Burn Out

Tonight was the last episode of Hogwarts Radio podcast. This is the podcast that brought together the bloggers of this page. This is the podcast that helped me find real friends in the Potter world. This is the podcast that I will always remember and cherish.

Endings have been somewhat of a theme with me lately. The end of the Potter series, the end of my fiance being in school(he graduated recently), the end of the year, the end of the Hunger Games series which I finished yesterday, and the end of life as I knew it. I have been noticing a rather large change in my life lately and I have realized that a new chapter has begun. I have officially lost touch with my high school friends and moved on to more. I have begun to start thinking about the future more and how I am going to handle. It is hard to explain but I have felt like a whole new me here lately. So, it is the end of the old me.

Endings are, in my opinion, one of the most important parts of a story. My old choir teacher used to say "It is was the audience hears first that gets them interested but it is what they hear last that will be remembered." This I believe carries over into everything in life, including stories. The end is the thing the audience looks forward to, becomes anxious about, seeks, craves, needs. The end is what will tie everything up with a pretty bow and the audience can have closure. With Harry Potter the end was long awaited for and was very sad but it let me know that all was well. With The Hunger Games the end upset me quite a bit but reminded me that I must move on whether it takes five, ten, fifteen years to agree. With Hogwarts Radio the end came as a shock at first but slowly made me realize how precious that podcast really was to me.

Eventually all things must end. But you need to make your story end with a bang. As quoted by Mary who quoted Kurt Cobain "It is better to burn out than to fade away." Don't let the end of your story fade into nonexistence. Make the audience remember it as a great end to a great story. Make the audience remember it as the part they can't wait to get to but don't want to see. Make the audience remember it.

Author: Cory Doctorow

Wands Raised for Hogwarts Radio. Always.