When you write a series and from the opening word you know it’s going to be one (believe me, I have been quite surprised in the past when what I thought would be a standalone decided that no, it was book one, and why are you wasting time arguing with me when you should be writing book two, Missy?), you know you’re in for the long haul.

When you start out, and you’re young and innocent, you know where you’re starting from and you know where you want the story to finish. You think the path ahead of you looks something like this:

Yeah… no. Sure, the path you’re taking heads off into the far distance and somewhere, just out of sight, is the terminus, the point at which you write “the end!” and can sit back and #smugface as much as you like.

But, unless you are one totally focused, strong-minded, and un-divertable person, this image doesn’t show all the little by-ways, meanderings and diversions you might take on the way.

For most of us, I suspect it’s a bit like flying from London to New York and taking a sudden diversion to Berlin after taking off from Heathrow. You start out from the same place and you still get to New York, but the journey hasn’t been quite as straightforward as you might have hoped for. Of course, you have all the fun of seeing Berlin en route, so it’s not all traveller’s rage and frustration and lost luggage. Just as well, really, because in reality, the route from start to ‘the end’ is more likely to look something more like this:

When I started writing the Taking Shield series, I knew the general direction of travel, some of the major points along the way, all the big events in both the Maess war and the relationship between Bennet and Flynn. I’d even written the last line years (quite literally, years) before I needed it.  I had a plan, people! I knew where I was going and nothing, nothing on this earth was going to stop me getting there.

So, have there been side paths and diversions?

Hell, yes. My route to get to that important, long-planned last line was every bit as convoluted as the graphic up above. One major diversion has been an entire political subplot that kind of took me by surprise, but made absolute sense within the context of the overarching story. It gave a deeper resonance to a weakness exploited by the Maess. And what’s more, I spent my entire working career in government, in varying degrees of contact with professional politicians. I knew my shit there, and it was hugely enjoyable getting some of that into Shield. So the subplot stayed along with countless other, smaller things that inveigled me from the straight road onto the crooked.

The obligatory bit of advice in a post of this kind: if ever you’re contemplating writing a series, create a bible to go along with it, with timelines and background notes, maps and research notes, pictures and character lists. Believe me, you’ll be referring to it often. It’s not only your lifeline to get from A to B, it keeps you consistent and it’s your best worldbuilding tool. And if you get ambushed by a story that demands a sequel, start that bible immediately. It’ll make your life simpler in the end. I wrote about the need for this sort of bible in an earlier, more detailed post Stringing The Beads.

Anyhow, three weeks ago I wrote the last line of the fifth book of the series—the last line of the entire series—and that big humongous

The Taking Shield series is done. The last book, Day of Wrath, is now in editing and will be published on 28 June—incidentally, that would have been my dad’s birthday, and since I owe the man for the lifelong love of books and scifi that I inherited, it seemed a good date to publish. I’m still sitting here, though, with very mixed feelings about it.

A real sense of achievement? You betcha. The series is close to half a million words, and Bennet and Flynn have reached the end of their story. It’s the ending I’ve been working towards for years, so elation, satisfaction, triumph even… all there. And then there’s the sadness. I love those characters. They’ve been a huge part of my writing life (in one form or another) for over a decade, so all that achievement and elation is undercut by the huge pang of sorrow when I wrote those final words and sent it all off to editing. I found my way through the maze to reach the end, learned and loved so much on the way, and now I’m there, I’m rather sad that never again will I write anything about Shield Captain Bennet and the love of his life, First Lieutenant Flynn.

And just in case you’re wondering, the final line I planned all those years ago? Exactly where I ended up. The twelve words I wrote down almost as many years ago are the exact twelve words that close the series. So maybe I’ll grant myself a bit of #smugface for that. I don’t think Bennet and Flynn will begrudge me that.

About Anna

Anna was a communications specialist for many years, working in various UK government departments on everything from marketing employment schemes to organizing conferences for 10,000 civil servants to running an internal TV service. These days, though, she is writing full time. She lives with her husband in a quiet village tucked deep in the Nottinghamshire countryside. She’s supported there by the Deputy Editor, aka Molly the cockerpoo, who is assisted by the lovely Mavis, a Yorkie-Bichon cross with a bark several sizes larger than she is but no opinion whatsoever on the placement of semi-colons.

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