Full disclosure, this is actually last weeks post that never got uploaded.
As I draw to the conclusion of Hart’s Betrayal, I’m faced with a few things. First, I did not anticipate Hart’s Betrayal becoming two books. Second, I don’t like writing endings. And third, while I abhor cliffhangers, I’m ending this book in a hardcore cliffhanger. (Consider yourself warned.)
In evaluating my own reactions to each of these things, I’m uncovering quite a bit. Let’s start with the first. Two books instead of one for the same story.
The same thing happened with Darkness Defined, now Darkness Defined and Order of Light. The story grew and grew, flowing out of me until it finally concluded at a whopping 666 pages (yes, it’s about demons. no, it wasn’t on purpose). After several people pointed out that it was simply too long, I made the monumental decision to split the book. Of course, what with smoothing, editing, and transitions, I’m well above the cumulative original page count. I think I might have a problem.
At any rate, the moral of all of this being that some stories are just too big for one book. Either that, or I have no idea how to be concise. Could definitely be that second one.
As far as the second is concerned, I’ll be straight with you, I could have finished this book two weeks ago, one week ago….Tuesday, but I dragged my feet. I repeatedly pulled out the excuse that I just wasn’t inspired and had no idea how to actually get to the ending that I had planned.
To some extent, that is true, however the more likely reason behind the delay is that I just hate endings. Because then it’s over. The journey has reached it’s conclusion. Perhaps that’s why all of my works are so long, I’m delaying the inevitable. Now, I realize I just admitted that Hart’s Betrayal is actually going to have a sequel, so it’s not really over…yet.
Believe it or not, reminding myself of this did not help. Then I became daunted with the task of having to write yet another 100,000 words (give or take) before this story can finally be done. Le sigh
That brings us to the third thing: Hart’s Betrayal will end in a cliffhanger. That’s right folks, no HEA awaits you on that last page. And it absolutely kills me. On a personal note, I truly despise books that end without a satisfactory resolution. As a matter of fact, the last time I read a story that ended in a cliffhanger, I almost beat the author with a book. Not his book, another book. He’s also my friend, so nobody panic.
The way I see it, reading is an escape, why would I choose to suffer more there as well? Isn’t the world cruel enough? So yeah, I feel guilty as all get out that I will be pulling this stunt on my own readers who undoubtedly have become accustomed to my guaranteed HEAs. Sorry in advance, but it had to break somewhere and this moment is hands down the most poignant.
Now that you’re all caught up. I am pleased (or maybe tortured) to announce that Hart’s Betrayal is finished (mostly) and Hart’s Redemption is already up to 10,000 words. This bring the total of complete manuscripts to a whopping ten, all of which are still unpublished. So, you know, if you’re an agent or an editor, #amquerying