The friend of my friend. . .

[rolanni]

Off on another part of Teh Intertubes, a colleague is writing the last book of a series, and is experiencing separation grief.

During our interview at ConQuesT, I made the comment in reply to. . .something, that readers and writers have a different relationship with the writer’s characters; with readers experiencing something like a traditional, real-world “friendship” with those characters they’ve come to like.  The relationship between an author and her characters is more nearly collaborative, and while I do love my children, I don’t worry about them to the extent that some readers report.

Back at. . . Duckon, I think it was, a few years ago, I happened to overhear a young lady in the hallway between panels who was being congratulated by her colleagues for having made an author on a previous panel (on what I suppose was fan fic) break down and cry.  “She had to be made to understand,” the young lady was saying, very sternly, “that she doesn’t own those characters just because she made them up.  They belong to us, because we give them life!”  (Yes, I did check.  No, I didn’t start in with the young lady then and there.  This is entirely due to the fact that Steve grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hall to our next event.)

All of these things, though, speak to the “reality” of fictional characters, and the hold they have over the minds and hearts of readers (and writers, too, if we do only make them up).  My colleague who is wrapping up the series wonders what will happen to their beloved characters in the minds of readers, once their story is told; and if readers will also experience grief, knowing that this is the last book.

I have my own opinions on this (quelle surprise!), but I’d like to hear yours:  How do you handle the ending of a series?  What’s your relationship with — and your responsibilities toward — people who live in books?

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

1. While it may be good for that young woman that Steve pulled you away, I would desperately like to have been the fly on the wall for that dressing-down...

2. As somebody reaching the end of *writing* a series, I have these wild moments of terror, despair and jubilation. I also have moments of impatience where I've got this annoyed feeling that I've already done ALL THIS WORK and shouldn't the damned book be DONE already, which is typically how I feel about 5 chapters from the end of any given writing project. Sadly I'm only 3 chapters in to the final book...o.O

3. The Walker Papers readers have certainly expressed a lot of sorrow over the ending of the series, so I'd say your friend's readers are probably very likely to experience grief. But I dunno, I think that's kind of wonderful in its way.

4. As a reader I may find the end of a series bittersweet, but I almost always prefer them to have an end anyway. I can always go back and reread, after all, but a forever series, especially with the same characters, often means there's a lot of wash-rinse-repeat going on with plot.

5. OTOH, I keep reading Anne Perry's Charlotte & Thomas Pitt books precisely because the characters are old friends, despite having learned to recognize the plot structure a long time ago and almost always knowing Whodunit well ahead of time, so 4 doesn't *always* hold true. :)

[gryphonlsb.livejournal.com]

(Ive only read 4 of the Walker Papers but I like them alot and tell my customers how much fun they are (I own a used bookstore))