Even though History Maps was always intended to be a trilogy, I’m realising that the ending to book 3, AI, is something of a cliffhanger. I wasn’t supposed to be, in fact, I had no idea, when writing, how the story would end.
That’s not quite true.
I’ve explained before, how creative writing seems to use a different part of the brain to the one that normal, conscious, day-to-day thinking uses and how it can be difficult, therefore, to consciously plan where the story will go. Even if I manage a plan, I often struggle to stick to it as that other, mysterious part of my brain takes over, evidently with a plan of its own.
I’ve learned to trust that part of my brain and let it take over, hence the ending to book 3: AI, but I did start to see, from about a third of the way through, which way it was going. I wonder if you will too, dear reader.
Nevertheless, I was quite disturbed by the ending and I’m sure I’m not alone in that. The more I think about it, the more I realise we’re going to have to find out what happens next. I’m coming to the end of my first detailed edit of that book, and this thought is increasingly in my mind.
We’re going to need a fourth book.
But then, when do we stop? That much, I don’t know. But, hopefully, my writing-brain will.