Finishing a Series: What Now? - Tessa Hastjarjanto
17 Dec 2022At the beginning of November, I released the last book in my paranormal romance trilogy, Infernal Contracts. I pressed publish on November second, with no preorder, so it was just waiting until Amazon approved it until it was available for everyone.
Wrapping up the last book was a journey in itself. You spend so long with these characters, they become part of you, and you part of them. You have to tie up all the loose ends and give it a satisfactory ending. I’ve never done that before, not for a whole series. It’s hard, but I think I did a good job.
Now that the book and the series are done, what do you do? Aside from the usual release stress and marketing, I mostly focused on unwinding. Trying to get out of the story world, and prepare my mind for the next book. And I needed a break.
After spending the last one and a half years editing Lucifer’s Favour and Beelzebub’s Bargain, I wanted and needed a break. Editing is my least favourite part of writing and it sucks up a lot of my creative energy. I need to replenish my well.
I read, watch, and play. Stories are everywhere and there’s no right or wrong way to consume them. I study them, and craft books. I work on my storytelling and linguistic skills. Like an athlete preparing for their next game, I prepare myself so I can be the best I can be once the race starts.
I’ll be going back to the world of Lunis Aquaria for my next book, a standalone novel diving deeper into one of the short stories from Tales of Lunis Aquaria. Going from paranormal romance in a contemporary world to a fantasy adventure with a whole different kind of magic is quite a change. But I’m doing my best to research the world and the voice of Marella, my main character.
Onto my next adventure, submerge myself in another world, another story.
You can get the series in the following links (and right now, they are on promo discount, so the three books can be acquired for less than 2$).
About Tessa
Tessa Hastjarjanto is a Dutch/Indonesian writer from the Netherlands. She writes speculative fiction, and blogs at narratess.com about books, fountain pens, and writing.
From a young age, she imitated popular stories and games in creating her own worlds. This love eventually led to a master’s degree in media and game studies at the University of Utrecht. However, a mundane desk job was enough to inspire her to follow her creative passion. The first fanfics were written during lunch breaks and soon original fiction followed.
With the support of her husband, she now focuses on her writing career while battling chronic pain. Swiss white shepherd, Shiro, acts as a therapy dog to keep her healthy and reduce stress through extensive cuddle sessions.
You can check her on the different socials: