First, yes, I know; I haven't written a blog post in 2 weeks. I'm a terrible person. I told you, I suck at schedule. Maybe I'll just do one blog post a month. Rarity increases value, right?
Anyway, you'll be happy to know that, in my absence, I have been writing. I just finished Catalyst Fate, the prequel novella to The Mallis Tragedy, and I'm getting copies off to beta readers as we speak (so to speak).
I'm also at work, and insanely tired; so I'm really just writing this in an attempt to stay awake. Good luck.
I've been telling people that I had three goals when writing my prequel. First, I wanted it to be a book that could stand on its own. Check.
Second, I wanted new readers to enjoy it, and find it to be a relevant lead-in to Snake Eyes Lie. Check.
Finally, I wanted my current readers (those who have read Snake Eyes Lie) to also enjoy it, and have it add depth and meaning to the story they already know. Also check.
Wow! How did I do all that!?
Okay, the truth is, I actually had no "goals" when writing Catalyst Fate. I wanted to write a short story prequel, and the months leading up to the events in Snake Eyes Lie just happened to be fertile ground for it. Okay... so how'd I do that?
I'm glad you asked... because I was actually wondering the same thing myself, and I think I've figured it out. Either I'm more of a genius than even I think, OR my writing style just lends itself to this kind of offshoot-friendly environments. Let's assume the latter.
Now first, you have to understand the source of my "writing style". I have a whole, great big universe in my brain, and all of these strange tales are woven into it. No, I don't have every detail of this universe figured out, but I have a solid grasp on it.
This broad scope leads to me dropping hints about the larger picture all over my stories without ever knowing when/if I'll get back to them. Hey, it's life; we never have all the answers, right?
The point is, I want my readers to have questions. I want them to think, theorize, and explore for themselves. I'm not going to tell you everything; that would take forever... literally.
I do try to be careful with this tactic, of course. I don't want to leave questions unanswered if they're vital to the plot. However, if you're leading your hero towards the climactic ending anyway, it's almost impossible to leave any of those loose ends still open.
For example *SPOILER ALERT* (but, as I've been saying, it's not detrimental to the story... and it's a short story... and free. Seriously, just go read it.) In Catalyst Fate, a character comes across an "Unheard Message" on an answering machine. However, he never actually gets the chance to listen to it. That's right, I never tell you what the message was.
Do I know what the message was? Of course I do. And, if you do enough digging, and read between the lines, you may figure it out as well. However, it's not vital to the plot. Akara has more than enough information to conclude the story, and he does.
Think of it this way, when you build a house of Lego blocks, there are always more little pegs facing upward, even when you're finished. They're just waiting for that second-floor addition. Many authors like to file these off, and wrap things up in a neat little package. I don't. I want you always wondering what will happen next. I want your mind racing about what's going on behind the scenes and, hopefully, I want a much, MUCH larger picture to start coming into view.
So here's my advice: Don't feel compelled to file off all the corners and package your saga up in a tidy little box with a bow on top. Surely, your universe is massive as well. Don't be afraid to stretch out with that a bit. Let your readers know that there is more to the world than just the black on the page; there's the white as well. A sense of closure is important, but a sense of wonder, more so.
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