Introducing Life Beyond Time

Endings are hard. In fact, they might be the hardest part of telling a story. We tend to stress out about beginnings. The first few lines of the first chapter tend to get the most editing compared to the rest of a novel. It’s critically important those opening words catch the attention of the reader and invest them with a desire to know what ultimately happens.

But endings are where we leave the reader when all’s said and done. Which means they need to be far more satisfying than the opening lines. They need to instill a sense of peace that the time invested in reaching the ending was worth the energy – and possibly also the teeth-gnashing and tears. So I would argue that, while openings get a lot more attention, endings are the most important.

I have a confession to make about endings. (Though if you follow this blog at all, it will come as no surprise.) My biggest problem with endings is letting them stick.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve said, “This is where I originally planned to end this story.” In fact, I wrote 3 different endings for the Celestial Serenade before I put my foot down and said this has to be the ending for real. Every time I tried to wrap all of the plot threads into a neat little bow that tied them off, I’d find a new one that warranted expansion.

Of course, I’ve since come to realize that the job of endings isn’t necessarily to wrap everything up. Sometimes endings should leave a little to the imagination. Life rarely presents us with a clean, clear cut finish, after all.

So then, how do you decide where – and when – to end?

I Struggle with Endings

I originally intended for this book to serve as an ending – of sorts – for the Aruvalia Chronicles. Because I originally conceived of the series as a trilogy. (Which means on paper it would have broken down into 9 books.) The first two installments were meant to cover Domerin’s rise as a hero in the kingdom of Aruvalia, while the last book was supposed to focus on a mysterious group of figures that haven’t been introduced yet.

Time gaps are a fun and interesting part of long-running series. They let you cover a lot more ground without having to focus on the boring bits of the story. But after going over my timeline, I quickly realized that this particular time gap would be hugely problematic – because there are a lot of interesting things that happen to the characters of the Aruvalia Chronicles in between this book and the one I planned to be the last. Too much territory to cover in flashbacks.

So while there was a time when this series wrapped up in a neat little bow in my head at the end of this book, it didn’t end up getting written that way. By the time I penned Life Beyond Time, I already knew I was going to have to fill in the gap with 2 more books. (Which of course translates to 6 on paper, for a total of 15.)

While I do try to give each trilogy an ending that would let a reader leave off if they wanted, there are a lot of little details peppered throughout this second story arc that hint at things to come. And ultimately, I’m glad I didn’t try to make this a big ending, because the content of the next trilogy is some of my favorite.

Finding the Ideal End Point

How then do we end something when it isn’t really finished? How do we know where to stop and say see you later?

That’s tricky. And to be honest, I’m not entirely sure I know the answer, despite trying to navigate it with this series. The longer the Aruvalia Chronicles goes on, the bigger some of the gaps in the story have needed to be.

But I do have a couple of tried and true guidelines that I aim for whenever I approach the end of a trilogy.

First and foremost, I want it to feel like a satisfying end for a story arc. I want my readers to feel like they got something out of the time they spent with my characters. And I also want them to feel as though they’re leaving the majority of those characters in a good place. Meaning their favorite people are relatively safe and don’t need a close eye kept on them for a little while.

I also look for natural gaps in the story. There was a one year jump between book 3 of the Aruvalia Chronicles and book 4. And it was easy to fill in the blanks with conversations eluding to those events. They didn’t need to be shown.

Finally, I go one step backward and look for the climax of each major story arc. I place the end of the trilogy shortly after that. This makes every trilogy feel epic in some way. The characters were given a problem and they got to solve that problem – even if the bigger, overarching problem still remains. In a way, that makes the series a group of smaller stories strung together over time into a bigger one.

Which means today, I get to share with you another big, epic showdown!

Life Beyond Time is Available Now!

When disaster looms
A warrior must offer assistance
Even when the chance of success is slim

Domerin has established a tenuous peace with the beast that lives inside him. Which means, for better or worse, he’s ready to face the threat his queen has foreseen. But by the time he returns to Aruvalia, he finds the kingdom in the midst of another mess, unable to agree on who should be in charge of solving their problems.

In an attempt to restore order, Domerin hatches a mad plan to assist Crescent in arresting his mother. To pull it off, Crescent first needs to dive into the heart of hostile territory to confront Aruvalia’s biggest enemy face to face. While he’s there, he might gain a glimpse of Karis’s grander plan. But to succeed, his ruse will have to be flawless.

And there are other risks. Confronting Crescent’s mother might delay Domerin’s departure to the north, where the massive magical storm the queen warned about has finally formed. If Domerin and Rose miss their window to divert the magic-laced hurricane, the damage to Aurvaila could be considerable – which will open the path for the enemies to invade.

Even if Domerin can manage Shale and depart on time, the chances of success remain slim. Can he divest the magical storm of its power, divert the threat of war and spare his kingdom from the risk of a magical epidemic all in one fell swoop and live to tell the tale?

Grab your copy today!