I spent a couple of days this week organizing the remaining notes for “Gone in a Flash”. That was no easy task, considering Jack is now employed by the Bannerman Foundation. On the one hand, it’s a good thing he has a team of investigators to lead. The expertise each brings to the table is crucial. There’s a lot to investigate, and the difficulty lies in keeping track of each team member, what they’re responsible for, and arranging the clues so they turn up in the correct order.
Loose ends must be accounted for as well, because it would be a terrible pity to ruin what would otherwise be a good story by leaving the reader wondering, “but what happened with that?” My one divergence from this is the mystery that runs through most of my books. “The Lodge at Whispering Pines,” Lochlan Museum,” “Reclamation”, “Uncertainly Yours”, Jack’s series, all have pieces of a mystery that extends beyond the world of those characters. Anyone who has read them is probably aware of that. Anyone who has read just one of those books is likely left wondering “but what was that all about?” Unfortunately that’s the price of having the worlds of my characters interconnect. In every other way though, I prefer to leave no loose ends.
Another thing I don’t want to leave readers wondering, is “but why would the character do that?” The choices characters make need to make sense. Have you ever read a book or watched a movie, and suddenly the character does something that goes completely against their character? I have, and I don’t like it. I end up feeling like I know the character better than the writer. Generally the out of character choice is a sloppy attempt to direct the story where the writer wants it to go, and often to add unnecessary drama. So I try very hard never to do that. Considering how real my characters seem, they wouldn’t put up with going any direction other than their own anyway. Readers might be surprised how many pages of notes end up thrown out when a character decides to do something completely off script. But the character is always right, so out those pages go.
Having organized my notes, and barring any sudden alterations on the part of my characters, writing the rest of “Gone in a Flash” will be easy. Will it be complete by the end of the year? It’s impossible to anticipate what the future will hold, so it could go either way. For what it’s worth, that is the plan!