The Hardest Part of a Book to Write is ‘The End’

As much as I may whine and grump about a work-in-progress at around the halfway to two-thirds mark in my first draft of a book, over time I’ve discovered there’s a far more difficult part to write: the end. Not just the actual words, but the whole ending. The climax followed by the resolution. The wrapping up of threads. And…* takes deep breath *

The end of my characters’ stories.

Even thinking about it makes me sad.

And as difficult as writing the end of a story might be, ending a series is harder. I’m wrapping up the first draft of Sins of the Warrior this month, bringing a huge story arc to a close and preparing to say goodbye to characters I’ve lived with in my head for almost fifteen years. I’ve put my heroine Alex through so very much in that time…pushed her beyond any limits imaginable, stripped her of everything she thought she had (and more), taken her beyond the brink of death not once, but twice…

Yeah, I know. Evil author. 😛

The point is, I feel I know her at least as well as myself, and sometimes better. We’ve been the best of friends (when writing has gone well) and the worst of enemies (when not so much 😛 ). Despite our ups and downs (and the dying thing), she has continued to trust me to put things right in her world, to somehow make things okay again. I’m still working out how — or whether — that will happen (told you: evil author 😉 ), but no matter how it goes for her, she’s going to be damned hard for me to let go.

And the Archangel Michael is a whole other matter…* sigh *