The End...

Okay, so if you've been reading the Futures series and haven't read yesterday's post then you should read that before reading this. Here's the link.

That was the end. I wasn't for sure for sure yesterday that it was the end, but it felt like the end as I wrote the final line and then as the day went on I knew, yep, that's the end.

For a long time I was thinking it would end at her funeral. With who she was and what she did a lot more clearly defined. But...

That's not really who I am as a storyteller. I hate telling you what the characters did or didn't do when we weren't watching. I like you getting a chance to make them do what you want them to do.

But yeah, that was the end.

So let's go back to the start and I'll talk you through a few things. The original story was really just a one off. One of those who knows what happens next things. I liked the idea of a fortune teller being the real deal and freaking out over what she saw in someone's future. But after I wrote it I started thinking, hmm...there's probably more here. So I wrote the next piece. And then I pictured Olivia in politics. I mean, for sure our current situation in the world lead me there. Where could the most armageddon of armageddon things be triggered? I knew I was on the right path when Cynthia mentioned that she wondered what political party controlled the people who went to see Theresa after the reading.

I don't write a lot of long pieces. It's not where my joy is. I like sitting down at a blank screen dashing off a complete story and sending it off all within a few hours. I don't plot. I don't plan. I am a seat of the pantser. The voices...they speak to me.

Or something that doesn't sound as crazy, but is just as accurate.

Long pieces need planning. And not showing them to people until they are done. Or at least until you have an idea of what they will be.

If I had been planning this one out I would have changed the way you the reader interacted with Olivia. I like the idea of you never actually meeting her. Like if everything you knew about her you knew only from other character's points of view. So she was really a mystery to you as well. So if I was doing it all again, it would have read very differently.

I have an idea in my head what Olivia did as president. How her administration worked. What it triggered. And why both The Home Office and The Company both had been watching her and trying to steer her since birth.

I don't know if Olivia really was preternaturally lucky in life or if that was mostly their interventions. Like I do know that Emily's roommate disappearing was The Company's work. Does that mean Emily worked for The Company? No...I don't think so. I just think they knew a friendship would build there. I think the scholarship to go to that college in the first place was put in motion from The Home Office. They wanted her there. That first roommate was terrible right? But then along came Emily and...

I think The Home Office finally gave up trying to place people directly in her life, everyone they put there eventually got too close to her. The Olivianess of it all drew them in to caring about her. Again, is that her lucky disposition or something else? I think The Company found out the same thing but it didn't bother them. It helped them reach their own ends so they thought of it as a bonus. If people love their jobs you can pay them less and all that. I mean, it's The Company not the Charitable Institution for goodness sake...

I think Olivia was bound to be significant. That they both knew it and they wanted to use her to their own advantages. Or if they couldn't use her, then get rid of her. Anyone who reads stories with supernatural elements knows that the future isn't set in stone. No matter the vision someone has it's only one possible path. So whatever Theresa saw wasn't what would happen, it was what could happen. I think that what she actually saw was Olivia causing a New World Order.

And I think that The Company and The Home Office were both working hard to make sure the one she ushered in was the one that benefitted them. Two sides tugging at her constantly.

Who won?

I have an idea. But I'm not going to write it.

I'll also say that we know about The Home Office and The Company, wouldn't it have been a kick in the pants to find out there was a third entity out there as well? Maybe one that didn't have their own plan for her, other than letting her find her own path.

Let's call that one Mastenbrook Ltd.