When the author gets tired

I was sitting yesterday reading the latest novel in a series from an author I enjoy and discovered the author, whom I will not name, was getting tired. There didn't seem like anything new from characters I have come to love and the plot was so forced it totally stretched my suspended disbelief.

I think the author is near the end of this series.

Now that is okay. Writers get to the end of a series all the time. The problem is resolving all the conflicts that have been sustained over the course of the writing. You want the reader to be satisfied with the conclusion.

For example, I love how the Harry Potter series concluded. It tied up loose ends and the reader felt a sense of closure that was not evidence prior to the end of Book Seven.

I have two series in mind based on characters in books I have written -- Jason Mitchell, the reporter from DEATH AT THE JUNGLE-BUNNY JOURNAL and THE DEATH OF ART, and private eye David Blaise from AN UNTIDY AFFAIR. I see a number of stories with Jason, who is a lot like me, but a nearly unlimited number of possibilities for Blaise. And he is written in first-person, which is also interesting. I think at some point I would need to resolve certain issues with Jason but could leave Blaise nearly forever.

Anyway, if I am ever successful with either of these, I hope I realize when I have had enough of them. I don't want them to be dry, stale creatures that I keep alive only because of a contract.

But for now, that possibility is long off. I have to actually get a publishing contract first. Well, I am still working on it.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day.