Corey and Aiden: The Final Night

With this book being only ten chapters, I knew I'd get to the conclusion much faster than many of my other stories. If you have NOT finished the book, stop reading this post now. I'll be discussing the finale in-depth.

Click here to read the final chapter, A Bed, A Desk and My Unfortunate Soulmate, Chapter 10.

So, here we are. I'm always a beehive of emotions when a book is done. I'm so eager to share the conclusion to my friends who have come along for the ride. But at the same time, so often like you, I hate to see it end.

Assuming I continue to write, one thing with my interwoven web of characters, it's never truly over. People tend to turn up in other books and stories. We don't have to say goodbye to Aiden and Corey just yet.

I suppose I can bring up the obvious. I expect hate mail. I didn't "flip" Corey gay. Yes, the two friends explore and share some, and I agree it is homoerotic, but all along, my plan was to tell a love story of friendship — two college friends, one gay, one straight. From the very beginning, I wanted to show that love.

I remember producers of Will and Grace in its heyday receiving viewer letters asking if Will and Grace just get together, but they didn't succumb to those requests as they wanted to stay true to the relationship.

My challenge was to make it ring true. If you didn't believe they truly loved each other, then the final pages in the shower would have just been trite sap. I hope you don't feel that way. I hope you found it tender. If I let you down, please know it was never my attention to string you along until Corey burst out of the closet, confessed his passionate love to Aiden and begged his best friend to fuck him into tomorrow. I had my ending before I started writing.

But my goodness, the chapters in between took on a life of their own. I sketched out the development between Corey's and Aiden's relationship in an outline, but along the way, we met a new batch of characters that I loved developing stories around. Typically, each story has a "breakout" character. If It Weren't For the Two of Us had Lance. Once Lance got his own story, then it was Jakob and Cooper. Cooper's book introduced Laramie. By the end of Book Six, I didn't want to leave Aiden and Corey behind, so I delved into College material with Soulmate. While our pair of best friends have a whole bunch of secondary characters, I had no idea that Forrest would worm his way into my heart.

Slater was originally just to be an asshole. His role was to make Aiden say something to him that hurt Corey deeply when overhearing. He was a mere plot point. When I made the whole dorm hate him, the scene where Aiden forgives him struck me vividly. Developing that friendship was enjoyable. Forrest's internal conflict, hating himself, was interesting for me to write. Of all the secondary characters, I feel he had the most complete arc. I can picture him years in the future officiating over Aiden's wedding.

And I picture a lot of things. Sure, I toyed with the idea of Aiden and Corey doing it, but other than a gratuitous scene, I felt it would be out of character for Corey. I thought about Corey and Patty going all the way first before he finds "out." It seemed more interesting to me for him to be right at the edge than to write him in constant regret. I thought about Forrest suddenly realizing he was gay, but that was a total copout. I had enough gay characters already. I wanted them to find their place among the straight friends.

Recently, I have been watching a documentary series about a famous television/movie franchise and how things occurred over the decades. Luckily, I don't have a studio breathing down my neck trying to impart their influence and control over the work. But I am truly astonished at how many films had gone into production with no final script. They often just made up parts while going along. Fascinating. I can certainly identify with that, although I knew how I wanted the last chapter to go with our two freshmen.

Unfortunately, I made a continuity error that is too late to fix. I'll just have to chalk it up to "bad memory."

If there is anyone out there who attends/attended Notre Dame University, I hope I didn't do any injustice to your alma mater. I've never set foot on the campus and know nothing about it actually. I found myself researching details and prayed I didn't misspeak. For some reason, it seemed more tangible to use a real location other than the fictious Jackson Bend. I could have had the boys attend W. Travis back there, but I pushed myself.

I hope this story was satisfying for you, along with the conclusion. Please! Email me your thoughts. Hopefully it's more than "You suck." timothylane414stories@gmail.com 

Finally, the question I get asked the most, "Is this really the end?" I don't know. I will say that I have made notes in my head regarding a sophomore year. That said, I don't want to do it unless I have a compelling story — a beginning and an end. I will need to feel a sense of closure regarding something by the end of the year. It needs to go somewhere; otherwise I'm just spinning my wheels. If you want to be notified of upcoming work, the best way to do that is to email me and ask to be on the notification list. Those readers always know when new material drops.

Before I close this post, I definitely need to say Thank You. I took a risk with Book Eight. Everything else up to that point was in Adult Friends. Thanks for joining me on this College tour. Thanks for your support. Readers who reach out are usually the favorite part to my day. Some dear friends have been willing to help proofread when time allows. What kindness — helping me out for just the sake of being caring. Hugs to you! I wish I could have used you more often. e-hugs. I wish I could go back and fix annoying typos in posted chapters when they got through, but that isn't in my control. I appreciate you looking past them when they occur.

Please be well. You are a blessing.