Sunday, January 4, 2009

... concerning finishing

While the actual writing of the end of the story is still many weeks away, I am trying to outline the concluding chapters, which means that I have a pretty good idea of how the story is going to end (one would only hope, right?). The pole about multiple endings is drawing to a close, with most people interested in separate, personal endings for the six characters, though not necessarily symmetrical endings. Of course, the plan is to not actually tell anyone what the plan is for the ending.

I started up a new poll, concerning what is to come. Since COT2 is what inspired the rewrite to begin with, it seems logical to assume that COT2 is in the cards. Of course, as long as I am not getting paid for this, nothing is set in stone - but it's still worth thinking about. Basically, it comes down to this. Even if I never write a COT2, the "lives" of the characters and the world they live in will go on after the final chapter of COT is set in stone. The plot for COT2 has been decided for years, and though it's changed dramatically because of the rewrite (as was the point of the rewrite to do so) in essence it's there. The one thing I haven't decided yet is how heavy-handed to be with that thought. Personally I can't stand it when the last thing an author does (this goes for scriptwriters too) is tack on a cliffhanger to let everyone know that Part 2 is on the way. That's worse than simply not ending it at all. Horrible. So don't worry - I am not going to do that. So I am avoiding the two extremes of a non-ending / tacked-on-cliffhanger versus the complete-closure / everyone-dies / the-epilogue-tells-us-how-each-character-lives-the-rest-of-their-lives thing. Where the ending will fall in the middle of that is yet to be seen, and something that blog-readers are invited to comment on.

5 comments:

ehcmier said...

Hmmm. My opinion falls somewhere between a ton of loose ends, and few cliffhangers. An indication the characters continue and are never freed from danger, adventure, thrills, or death, is good; however, this story should feel fairly resolved. The root of the forces at work on this City isn't gone, and will yet claim more victims and test the factions, and the populace in general for years to come. Temporary peace with an ominous undercurrent, and time to reflect on the cost for that peace. It ain't over, but it's quieter.

Dan said...

Yes, but keep in mind that the Thief Fan knows that The Metal Age is coming (and eventually after that the, er, Deadly Shadows), and that the average reader (in general terms) will not.

ehcmier said...

Yes. I'm assuming you are not completely deviating from the Thief timeline or themes, even if it's only a fleeting glimpse at times. Chaos, corruption, power voids, aggressive chessboard moves, splintering, infighting, implosion, downfall, city-wide change, subterfuge, hamstringing, interrogation, factions attempting to take back what they feel was taken from them. Most of that still applies and the actions and inaction rooted in these things in CoT1 would leave its mark on the future. That's closer to what I meant. :D

Dan said...

I think that The City is such a twisted mire to begin with that you would have to do something really, really crazy in order to make the status-quo visibly altered. In that sense, I feel like it would be irresponsible to my readers for me to limit what I could potentially do with the story based on needing to suck-up to a computer game that had its plot hacked together at the 11th hour from a set of random mission objectives. On the other hand, I also don't intent to directly contradict any 'canon'.

ehcmier said...

I agree with you, and am only trying to say that you should allow the story to seem to have life beyond the ending, because it's natural. In fact, you could remove any notion of Thief from my first comment and it will still make my primary point exactly. :)