Getting involved

I always start writing a book hoping readers will fall in love with my characters. That they'll feel for them. Cry with them. Smile with them.

Then I read someone else's book that I have those feelings for, only to get the rug yanked out from under me because of a plot twist that feels like betrayal, and I think, "Why on earth would I inflict this on anybody else?"

I was asked when I finished the book this afternoon and was ranting about it if I was going to bother continuing with the series. My response: "Oh, hell, yes. I did not come this far not to find out how it ends."

And you know what? I keep thinking, The author better fix what she broke.

But that means she did her job, doesn't it? Over the course of this series, she's made me come to believe/love/trust in the characters and world she's built. So much so, that it felt like I got my heart ripped out as I devoured the last fifty pages of the book.

I guess I have to respect her for that. And continue to wish that my readers might feel a fraction of it for my stories.

But...

...she still better fix it.