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As an author, I find it’s always hard to leave a book behind…we authors love our characters, and it can be really tough to end things. I feel like I’m going through a break-up or something. I remember the characters’ happy times, their difficult times, the fruition of my hero and heroine doing that which they thought could not be done, and voila! Happily Ever After is achieved! Oh, sigh!
But then I have to leave them, these people I created. They did it, they overcame those obstacles and grew and changed for the better, and the book ended. And I’m supposed to move on. But it’s hard. I feel like a lovesick teenager, like Bella in New Moon, just boohooing in her chair unable to let go. I can hear the smarter part of me saying, “Kristan. It’s over. Enough already.” The other part says, “I know, but it was so…and they just…and I can’t…”
The characters stick with me! They haunt me, if you will. I wonder how they’re doing. I know this makes me sound like a crazy person, but they feel so real to me! How does Malone pop the question, for example? I mean, I know he loves Maggie — I made him, so I know everything — but since I never wrote that scene, I wonder. Does Grace’s sister ever find real love? Does Callahan ever reconcile with his brother? Can I really just leave the Black Widows behind forever? They were so much fun!
I read something about Margaret Mitchell, author of my favorite book of all time, Gone with the Wind. People often asked her what happened to Scarlett and Rhett after the end of the book, and her reply was something like, “That book ended for me on the last page.”
I don’t believe that. I mean, sure, she was Margaret Mitchell, so she’s in a different class, but I find I can’t just let my characters be. I think about them…how they’ll do after I leave them, what their life will look like. Quite a few readers ask if I’ll write sequels to my books…so far, I don’t have one planned. Doesn’t mean I don’t picture my people in some alternate world, doing stuff without me behind the controls, as it were.
I think that’s the sign of any great story…when you just can’t let the characters go. Will Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy have kids? Does the entire Soprano family get mown down, or do they just have a nice meal together? Will Marge ever wise up and divorce Homer?
Eventually, of course, I resign myself to the fact that Lucy and Ethan or Ian and Callie or Maggie and Malone are not officially real, and I will live to love again. It’s bittersweet, and I’m always grateful to the characters who kept me company in such a vivid way.
Who are some characters whose lives you just can’t stop imagining? If you’re an author, have you ever written scenes for characters, even though you know you’re not going to write a sequel? Or, maybe a more interesting question, who’s a real person from your life you just couldn’t let go? Who was Edward to your Bella? 
Filed in: Jaunty Post
Jan 12th
2010
6:36 am
Emmanuelle Said:
Hi Kristan, characters are the first reason I’m reading a book. I can forgive an author just about anything as long as she/he creates wonderful charaters. Some of those I’ve come to know and care about so much they are almost alive to me.
Some characters are part of ongoing series and they became with time a kind of close acquaintance. Harry Bosch and Myron Bolitar for instance. I’ve learned so much about those guy’s lives through the books they’re almost real (I even saw one of them in the bus remember
).
For some others it was love at first sight and I couldn’t stop reading their stories over and over. The Bonner clan from SEP’s Chicago’s Star series or Jamie and Claire from Outlander. I do really love them and need to visit with with them once in a while. I read my SEP books once a year, I just have too.
That’s why I love sequel so much. For the new stories and for the chance to revisit former characters.
(and ditto for Chastity and Trevor).
I really hope you’ll get to write one in the future. Though I KNOW Malone and Maggie are perfectly happy I’d love to see it for myself
Just rereading my post I realise DH (or any of my non-reader friends) would think me totally crazy if they were to read it… what do you think ??lol
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Jan 12th
2010
7:19 am
Tonya Kappes Said:
I hear ya! When I talk about my books, people think I’m crazy. I talk about my characters as if they live with my husband, four children and myself.
I can’t help it. I am with my characters for at least three-four months every day including nights. They don’t go to sleep when I try to go to sleep, they talk to me when I am checking out the fruit at the market and when you type The End it feels like a death.
I carry my journal around in case they tell me something really funny, even at my boys games. Once I heard a parent say, ‘what do you think she’s writing in that journal of her?’ HAHA!!
I can’t wait for your next release this year!!
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Jan 12th
2010
7:34 am
kristan higgins Said:
Emmanuelle, you’re only crazy in the way we romance writers like! Tonya, you’re so right…Sometimes I’ll say to my husband, “I want my heroine to do this, but she just won’t,” and he’ll say, “Um…just make her. You’re the author.” And I say, “You don’t understand, honey. It’s not like that.” They really do take on a life of their own!
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Jan 12th
2010
8:54 am
Margo Maguire Said:
Years ago, after I’d just finished reading Outlander, I was blathering on to one of my neighbor/friends (who is the epitome of politeness) about the world and characters Gabaldon created. And I realized I sounded like a crazy person. My friend was smiling blankly at me, and I backpedaled a bit (in an attempt to regain my dignity). Lesson learned. Keep it to yourself, Margo!
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Jan 12th
2010
9:00 am
Marie Force Said:
I do know of this letdown of which you speak, when you must let go of these people who’ve become such dear friends. I’ve had to install some fail-safe systems to prevent end-of-book blues that used to hit me harder than they do now. I’ve come to realize that just around the corner is another couple who needs me to make sure they get their happily ever after. But the sadness can be quite profound and hard to explain to others who don’t live in imaginary worlds the way we do.
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Jan 12th
2010
10:05 am
Emily McKay Said:
I always feel really weird when I finish a book. All this intense work working up to the end of the book and then it’s gone and done and out the door. I’m like a kid with ADD, I keep going back to the computer over and over, feeling like I should be working or thinking about them or something. It’s very weird. I feel a little bit like I’m cheating on my characters with my real family.
The worst is when you need to start a new story right away and then it’s like, “Ugh. New people. I don’t know you. I just wish I was with So-and-so. I loved them! Why did they leave me and force me to work with these strangers?”
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Jan 12th
2010
11:08 am
kristan higgins Said:
Margo, I’ve seen that face of confusion many a time…Marie, what are your fail-safe methods? Share, woman! I know, you have to move and find new love, but still….Emily, you and I are of like minds. You forget that that last couple you can’t bear to part with were strangers once, too…bittersweet!
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Jan 12th
2010
11:39 am
Shana Said:
Not every one of my characters lives on after I finish a book. Alex and Lucia from WHEN DASHING MET DANGER have lived the longest for me. I began that book 10 years ago, and I still think about them and what they’re up to now (or then, since it’s an historical). How many kids do they have? What do they do on cold winter nights…well, what ELSE. I think about them. I think about other characters too, especially the ones I’m writing right now, but maybe the first always have a special place.
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Jan 12th
2010
2:04 pm
Marie Force Said:
One of my fail-safe methods is when I am getting close to finishing one book, I start another and put it aside. It seems to help my mental health to have something else waiting for me. Now, I don’t do this all the time, just in the cases when I am sooooo emotional about the characters. Just like with some people, some characters are closer to my heart than others. Doesn’t mean I don’t love them all, I just don’t mourn them all the same way if that makes sense. Another thing I do is to tell my closest circle of gal pals that I am close to the end and they rally around me by taking me out and celebrating or just listening to me moan and groan about missing my fictional people. The biggest thing is that I’ve learned to recognize the signs of impending crash and because I can’t afford to indulge in the crash (niggling things like jobs and kids won’t allow it), I can shore up my defenses so I’m more ready. The more I go through the start to finish process of writing a book, the more I am able to recognize patterns and signs in both the writing and in my life as a writer.
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Jan 12th
2010
3:22 pm
Solveig Said:
I wonder after every romance novel I read what “happily ever after” will be like for the characters. Well…. maybe not always. Sometimes when the characters don´t grab my attention and affection sufficiently I won´t bother but some stay with me forever. Like Rhett and Scarlett, Elizabeth and Darcy, etc etc.. And speaking of Maggie and Malone!!! I just have to say this…. I was so heartbroken when I did not get an epilogue for them. I´ve read all your books and they all have them except my favorite one!!? What´s that all about?
I can´t wait for “The Next Best Thing” but I still have not quite forgiven you for that one yet 
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Jan 12th
2010
3:55 pm
kristan higgins Said:
Marie, you have confirmed for me that yes, you are a nut. Love the image of your friends rallying around you to mourn the fact that you’re done with a book!
Solveig, you flatter me! To me, the ending of Catch was just as it should be…not much could follow that declaration by Malone, bless his surly heart! But obviously, I’ve thought about it. I didn’t realize I’d done epilogues for every book except one! You keep better track than I do, and for that, I thank you!
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Jan 12th
2010
5:27 pm
Solveig Said:
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Jan 12th
2010
6:26 pm
Paula R. Said:
Hey Kristan, love today’s topic. I was going to say that you don’t really have to leave your characters behind…just write a series, which would help to answer some of your questions. At least that is the way I look at it.
Hmm…characters I can’t let go of. As a reader, Eve Dallas and Roarke are at the top of my list. Mel and Jack Sheridan from Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series. Jamie Fraser and Claire…How I loved them. Jane Eyre and Rochester is another couple. It was great to read Wide Sargasso Sea, so that I could get a glimpse of the before picture, and hear more about how dear Rochester and Jane were perceived by Bertha, his “crazy” wife. I love the Montgomery family from Devereaux’s “Highland” series as well. There are quite a few for me, but I will stop there.
I always want to know what my favorite characters are up to. I get really invested in them, and it is like I know them, so I want to keep up. That is why I love to read series. Just getting a bit of info on how they are doing is satisfactory to me. It just shows me that they are still going strong.
As a writer, I am not really at that point where I am wondering how the lives of my characters will be. I guess that is because I am newbie writer, so I haven’t really gotten hooked yet in a world of my making. I do enjoy getting caught up in the world created by others though.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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Jan 12th
2010
9:12 pm
kristan higgins Said:
Solveig, you’re epilogue sounds great! And Paula, I’m right there with Jane and Rochester and the Deveraux series. Those were some of my favorites!
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Jan 12th
2010
10:07 pm
Diana Said:
I love Molly and Kevin from SEP’s This Heart of Mine and was happy to revisit them in Match Me If You Can. To read about them as a happily married couple with kids was wonderful. It was also great meeting them for the first time in their respective prequel books.
Kristan, speaking of Maggie and Malone (one of my all-time favorite book couples), I remember you saying at the RWA literacy signing in San Francisco that you may one day write an update about them. I’m going to hold you to that!
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