I typed The End yesterday on that young adult novel I’ve been having such a blast writing. It ended up (first draft numbers) with 60,500 words. It was super fun to write this character – her name is Cali French and she’s an absolute hoot. I like her so much that I made the ending such that if anyone wants to hear from her again that she’s ready for another adventure.
For those of you who know my pet peeve of needing a satisfying ending to a story and not to be left hanging, I also made that happen in this story. This is more of a straight YA book as opposed to a romance and that’s okay, too. I love the protagonist characters so much. They’re all pretty special.
This story is a bit of a departure in the YA genre as the heroine has both parents. Lots of the YA fiction I’ve read has only one parent active in the kid’s life. I wanted to show it’s possible to have a great family dynamic as well as a good story. I hope I succeeded.
I worked out a lot of personal angst in this one and am looking forward to getting it in shape to send out.
Jillian Chantal 
Congrats! I have beginnings to fifteen books/stories, but I’ve only typed “The End” four times. My sister says typing “the end” is reaching the “whiskey plank” stage of novel writing. Have a shot and celebrate! (Doesn’t really have to be whiskey.)
By: Connie Chastain on April 1, 2013
at 1:57 pm
I like that saying, Connie and I think I shall have a nip of whisky. I bought some in Scotland that’s pretty darned good.
I hope you get to “the end” on some of yours soon.
By: Jillian Chantal on April 1, 2013
at 2:31 pm
Sweet! I’m looking forward to this new Jillian Chantal genre.
By: Laurie Ryan on April 1, 2013
at 9:23 pm
Thanks Laurie.
By: Jillian Chantal on April 2, 2013
at 6:42 am