Revisitng Lock & Clara: The End

REVISITING LOCK & CLARA: THE END

It's been a long time since I first put pen to paper and started the first book in the Lights Out trilogy, a good six of seven years, maybe even longer than that and yet it feels like that time has sped forward and here we are, with only a month or so until the third and final book will be in readers hands. It's a strange feeling, but a good one, nice to be seeing the end of all that hard work come to fruition and also a chance to share with my readers where Lock, Clara and the others all end up.

So for those who want to pre-order, the link is here, and if you want some of the pre-order goodies, the form for that is here.

For those who don't know, the Lights Out world is one where ageing stops at twenty-five and all life ends at sixty. You get to live to see your sixtieth birthday and the day after you are called to an event where you are humanely euthanised. Lock has been there since the start, she was the one who noticed some discrepancies in the ages and then went on to start the revolution that was very much needed. I won't get into more detail here because spoilers.

Given that I have only ever finished a series to fully published once before, I kinda feel like some of the feelings that have come up, have been ones that I had when saying goodbye to Tara from the Dying Thoughts series, and I better get used to it because I have at least two other series completely written that will be slowly published over the next few years. I thought that I would go a little bit more into detail what it was like writing the end of this series, for these characters and all that goes with it.

WRITING LOCK
I feel like I know Lock so very well that she might as well have been sitting next to me while I wrote her story. I'd written other disabled characters, like Hope, but there was something very special about Lock. She wasn't like me in any way, and while I do believe that writers do put some parts of themselves in their characters, the only thing we have in common is that we both use wheelchairs, and even then it's for completely different reasons.

Writing her story was a lot different for me than any other book I'd written up until that point, I'd never done dystopian before, though I have always enjoyed reading it, and it was a chance to jump into a genre that I loved and see if I could do it justice. I had some idea of what I wanted the world to be like, but as the story grew, so did the world, and while I went on to write another dystopian quartet, I couldn't have done that without cutting my teeth on Lock and her story.

I have worked with Lock for so long, and this last round of editing to get the book into shape was a hard, arduous path, but I have made it to the finish line and I couldn't be happier to end Lock's story on a high note. I won't spoil anything because I hate spoilers myself, but I am so very happy with how it ends, and I hope my readers will be too.

WRITING CLARA
Clara was, for all intents and purposes, not created as Lock's love interest. When I first started the series, I was pretty sure it wouldn't be a series, and also that Clara would just be a friend supporting her through it all. How wrong was I?? Clara was quick to point out the way things worked, and she and Lock fell in love on the page and I was very much along for the ride.

Clara does share some traits with me in that she's quick to adapt to change and make a plan, and writing her part of the story was hard as hell, because I didn't want to be doing it wrong, to not do her actions justice. Overall, I feel like I pulled it off with thanks to my editors, who were quick to point out where there were parts that needed a little more work, and now I can look at the last book, close that final chapter and be happy with where I left my characters.

So there we go, that's the end, almost, to the Lights Out trilogy, like I said, if you want to pre-order, you can do so here, and if you want to sign up to read an ARC, the form is here. I hope you all enjoy the book!

Any questions? Lemme know the comments down below!

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