…Or is it? 😉
The Control-verse leaves plenty of room for exploration, I think. 🙂 As new stories come to mind, I’ll add them to the one-shot collection The Rebel Anthology, which chronicles events post-epilogue. No set size or schedule for this collection; any updates will be sporadic, and not necessarily in order. It’s just a place to house my future-fic plunnies, as the inspiration strikes and other time commitments allow. As I was writing Control & its side-stories, these one-shots served as a sort of star map for me in creating the broader Control universe. I think it’ll be a fun experiment to see where the story goes from here – so be sure to check it out if you’re itching for more!
But the main storyline of Control is at last complete.
It’s a bittersweet feeling, reaching the end of a journey like this one. In many ways, writing a long-form story is like maintaining a relationship. As the initial phase of infatuation fades, the real work begins. It can be trying at times, to stay committed to the vision. There are ups and downs, lulls in the action, sometimes outright dread and resentment at the prospect of sticking with it. In these dark moments, it can feel like toil at best and absolute hell at worst. The urge to bail is an ever-present menace, a devil on your shoulder, pouring poison in your ear.
But then, every now and again, there are sparks of passion that reignite your love for the story anew. Word by word, sentence by sentence, chapter by chapter, slowly the dream becomes the reality. It’s a truly incredible and rewarding thing to experience. At the end of all the hard work and struggle, you can look back on what you’ve put out into the world and take pride in a job well done.
It feels good to have finished this marathon of a story, by far the longest project I’ve completed to date. Factoring in all the side-stories & epilogue, Control stands at well over 200k words. A mammoth undertaking for me – or should I say ‘beastly’? 😉
I doubt I’ll write another SessKag fic this long or involved, but who can say? Certainly I’ll be using what I’ve learned here in crafting my original works. Perhaps the most fun thing about storytelling is that you never know where it’ll take you next. As Bilbo Baggins sings in The Fellowship of the Ring, “The Road goes ever on and on…”
Thank you for going down this road with me. I know there have been bumps and twists along the way (the hazards of publishing as you go!), but hopefully here at the end, you’ll feel like I do that it was well worth the ride.
All that’s left to do now is to look forward to the next one!
Happy reading, y’all 💕
Lovely, are you going to continue some of your older fics like the pact or the secretary?
Yep, so long as I’m still kicking I’ll be finishing my SessKag WIPs. Still trying to decide which one to focus on next. Avoiding burnout is key, but I am looking forward to getting back on the WIP horse soon enough. 🙂
Kudos a thousand times over, Char! Can’t wait to see what’s next!
Thank you, mim!! So glad you’re stoked for the next project(s)! <3
it was soooo worth it! I don’t know why I can’t leave a reply at the sequel, but anyway! one of the best reads!!!!!! and keep updating the sequel please! so much unaswered! love it!!!
Thanks, marcella! I have comments on this site set to close on posts that are older than 7 days, and all of the current parts in the sequel were posted awhile back 🙂 So that’s why comments are closed for them now. But as I add to the sequel series in the future, those new chapters will have comments open.
So glad you enjoyed the story!! <3
You have me as a reader for as long as you make stories Char! Control has been well worth the read 🥹
<3 <3 <3 Thanks so much, Blackberry!!
You deserve to be proud of this story! ❤️
Even if I was not here from the beginning, I’m glad that I could be part of the journey at least for a while.
Thank you for all your hard work! I really hope that you will succeed to publish your own original work one day. 🤗🤗
Thank you, Elle! I’m so glad you enjoyed this story & thank you so much for the well wishes!! <3 <3 <3
What an AMAZING journey that was! I hesitated to finish the last chapters of Control because I didn’t want it to be over, but I’m so glad I did. It was so satisfying to watch it all come together in the end. The ending was 1000x better than anything I ever could have imagined in this lifetime.
I’ve seen so many of my favorite fic writers succumb to that urge to bail and I totally get it. Writing stories this large can be overwhelming for sure. Especially with so much going on in the world and in our own personal lives. I really admire you, Char, for being so open and real throughout this journey of yours but most importantly, for sticking around with us. Thank you so much for sharing your stories with us! I’m also a huge fan of all of your current WIPs. I’m really excited to see where those go as well. Can’t wait to see what journey we go on next <333
~Lee
“The ending was 1000x better than anything I ever could have imagined in this lifetime.” – OMG thank you so much, Lee! 🙏 that is music to my ears!
Man, words cannot faithfully describe how overwhelming a project like this is! (Especially a FREE project lol) But hearing feedback like yours makes it all worthwhile <3
Thank you for coming along with me on this crazy journey! Here's to many more to come <3 🥂