As a writer, it's a moment of true triumph. It means the months of stress and plotting and living in this world you created is over. The End is bittersweet, celebratory, and oftentimes, elusive. That's usually my problem. I can get up to the last few chapters then...all my momentum will stall. Even if I have it outlined, planned and pictured in my head down to the last detail.
The first time I wrote 'the end', I felt a sense of accomplishment. It'd been YEARS with that first book, something I started for no reason other than to see if I could finally get rid of the people taking up residence in my head. I didn't have a freaking clue what I was doing. While the story does hold a special place in my heart, when I go back and read it now, I cringe. I've come a long way since then.
Now, I'm working with deadlines, release dates, and an understanding of how the book has to evolve. To be honest, it's a gestation period. As the story grows, or takes off on tangents I wasn't expecting, I've learned to roll with it. There's a reason my characters want to go there.
Writing, for me, isn't always technical or mechanical. I learn so much about myself depending on the book I'm writing. Take this one, the book I'm thisclose to finishing and my NaNoWriMo project. I've learned I can do dark and disturbing. Yesterday, I attacked a chapter I've put off for months, not sure I could 'go there'. Whipped it out with no pain at all. The book has taken on a lot more religious undertones than I expected too, dealing with evil and faith and how fully can a person really be forgiven by whatever God they believe in. Deeper meanings than I've touched on with previous works.
So, as I gear up to finish the final three chapters, I'm a little melancholy. I have an attachment to this book I haven't had for another. Will I be glad when I finally resolve the main character's journey? Heck yes! But he's become special to me, regardless of his dark past.
The funny part? This has been relatively easy to write. And I say relatively because I can cough out a chapter or two of this no problem. Add to a scene? Easy! Yet there my sequel for Happily Never After, my first published book, sits and I struggle with it. It frustrates me like crazy! I know a good story can't be forced and blah, blah, blah, but jeez! I WANT to finish the one I'm supposed to! Maybe how the NaNo book is out of the way, I'll be inspired!
Am I alone here? Do any of you fellow authors experience this? Why does 'the end' come so easily to some stories and float around so elusively for others? I hope to God I'm not the only one!
The first time I wrote 'the end', I felt a sense of accomplishment. It'd been YEARS with that first book, something I started for no reason other than to see if I could finally get rid of the people taking up residence in my head. I didn't have a freaking clue what I was doing. While the story does hold a special place in my heart, when I go back and read it now, I cringe. I've come a long way since then.
Now, I'm working with deadlines, release dates, and an understanding of how the book has to evolve. To be honest, it's a gestation period. As the story grows, or takes off on tangents I wasn't expecting, I've learned to roll with it. There's a reason my characters want to go there.
Writing, for me, isn't always technical or mechanical. I learn so much about myself depending on the book I'm writing. Take this one, the book I'm thisclose to finishing and my NaNoWriMo project. I've learned I can do dark and disturbing. Yesterday, I attacked a chapter I've put off for months, not sure I could 'go there'. Whipped it out with no pain at all. The book has taken on a lot more religious undertones than I expected too, dealing with evil and faith and how fully can a person really be forgiven by whatever God they believe in. Deeper meanings than I've touched on with previous works.
So, as I gear up to finish the final three chapters, I'm a little melancholy. I have an attachment to this book I haven't had for another. Will I be glad when I finally resolve the main character's journey? Heck yes! But he's become special to me, regardless of his dark past.
The funny part? This has been relatively easy to write. And I say relatively because I can cough out a chapter or two of this no problem. Add to a scene? Easy! Yet there my sequel for Happily Never After, my first published book, sits and I struggle with it. It frustrates me like crazy! I know a good story can't be forced and blah, blah, blah, but jeez! I WANT to finish the one I'm supposed to! Maybe how the NaNo book is out of the way, I'll be inspired!
Am I alone here? Do any of you fellow authors experience this? Why does 'the end' come so easily to some stories and float around so elusively for others? I hope to God I'm not the only one!
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