Original Ending of The Shadow Spinner

The ending to The Shadow Spinner was actually quite different! It was, in my opinion, much dumber and way less satisfying. In this post, I’ll break down not only what the original ending was, but I’ll try to think back to my thought process on why I was such a dumb idiot. Be warned: there are obviously spoilers, what with this post being about the end of the book and all…

The End.

The ending you read probably seems pretty normal and wraps up in the way you would predict the story to end. So what happened in the original version?

Hermit and Jace go to rescue Shoku. Ok, that’s the same. Here’s the really dumb part. They succeed! They literally just go in and save Shoku. N’Halia and Araina don’t show up, they need no extra help, and everything essentially goes fine! Considering the whole book is about N’Halia and Araina getting stronger, I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking by not having them in the final conflict.

What was I thinking?

I’m attempting to think back now and I believe I know why I wrote it that way. I had roughly outlined the book, but I knew nothing about story structure back then. When I started writing The Shadow Spinner, I literally just sat down at my computer and started typing. And each new chapter was just like that. I’d get a rough idea of what I wanted to write and I would just write. While that’s a perfectly fine way to write, I think it really only works well for people who understand story structure. That was not me in the beginning.

As I was writing and editing, I started reading about story structure and listening to podcasts and videos and whatnot. I was listening to a lecture by Brandon Sanderson and he was talking about pay-off. It struck me that my ending was incredibly dissatisfying from the promise that N’Halia, as the main character, should be, you know, doing things.

The Heroine’s Journey

The Hero’s Journey is a common (probably the most common) story structure. Almost any action or adventure story follows it. Let’s skip to the meat. At the climax of the story, the hero is about to lose. This is the dark night of the soul – that moment when everything seems lost. Then, there’s the rescue from without. An external force will intercede and everything will pivot. The hero will rally from the brink and turn the tables. I always think of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Harry is totally screwed against the basilisk until the phoenix just randomly arrives with the Sorting Hat. Then, everything turns around and he manages to win.

I suddenly understood that Hermit and Jace just saving Shoku without that dark moment wasn’t very exciting. That’s when the scene changed. Jace got stabbed, Hermit and Shoku get captured, Stapes gloats. The dark night of the soul.

Rescue from without

From there, it was easy. They needed to be rescued and N’Halia and Araina were just the women to do it! They show up and help them fight their way out of it. By the time I had gotten to this point, I’d also already written about half of the sequel. That let me throw in the moment of Hermit using his staff as a Forged weapon. It drops the perfect hint of what would be a major plot point later on in the series. Now, since it’s in the first book, no one can say I randomly pulled it out of nowhere, haha!

Final thoughts

This is my last planned post on The Shadow Spinner. After this, I’ll switch to other books. Would I change anything else if I had to rewrite The Shadow Spinner? Well, yes, I’m a better writer now! I’d make the book more emotionally engaging, I’d write less training scenes, I’d introduce the fourth Champion in the first book, I’d…

Yes, there’s plenty I could have changed, but I’m so glad I published it as I did! There are plenty of people out there who revise and revise and never publish. And that’s no way to move forward. Ultimately, I’m satisfied with the book. While I’m sure I can write better, the soul of the book would be the same! Hermit would still be a sarcastic weirdo, N’Halia would be a hotheaded heroine, Araina would be a badass grandma. I love the absurd humor in the book and the unnecessary effort I poured into making a magic system that had limits. And because I moved forward, my future work is all the better. The sequel to The Shadow Spinner is even better!

Thank you for joining me on this behind-the-scenes exploration of The Shadow Spinner. As I near publishing, and after I publish, book 2, I’ll post more on the Dome universe. Please feel free to comment or email me with other questions or requests for posts!