After the Curtain Drops

What happens to characters after the book is over? If you've spent a hundred thousand words following their progress, it's natural to worry about their fate, to get attached to them to some degree. Readers want to know. Writers also.

And when, as a writer, you kill off a character that the readership were fond of - you get complaints. When I wrote Backlash, I was fairly sure that people were going to be shocked by one of the deaths (I won't say who). But I discovered that some readers had also latched onto another ill-fated member of the cast. I even got complaints - of the nicest possible kind.

So - just as a game - I worked through a 'what if' scenario in my head. What if not everything in Backlash was as it seemed - because things are seldom as they seem. What is true within the context of one narrative may prove skewed from a different point of view. A goodie may become a baddie - or vice versa. And truths held to be self-evident may be revealed as lies.

The result of this musing can be found at the end of the following link. If you follow it and want to comment - that's fine. But please don't put any spoilers in your feedback - just as I haven't put any in the story.

The Herpetologist