Woes vs Whoas

Yikes. I don't know if you watch Game of Thrones, but that word encompasses a lot. Anyone who follows a series, whether in books or on screen, you want any type of conclusion to fit the arc of the characters that have been drawn for them. You want a pay off that meets your expectations and satisfies you to a glass of whisky on the rocks and a vape. Even if you don't watch it, you can tell by the scent of barbecue smoke on Black Twitter roasting the writers that the bar has not been met.
Sometimes, a series will never meet the expectations that the fans have for it. Their theories, ideas, their dreams for how matters should play out may not align with what the writers have intended, especially if based on lore, comic books, a previous series, novels. Their disappointment will weigh on the makers indefinitely. Well, the ones that care.

The lovely Matt Tobey tweeted: Write as if David Benioff  and DB Weiss will get to finish your story if you don't.

If anything would motivate you to not only add him to your acknowledgements but finish your book, it's the idea of someone else taking the strains of what you've written and turning into something else that won't meet what you want for your characters, your plot, your design. To watch your characters, as mad, bad and dangerous as they may be  making utterly illogical decisions, throwing away any and every bit of goodwill they've earned on the way; to see them doing a disservice to their intelligence, their morals, their history for shock value? It is a painful watch.

I was at a meeting for the Dying Matters week and realised that I needed to build in a plan for what happens to my unfinished works. Wildfire that shit. I swear. Just burn the notes. Delete the files. Wipe the hard drive. Delete the stuff on the cloud. I think of David Gemmell's last story, finished by his wife Stella. While I know it was the ending David plotted and it was well written, it was so very obviously not him and I could sense it in the fibre of the story. I honestly don't want anyone to do that for me. Just pls, no, stop.

As an author, you know you won't make people happy. I know there are still people side-eyeing me for Tony and Lydia and that Massimo and Belinda are a complete anomaly but me and Hot Muse Hank have let every single character follow through what has felt true to them. Did I tell you about the time I tried to write a threesome into Wynne's Surprise? And Brendan Macclellan legit went hardcore Scot on me and said "are ye outta ya wee mind? Ahd neva share ma Wynnie. Neva. Take that oot. Now." And how close Arlo Vitale came to losing his life on paper? And both Ella and Durante were like, "Don't do it. We'll haunt you until you die."

Whatever I've written, I know it's what my characters have told me they wanted. And not just to bring it to an end so I can move on. It's exactly what they've told me to write. It's half of why Murano has taken forever. I want Beppe and Mimi to tell me how this story goes and they straight up blocked me for months on end. Now they're chatting, it feels authentic to them, to the old gang making their appearances and to the series as a whole.

There's one more week of this and Game of Thrones comes to an end, for D&D to go off to write Star Wars. Can't wait to see how that turns out! Honestly, I just hope I live long enough to not see myself become the villain of my own works. That would be cruelty of the highest order.