10 Things Every Reader Knows About Last Book Syndrome

I have a really bad case of "Last Book Syndrome."

What is Last Book Syndrome, you ask? 

Last Book Syndrome is when you read a really awesome book series and through the whole thing you're just dying to know how it ends, but when you finally get to the last book, you just can't finish it. It isn't that the book isn't interesting or just as good as the others in the series, but for whatever reason, you just can't finish it. There are many reasons that this conundrum happens. Here are 10 things every avid reader knows about Last Book Syndrome.

1. You've devoted a lot of mental and emotional, and maybe even physical energy- because who has time to sleep when your fictional characters are in peril?- and there is literally nothing to do when it's over. Like what? What? How do you go on?

2. The series was really emotional and the ending was even more emotional and OHMYGOODNESS HOW WILL I CONTINUE IN LIFE.

3. You've been holed up in your room reading this series for who knows how long and you've literally had no social interaction, so what are you supposed to do when it's over? Friends? What are friends?

4. What do you do if it doesn't end the way you wanted it? What if character A doesn't get together with character B and instead gets together with character C? I mean character C is perfectly nice and there's really nothing wrong with them, but I JUST LIKE CHARACTER B BETTER. WHY DOESN'T THE AUTHOR GET THAT??

5. What if it DOES end the way you wanted it? What if everything goes the way you wanted it and you didn't fully appreciate it because you were worried it wouldn't end the way you wanted it?

6. That major problem when you're reading a series as it comes out so you have to wait in agony for the next book to come out and your entire life has been preparation for this moment and you just can't finish the book because then it will be over. 

7. You started this series to take a break from your life and now it's over and you have to go back to reality. Like, why can't I stay in Narnia forever?

8. When you finish an amazing book/series at a really inopportune time. When I finish a book, I NEED to talk about it. NEED TO. (Confession: I have woken my mother up on more than one occasion in the middle of the night to talk about a book...)

9. Heaven forbid one of your favorite characters dies. There is no depression like your favorite character (or main character) dying. Like, why does the author hate you? On more than one occasion when one of my favorite characters dies, I have spent the rest of the series in denial, POSITIVE that they will come back because THAT CHARACTER CAN'T BE GONE. NO. IT CAN'T BE TRUE. I CAN'T GO ON IF THEY'RE REALLY DEAD. (Also, there is no greater joy than when you were totally right in your denial and that character came back. Literary rule: if you didn't actually see the character die, they can totally come back... and if you're talking supernatural, that might not even be enough to truly lose a character.)

10. Knowing that when you finish this book, you have an enormous list waiting to be read. But this author was amazing, so of course, you have to read every single thing they've ever written as well. Oh, and everything from their favorite author(s). And those book recommendations from your friends. And that series that is really popular and will probably be a movie by next year so you might as well read it now because you'll read it eventually. And wait, your favorite author who has already died has an unknown short story collection that was published under a pen name? Well, better add those too.

If you have other examples of Last Book Syndrome, please let me know in the comments (no spoilers, please)   :)

KMG

The Pain of Cutting Your Favorite Sentence

I know, I know, you spent a good portion of your time writing that one sentence or maybe even two sentences that are just so magnificent that you absolutely cannot eliminate them no matter what. And even though they don't contribute to the story whatsoever and may even detract from what you are trying to say, you just can't dare to hit that big scary delete button because that magnificence might be lost forever and heaven forbid you should lose those beautiful 20 words.

Trust me, I understand. I have several of those. 45,000+ words and I have at least 10-15 of those "perfect" snippets that I just can't bear to cut.

They are just so incredible and you can't even believe you wrote them because they are just amazing so you can't cut them. I get it. I feel the same way.

But I've been reading a lot of revision tips from writers and agents (this is how I procrastinate actually finishing the manuscript when I have writer's block) and I came across some great advice from novelist Monica Trasandes. She wrote a lovely post for Writer's Digest about how to revise fiction (I'll post the link at the bottom). She says 

"Revisions can be brutal: you’re killing good material in order to make the excellent material shine. I tend to trick myself into thinking that no edits are final (or nothing good is lost) by creating a document called something like 'BestLeftover,' where I put everything I like that didn’t make the final cut. When do I access these documents of beautiful leftovers? About as often as I access the bag of clothes tucked away in the back of the closet 'in case I need them again.'"

Incredible advice. It's the perfect way to cut those beautiful phrases without actually deleting them. Once they are out of your story but not deleted forever in cyperspace, then you will be able to really see if they are necessary or not. I never would have thought of this, but it is an excellent tip that I will definitely use.

I was always that kid in elementary school who would save every. single. "artwork." I ever. created. All of those homemade ornaments, doorhangers, mother's day cards, drawings, paintings, EVERYTHING. I kept it all. I still have 99.9% of that stuff to this day and I'm 20 years old. I've always been a little bit of a packrat and I can't bear to get rid of anything, and that translates to my writing as well.

So like Monica Trasandes said, I need to trick my hoarding brain into eliminating things I don't really need. Who knows? Maybe I really do need that magnificent sentence or maybe it is totally useless. But I'll never know if I cling on to it. Simply moving it to another Word document will help me step back and see things for what they are. 

So if you too are a writing packrat, try this, and even if you're not, all of you should check out that post about revising fiction (link: http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/6-keys-to-revising-your-fiction-2)

Because let's be honest: revising feels pretty much like this:

KMG