I've come to the disturbing realization that my current manuscript has an unsatisfactory ending for at least one of the point-of-view characters. My girlfriend recently read the entire novel as it exists today, near 700 pages and only missing the final three chapters, and her criticisms confirmed for me something that has always been gnawing on my self doubt: it's just not strong enough for every major character.
Some characters have enormous payoffs (albeit rather dark): Jaycen Tallart's story of a young thief stealing to build a better life for his family ends with the murder of his sister, the very person he had worked so hard to provide for; Wer dan'Nun and his race of people enter into a wary alliance with the "bad guys," making sure that the reader won't know who to root for. But others, like Raquel in particular, are far too dark or simply just fall flat.
Another 50,000 words will be needed, with perhaps 20,000 of some of the existing content in need of cuts or dramatic revisions. Oh joy...
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