Today marks a big achievement: after three years of working on this project, I have FINALLY finished the book manuscript, wrapping up with the conclusion this morning.

Here’s the thing: I hate writing conclusions. They’re such an odd, tricky, anticlimactic thing. You need to recap some of what you said but not too much, because you don’t want to waste the savvy reader’s time. You need to come up with some (hopefully at least a little bit) brilliant big picture “here’s what this whole thing has been about” wrap up. You need to put a pin in a good stopping place for this particular project, while simultaneously gesturing toward and situating yourself within a larger ongoing conversation. They’re generally pretty short but they’re kind of a lot, and it’s always difficult to feel like you’ve really stuck the landing. But you have to have one.

My conclusion drafting was also complicated by our adorable new kitten, Pixie, who just when I felt like I could push this rock on up the hill was pretty sure that she needed to lay on my arms, bite my hands, pounce the cursor and the keys, and all other kinds of floofball mayhem. So at least I wasn’t alone in the struggle!

Anyway, here’s a brief excerpt from the conclusion:

For more than fifty years, Stephen King has been inviting readers into his fictional universe, crafting a literary geography that blurs the lines between the real and the imaginary, between our own world and countless others, from the apocalyptic aftermath of The Stand to the Dark Tower’s Midworld and beyond. Through King’s description of these places, the people who inhabit them, and the lives they lead, these places feel real, like they might be just around the next curve in the road. However, even those settings that draw directly from real locations exist in liminal spaces, in the landscape of fiction, perennially beyond reach. 

That fundamental inaccessibility does not make them feel any less real to the readers and fans who love them, who can easily picture themselves walking the streets of Castle Rock or Derry, stepping into the dark shadow of the Marsten House, or passing through the wide front doors of the Overlook Hotel. In the true Maine tradition, “you can’t get there from here,” but numerous artists, writers, guides, filmmakers, chefs, and game designers use their skills to bring readers one step closer to King’s Maine, to engage with and experience these familiar fictional locations in new ways. Maps of King’s Maine and some of its iconic towns allow fans to envision and spatially position themselves within these places and, in some cases, anchor these fictional places within the real world, while board games like IT: Evil Below and The Shining invite thoughtful exploration and navigation of these spaces. Experiences like SK Tours allow fans to physically move through King’s world, while guidebooks and travelogues are widely accessible, either by fans visiting Maine or those vicariously exploring King’s Maine from the comfort of their own homes. Film and television representations of Maine invest in a vision of the state that is collectively shared by the audience, whether that is through the real locations showcased by films made in Maine or through the intentional onscreen creation and exploration of King’s Maine, like Muschietti’s Derry or the versions of Castle Rock crafted by Reiner, Shaw, and Thomason. Professional chefs and home cooks alike find themselves inspired by King’s work to craft recipes that bring the author’s work into the real world, in the form of consumable and delicious recipes that invite tactile experiences of imaginary places. In each case, King’s literary geography takes on a new dimension and becomes accessible in a different way, allowing readers to not just imagine themselves in King’s universe, but to position themselves within it, to experience it beyond the page. […]

Just because a place doesn’t physically exist doesn’t mean it isn’t “real,” and through these myriad explorations of King’s literary geography, readers and fans can find themselves one step closer to the author’s fictional universe. 

Over the next week, I’ll be doing one more revision of the whole thing before I sent it off to my editor. Here’s to the home stretch – and thanks for coming along on this ride!