A Wizard on/of Mars

[Dragon Writer]

my problem with series ending isn't a bad ending...sometimes the most infuriating ones are actually the best, for the very reason that they leave you to wonder. (though i always loathe them anyways) my problem is that once it's done, you'll never see the characters again...and the sad thing is, (I think i actually read something like this somewhere, but i agree with it) story's never really end...people just stop writing about them. (think SOMETHING like that was in inkheart, or inkspell) either way...i don't intend to ever finish the series i write...i'll just have someone else continue it after i die. besides, i can't think of an ending to my story....and i half dread seeing the ending to nita and kit's!

[EricG1793]

Originally posted by young reader:
my problem with series ending isn't a bad ending...sometimes the most infuriating ones are actually the best, for the very reason that they leave you to wonder. (though i always loathe them anyways) my problem is that once it's done, you'll never see the characters again...and the sad thing is, (I think i actually read something like this somewhere, but i agree with it) story's never really end...people just stop writing about them. (think SOMETHING like that was in inkheart, or inkspell) either way...i don't intend to ever finish the series i write...i'll just have someone else continue it after i die. besides, i can't think of an ending to my story....and i half dread seeing the ending to nita and kit's!

Yes, I loathe series that leave you to wonder as well.


The Hardy Boys mystery series... there really isn't an "ending book" to that series. The different books don't relate to each other at all. Maybe occasionally there will be a reference to, say, a leg injury to a person in a previous mystery that's holding them back in the present book. But you don't need to read the whole book to know about the broken leg!

An issue with one person continueing a certain series after the orginal author of that series dies is that many times the books just don't turn out to be the same... either that or the new writer really knows nothing about the series they're continuing- they just glance through, get character's names and physical descriptions, and keeps writing more books that sometimes don't make sense.

[Dragon Writer]

i think i used to read the series...got pulled into fantasy at some point, though, and mostly left mystery behind...(to me, a good fantasy book has ALL the other gendres mixed into it, so i tend to solve the mysteries in there instead...maybe i should read another mysetery) aren't we getting off topic, though? this seems more a discussion for books then for a wizards on/of mars.

[dorotheia]

Boxcar Children, Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew are all examples of a series being ghost-written. (I wonder why they're all mysteries?) Because ghost-written books never end, I don't read them, because once I realize that, I abandon them. (I don't think anyone could even think of the Young Wizards series being ghost-written.) And unfortunately, we're wandering off topic...

In some ways, you know, a wondering ending isn't so bad. The characters live on, in a way, in everyone's mind no matter what. Their story never ends, and just branches off into millions of possibilities. An end that leaves nothing to solve has me worried. Wondering endings are my reason to read a book over again in the meantime before the next book. And yet, at the same time, they can be annoying, or saddening. Especially if there ISN'T another book that answers the gaping holes left open in the ending, like if the author died before the next was finished, or the next one is never going to be written after all. I think WAW did the ending just right, with enough solved (for now) and enough left open.

I wonder what Kit is going to do without Ponch. I mean, Kit did do something by the end of WAW, but I don't know whether he's going to get a new dog (the sheepdog?) or not get one. I wonder if the Mars thing is a way to...escape from the whole thing with Ponch, like a way to distract himself. And I wonder about Nita's precognitions. I think they'll have a big role in the book.

Aargh, even I'm succumbing to the awful "I wish it was here now!" Well, don't get rushed, DD. Take your time and write and revise that book as best you can!

[Kathy Li]

Originally posted by Caitlin:
Wow, it has been two years. Golly, I should go back an reread them all again (for the umpteenth time).

Speaking of which, I missed the beginning of the last chat, did DD say anything about the (hopefully) forthcoming date? No one seemed to give a straight answer when I asked about it after she left.

What DD mentioned was that the release date is back up in the air again, as there's been a turnover of editorial staff at her publisher's and there's some kind of power struggle going on. (sigh).

[christmas]

That sucks. At this rate, I'll be in college before we get it...(which isn't that far off, now that I think about it...scary...)

[Frivs]

Hrm...interesting little snippet I just noticed in the concordance:

"The Earth's Planetary during the period beginning with SYWTBAW and ending with AWOM is named Irina..."

So is that going to be some part of the book? Just seems a bit telling that she's already told us Irina ain't gonna be in charge much longer...

[Dragon Writer]

i don't think Kit really IS without Ponch...he's just without the ponch's form. i mean, think about it...Ponch can enter the mind of any dog he wants and talk to kit, it seems, so how can Kit be said to have lost ponch? It's more like he's simply gotten a thousand more ways to contact him (through every dog in existance.) at least, that's how i see it...Still, it might not be how KIT sees it.

[christmas]

But think of it this way: Kit was extremely close to Ponch, even more so than the way most people feel about their pets because of the whole being able to talk to him and he can talk back thing. So of course Kit is going to take the loss extremely hard, almost as if he lost Nita or Carmela or someone like that.

And Ponch can't enter into the mind of any dog he wants: Ponch is in every dog.

[Kathy Li]

Originally posted by christmas:
That sucks. At this rate, I'll be in college before we get it...(which isn't that far off, now that I think about it...scary...)

Ah, Grasshopper, when you have reached my advanced years, you learn to take these things more philosophically. At least these days DD has the option of self-publishing online. I mean, I'd heard about The Big Meow and the Raetian Tales years and years ago, but there was no way to get ones hands on them. Now...? Easy peasy.

In the meantime, if you haven't found it yet, I'd recommend hunting down a copy of Stealing the Elf King's Roses, or My Enemy, My Ally. That should help tide you over.

[Dragon Writer]

True. Very true...but it has the same effect: he can SPEAK through the dogs...I mean, what the sheepdog was saying, was clearly ponch speaking, not the sheepdog itself. The connection between friends is not just limited to having the friend's body physically there...As long as Kit can continue to SPEAK to ponch, and have ponch answer back, it's not so much of a loss as it might be. *goes and hunts down recomended book* Sorry. No library in queens is willing to send it to my library. :P

[spyells]

I think it has the same effect too. Because Kit can now speak to Ponch through every dog. To me it's almost as if Ponch never left. Maybe I should go into my book case and find the book and come back later I need a refresher before I start to go into detail.

Wow, it's been two years. No wonder I don't remember a darn thing. I need to reread the series too!

[kk]

"'there are three types of people in the universe. Those that can count and those that can't'"
--Said by Fox

By doing a search, I found a website with a bunch of other quotes on it: http://web.umr.edu/~gbert/quotes.html

Some of the quotes are really funny!
I have to go, Mythbusters is on!! (In other words, I'll give you the other links later.)

[Fox]

Hey you mentioned me I'm being Quoted now? Is it too late to say I copyrighted that saying kidding hahaaha
I've been re-reading the series and i was just thinking that something was not quite right. In WD or WA Kits mother is very reluctant to say anything when Kit mentions Wizardry running in famlies. This makes me wonder if Kits mum knows something. also the way Kits older sister reacted made me wonder if there is a possiblity if:
A. she is a wizard herself
B. Or maybe a Dark wizard (Its about time we meet one or two)
Oh sorry to mention this in this forum but it thought it might come up in the forthcoming book
Hope your all having a fab weekend.

[kk]

Carmela a (dark or not) wizard? Miss "I said I found the manual for the TV," and, "I have a bar of chocolate and I'm not afraid to use it?" I don't think so. She said she didn't want to be a wizard. Huh, that would make an interesting book title: "So you don't want to be a wizard?"

Anyway, good theory about Kit's mom.