Dear Author,
Imagine being on a rollercoaster. The wind is rushing over your face. Your insides are squirming as you spin up, down, sideways and every which way.
Your mouth is wide open, screaming with pure and absolute delight. Suddenly, in the middle of a loop, the ride is over, and they tell you to get off.
Or, picture this: you’re eating your favorite meal. Halfway through the meal and long before you have reached peak satisfaction, the food is taken away.
What do these scenarios have in common? They both suck, big time.
This is precisely how I feel whenever I am reading a lovely book and it comes to an end. Not just any end; a completely random, incomplete plot and totally sudden end. No warnings, no nice wrap up or anything even close to that.
The story is just over as suddenly as it began, leaving behind curious people completely shocked by the wickedness of the situation.
As a writer, I can understand why books and book series aren’t finished but are published anyway. I know how it feels to rise and sleep with a story on the mind. I know that burning desire to get it all down as fast as possible.
I know the sound of characters’ voices being formed in my subconscious…how satisfying it feels to give them the breath of life in the form of words.
I am also aware that the road to creating a phenomenal story is treacherous. After a while, the well of inspiration that sparked the story dries up… now begins the long search for that appropriate vibe.
We become disillusioned and discouraged by circumstances we cannot control.
Suddenly, the story isn’t good enough to keep slaving away for.
The characters’ voices get fainter and fainter before eventually disappearing from our heads. Sometimes, we just get sick of the entire thing and absolutely detest the story that a lot of people love and read excitedly.
As a writer, I understand that sometimes books and series cannot be completed. I don’t hold it against my fellow writers who have left a good story in the middle of it being told because I understand, and I know.
However, I am also a reader and as one, those reasons are NOT going to cut it.
First of all, how dare you?
How dare you take me on the ride of my life and kick me out without getting there? I am absolutely furious and even more disappointed. I want to know what happens next. I want to keep watching the characters grow, thrive and cry.
I don’t want to be kept guessing forever.
I need that end desperately. I need the story to be wrapped up nice and tight. Even if the ending is sad or completely unexpected, as long as there is an end, I am satisfied.
Fan fiction is not going to fill that gaping hole that has formed in my heart as I worry and wonder.
Of course, I cannot say that I wish you had never published the books in the first place. At least I got to the chance to get to know these characters.
Even if I never completed the journey, I am eternally grateful that I got to start and make it this far.
Thank you for your imagination and skill.
Sincerely,
A Disgruntled Reader.
