The time it was the end of a trilogy {6}

There are so many trilogies ending this year!  I know how it feels as a reader to have the excitement of finding out what the final outcome to the story will be while simultaneously weeping inside because it’s over. I thought it would be fun to see how authors think and feel about ending their trilogies.  So, I’ve contacted some writers about doing guest posts to talk about the other side of it.

I’m pretty sure everyone knows about my undying love and affection for Susan Dennard.  I’m so thankful I had the chance to meet her at SDCC, even though it was brief.  Somehow that sort-of-chance meeting has turned into an awesome friendship and I cannot wait to see her again to fangirl all over her in a manner that she deserves.

I contacted Sooz about doing a guest post in honor of Strange and Ever After and she agreed! Before we get to her post about her writing process, let’s check out the book!

In the conclusion to the trilogy that Publishers Weekly called “a roaring—and addictive—gothic world,” Eleanor Fitt must control her growing power, face her feelings for Daniel, and confront the evil necromancer Marcus…all before it’s too late.

He took her brother, he took her mother, and now, Marcus has taken her good friend Jie. With more determination than ever to bring this sinister man to justice, Eleanor heads to the hot desert streets of nineteenth-century Egypt in hopes of ending this nightmare. But in addition to her increasingly tense relationships with Daniel, Joseph, and her demon, Oliver, Eleanor must also deal with her former friend, Allison, who has curiously entangled herself in Eleanor’s mission.

With the rising dead chomping at her every move and Jie’s life hanging in the balance, Eleanor is convinced that her black magic will see her through to the bitter end. But there will be a price. Though she and the Spirit Hunters have weathered every battle thus far, there will be consequences to suffer this time—the effects of which will be irreversible. And when it’s over, only some will be able to live a strange and ever after.

Susan Dennard will leave readers breathless and forever changed in the concluding pages of this riveting ride.

Sounds good, right? {OMG IT’S SO GOOD}

And now, everyone welcome Sooz to the blog!

Everyone knows the idea of a “character arc”—the character that starts a book will grow and change based on the story. Thus, the character at the end of a book is a different (hopefully improved) person.

But one thing I’ve discovered since writing the Something Strange and Deadly series is the idea of an “author arc.” The Susan who sat down to write Eleanor’s story 4.5 years ago was not the Susan who finally typed The End 3 years later.

Writing ain’t easy. Writing a series is even harder. Writing a series with characters who suffer a lot is even HARDER. I’m a “method writer”—I become my characters as I draft. I feel everything they feel. I triumph with them, I cry with them. So I guess it’s no surprise that I would grow alongside Eleanor.

Just as Eleanor learned to dive into the battles head-on, I learned to dive in too. Okay, so she was fighting the Dead and I was battling the words on the page, but the emotional struggle sometimes felt just as intense.

And just as Eleanor learned to face her fears, I learned to embrace them too—my fears of failure, of rejection, of watching everything I cared about get crushed and forgotten. Turns out if Eleanor can aim for the knee, so can I. ;)

But the most important lesson of all that I learned from Eleanor—from Daniel, Jie, Oliver, and Joseph—was that I always have a choice. I can choose to let the world run my life or I can choose to run the world. And when I stumble and fall, it’s my choice whether I stay down or claw my way back up. I can choose to be the victim, or I can choose to be the driving force—and just like Eleanor, I choose the latter.

Strange and Ever After was the hardest book for me to write on an emotional level. All the heartache and horror Eleanor experienced—I lived that right alongside her, and goodness! I have never cried so many tears in my life writing a book! But I embraced it—I didn’t shy away from digging deep and pushing my prose hard.

Could I have done that 3 years ago when I wrote Something Strange and Deadly? Nope. I wasn’t strong enough, I wasn’t self-aware enough, and I sure as hell wasn’t brave enough.

But just like Eleanor, I learned to seek the flames in the darkness. And I learned to shape the world into what I want. As Eleanor says in Strange and Ever After: “My life. My choice.”

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I’m a 30-year-old reader, writer, lover of animals, and eater of cookies. I used to be a marine biologist, but now I write novels. And not novels about fish either, but novels about kick-butt heroines and swoon-worthy rogues (I really like swoon-worthy rogues).

I live in the Midwestern US with my French husband and Irish setter, and you can learn more about my crazy thoughts and crippling cookie-addiction on twitter, facebook, or Goodreads.

My debut, Something Strange and Deadly,  is now available from HarperTeen along with its sequel, A Darkness Strange and Lovely. The final installment in the series, Strange and Ever After, will release 7/22/14. Plus, my new epic fantasy series–Truthwitch–will release from Tor in fall 2015!

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Huge thanks to Sooz for always being so awesome and taking the time.  Make sure you’re checking out her website, following her on Twitter, liking her Facebook page, subscribing to her newsletter {really, definitely do this}, and adding all of her book to your Goodreads shelves.

Now, I was able to get my greedy hands on an extra arc of Strange and Ever After and I want you to have it.  Not only is Sooz’s trilogy one of my top five favorites, SaEA holds the extra special title of the only book that has ever made me cry.  Contest is international and additional giveaway rules can be found here.

**Good Luck!!**

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