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

Endings

[spudsmom.livejournal.com]

I am pleased with a healthy ending not that I don't miss beloved characters and their world, not that I won't perpetually wish for just one more, sue me, but I much rather have a good ending then an unhealthy continuation, for me, that's much more upsetting, when you know in your heart that this is where it should end, when continuing will force the characters to change beyond recognition and become something you can't love. This is a phenomenon that has left me with these little kernels of regret, often I can't even read the early books because I now I know where it goes. I'm not talking about characters doing things I don't like, there have been a few I wanted to slap but as long as the character has been created in such a way that the despised action is understandable than I'm fine with it, can't wait to see what the scoundrel does next. This is why they pay those authors the big books, right? They have to make it all clear to us, the readers. When I see a central character grow and change and become more than they ever imagined they'd be, I'm OK with seeing them off in to the world where I can imagine them continuing on their journey but when a character regresses without hope of recovery or seemingly gets permanently stuck in situation where the person you think you know wouldn't be, then the series has gone on too long. Its a sad thing when someone you've known for a long time becomes someone you don't recognize and don't want to know, but it happens. Clever, Clever writers, to give us a whole universe of infinite possibilities to explore. Toni