So, you've finished reading the first book in a series and it seems to have a happy ending: The MC has survived the horrors of war, gone home, gotten together with her girlfriend, all that happy shit.
On a scale from 1-10, how betrayed would you be if book 2 takes that happy ending and renders it into tiny pieces?
See, I wrote my first novel with an ending that seems final, but has room for a sequel. Because I hate it when I open up a book, finish it and find that it has no sequels and the author has gone over a cliff or is flipping burgers in McDonalds.
Well, I'm not flipping burgers and so, I'm working on my sequel and my plan was always to destroy the happy ending I made because...
I'm a terrible person.
Basically, the MC's hopes and dreams are all broken. She "gets" them, but for one reason or another, they're not what she expected.
The peace she hoped for, after months of brutal warfare? Wracked with PTSD and the looming threat of a second deployment.
The internet relationship with her girlfriend becoming a physical one? Made horribly complicated by nightmares, arguments over the future and an overprotective parent.
And the quiet backwoods farm in the Republic of Quebec? Well, farming in the 2060s near the boarder of the NAU happens to involve a few more gunfights with transhuman bandits than previously anticipated...
There will be a real happy ending.
Kinda.
Sorta.
In the third book.
Maybe.
So, yeah...would you be upset with a novel that did this? Though, of course, the novel would be leavened with humor and despite the rough patches, my MC and her girlfriend are going to stay together. Because their relationship is tough, even if it's awkward and new and love sees us through and all that jazz.
On a scale from 1-10, how betrayed would you be if book 2 takes that happy ending and renders it into tiny pieces?
See, I wrote my first novel with an ending that seems final, but has room for a sequel. Because I hate it when I open up a book, finish it and find that it has no sequels and the author has gone over a cliff or is flipping burgers in McDonalds.
Well, I'm not flipping burgers and so, I'm working on my sequel and my plan was always to destroy the happy ending I made because...
I'm a terrible person.
Basically, the MC's hopes and dreams are all broken. She "gets" them, but for one reason or another, they're not what she expected.
The peace she hoped for, after months of brutal warfare? Wracked with PTSD and the looming threat of a second deployment.
The internet relationship with her girlfriend becoming a physical one? Made horribly complicated by nightmares, arguments over the future and an overprotective parent.
And the quiet backwoods farm in the Republic of Quebec? Well, farming in the 2060s near the boarder of the NAU happens to involve a few more gunfights with transhuman bandits than previously anticipated...
There will be a real happy ending.
Kinda.
Sorta.
In the third book.
Maybe.
So, yeah...would you be upset with a novel that did this? Though, of course, the novel would be leavened with humor and despite the rough patches, my MC and her girlfriend are going to stay together. Because their relationship is tough, even if it's awkward and new and love sees us through and all that jazz.