I have a confession. I am in the midst of a weeklong churl fest in which I give three shits about nothing. What does that mean for this post? I typically get it ready several days in advance. This week, I just… couldn’t. In fact, I could not even muster the oomph to care.
What I did do, is wake up around 1:30 this morning. Comfy in bed, I thought about what I would write if I should decide to care. So here I am, fifteen minutes after the normal posting time, just getting started.
This month, we’re talking about endings, the literal kind as well as the literary. On week one, I talked about my relationship to goodbyes and endings in general. I was never good at life endings, and found most book endings vaguely unsatisfactory. That bled over to my writing life and colored my ability to conjure The End.
In week two, I told you about growing to hate the manuscript of the first book in my Awen Trilogy, and how I seriously considered abandoning the whole thing.
Now, today, let’s talk about my dance with Book Two’s ending.
Written February 7, 2018.
The first draft of Awen Storm is finally finished, yeehaa! Truth be told, it was done by November 31st, my self-imposed deadline. I just didn’t know it at the time.
What took me so long to realize my draft was complete? And why did I dance around for the next eight weeks, forcing myself to keep writing?
Because I’m not all that good at endings. I just don’t seem to have the knack—not at ending novels—or chapters in my life. My [old] blog is littered with examples.
As an author who arrived at her craft in later years, I am still learning my writing process. Not your process. Not King’s or Hemingway’s. My process. Yet even after uncovering my patterns and peculiarities, I tend to forget. Until one rears its head again.
My first completed work happened to be a children’s book. I loved writing Frank and Ernie Find Home. I would sit at the PC for hours on end with a silly grin plastered to my face. I had so much fun, I decided that book should be a series. Because—well—that ending thing.
My second was a humorous women’s fiction novel (ye old chick-lit genre), which I abandoned before "The End.” Why? Because I mistakenly believed at the time that it needed to be 80K words. I had bottomed out at 50K. I missed that 50K is a fine length for a romance novel/la. OUCH!
Book One of the Awen Trilogy, Awen Rising, is 105K words. I initially wrote 15K past the natural ending. A year later, after beta readers groused about the cliffhanger, I finally understood I had gone too far. Luckily, Book Two begins where One leaves off, so the extra words/chapters were (mostly) recycled.
Now history repeats itself with Book Two, Awen Storm.
In all fairness, my Muse offered sign after sign that the first draft of Book Two was finished. But this writer misinterpreted, and so, missed them all. For weeks.
I have since cut the extra chapters (9K words) from Book Two, typed "The End” or rather “To Be Continued,” and moved the chapters to Book Three, Awen Tide.
Two victories.
Even better—there was no duplication of effort, as in the transition from Book One to Two. Meaning, the glitches, the blocks, the walls, and the lessons I talked about a few posts back, were shorter-lived. Last time it took a whole year. [This time, eight weeks. Not bad for a learning curve.]
The takeaway?
After the women’s fiction debacle, I learned that when it's time to type "The End,” my biggest clue is this: any new, shiny ideas my Muse delivers will no longer fit the current story. They are for a new novel—not this one.
Of course, it's harder to figure that out in the middle of a trilogy. But as you see, it’s doable.
I hope you’ve found something useful here. These days, I’m feeling anything but. Next week’s post will be the last in this series on Endings and The End. In it, I hope to include links to other writers’ posts and notes on endings. If you have one you’d like me to reference, please comment below or send me a DM. And, please let us know about your own Ending blocks or snafus.
~ That Rebel, Olivia/O. J. Barré
From my heart to yours, Olivia/O. J.❤️
P.S. If you enjoy my weekly essays from the heart, you might also enjoy my fiction. I’ve linked previews to both of my serialized works below. The first is Awen Rising, the first book in the completed Awen Trilogy. The second is a spin-off thriller I am currently writing, Crossed, Cursed, & Nearly Dead.
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i hate endings with a passion as well, they SUCK. why can't everything just keep going on the way it's going on right now (except when things are going bad, then end quick please). the unknown is just so uncomfortable, and i hate not knowing. so it's only reasonable that i love this post! need to catch up on the rest of your series on endings asap, and also the new Awen Rising chapters (i am SO sorry for being mostly-absent still 😭 i don't even have a good excuse, apart from being a general mess) but must take a moment to mention that Frank and Erine sounds amazing and did i hear "humorous women's fiction"?? i can't resist anything that has the word "homorous" in its description so it's just plain cruel of you to be tossing that out there without having the novel published so i can read 😒