I just wrote “the end” to STARBORN, which is the ninth and last book in the Stealing the Sun series I’ve been working on for some time. The end of an era, I suppose. It’s a strange place to be at, I’m full of the expected sense of joy and loss as I sit here thinking about it. These characters have been with me for a long time.
Today is Saturday. I had planned to be finished Thursday. Then Friday. I knew the story, but the ending came more slowly than expected. I talk a lot about how fast or slow I can write at times—and how fast I want to write. When I know generally where things are going I can be pretty quick. The past few days, though, it’s felt like I was pulling those words out of the characters, and they just wanted me to take my time. It was a goodbye of sorts, and I’ll admit it was fun. Or at least, well, pleasant, to sit with them while they had their moments to say what they needed to say.
The story is going to the few Betas I use, and so there’s always the chance I’ll spend some more time adjusting something here or there, but I’m feeling pretty good right now.
There’s a thing about endings, I think. They are really hard, except where they aren’t. This one wasn’t hard, but it was challenging to get it just so. The words mattered—or at least the pace and the feeling behind those words. It took a little time, but it was important to me to give these amazing little people inside my head the respect and space they needed.
With a little luck, they’ll speak to readers of the series the same way they spoke to me.
One step at a time, though, of course. There’s a ways to go before it sees the light of day—first and foremost is the near-term publication of STARGAMES and STARDUST (books seven and eight of the series). But today feels good.