good, where Dean waits for Sam. Hot in Cleveland's was good too, where they close the door, and we all know that's the end. In Gilmore Girls, they all go their separate ways.
The last show still had the same demon kicking, sitcom or family drama; but they reserved the last few minutes to indicate this was the end.
Hope that helps.
Anna from elements of emaginette
When I've been disappointed with series endings, it was because the ending didn't seem to flow from what had come before, or it was a downer, or it didn't tie things up in a satisfying way. The most recent example I can think of is Lucifer (TV series). I *love* that show, but I hated the ending. Let's introduce a brand-new character with a brand-new conflict, then have a total downer ending that didn't seem at all justified by what came before. I won't get more specific b/c spoilers, but my husband and I ranted about it for at least a month.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with yours--and I love the idea of a menopausal superhero!