For the Fall 2013 children's announcements issue, we spoke with nine writerswhose trilogies are drawing to a close this fall. They shared what it takesto keep dozens of characters and thousands of pages straight--and how itfeels when it's all over.
Any favorite scene or character you had to leave on the cutting room floor?
In Tempest, so much was cut. I was on a huge learning curve at that point and the more I cut, the better it got. But Jackson, my main character, had some run-ins with snooty girls from his private-school days that were pretty funny and I got a bit sad cutting out those. In Vortex (book #2) I had a guys’ poker night that I was particularly fond of but ended up cutting to keep the pace moving forward.
How much space does the stuff you collected to complete the series take up?
I’m not much of a “notes on paper” person. I type everything. I have terrible handwriting. And since beginning the series, I’ve gone through three laptops so the drafts and notes have traveled from hard drive to hard drive. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to delete any of it. I mean, what if I need that list of items hanging in Jackson’s closet or the text messages he sent Holly after their second date?
Did anything develop plot-wise that completely surprised you?
Lots. A very young character enters at the end of Tempest [who] came to me as I was writing that particular chapter. She becomes very important to the entire series. She holds answers that I had no idea she’d have when I first made her appear.
How does it feel to have finished?
Sad, but satisfying. You almost go through stages of grieving. My first thoughts were, “I’m so glad to be finished, I never want to see these characters or a trilogy or time travel again,” and then a few days later: “Maybe I should write some extra scenes for bonus material... or better yet, a novella... and then a series of novellas....”
What reward did you give yourself for finishing?
I let myself write a new book just for fun, no concern for marketable concepts or anything along those lines. I wrote it for me.Click here to read the other interviews.
