THE END is just the BEGINNING, a guest post by Hamish Steele

I can’t start writing a story until I know the ending.

So while DeadEndia: The Divine Order is the third and final book in a trilogy, there are some scenes in this book that were among the first I ever wrote.

Some people begin by imagining a captivating first scene. Others create characters and the story finds itself as they go. But for me, I gotta know how it ends. To me, an ending is your personal statement! An ending is about so much more than where the characters leave the reader – an ending is where the reader finds out why the book was even written in the first place!

And as a writer, knowing the destination makes figuring out where to start the journey (and who needs to be on it) so much easier. But sometimes, a lot of time passes between conceiving of that ending and getting to write it…

Between starting the DeadEndia series as a tumblr webcomic, to releasing the Divine Order over twelve years have past. I created this world when I was a teenager and now I’m a 33-year-old with a husband, a mortgage and back pain! Since starting the series, my country has had five prime ministers and there’s been 62 winners of Drag Race! I honestly don’t know which is more shocking!

That’s all to say, the kind of endings I loved as a teenager are different to the kind of endings I like now.

While the main pieces of my ending have remained the same – a war between evil angels and good demons, our heroes fighting to fix a broken world, characters we thought long dead coming back to save the day – I think the tone is now very different to what I envisioned. As world-ending as the stakes are in The Divine Order, I think it is the most life-affirming and hopeful book of the trilogy.

In Book One, my characters were all depressed, lonely, struggling with their families. They were lost souls, desperate for connection and the ghosts and demons of their world were all metaphors for how different they all felt. I was writing about my own experiences as a young adult who felt very alone.

And while I always knew that the characters would find their people and save the day, I originally envisioned a bittersweet ending – a reminder that no matter how much better life can be, there are still cruel systems in place to make sure we’re always beaten down eventually.

But when I finally came to write the book, as a 33-year-old, I knew all I cared about was giving these characters the happy ending they deserved. Because as worse as the world has got overall, I know my readers don’t need a reminder of that.

When I began writing the books, it was around the same time as the foundation of the It Gets Better Project. This was a campaign consisting of videos of celebrities, telling LGBTQIA+ youth that as bad as things might seem when they are young, they always get better when you grow up and find your people. At the time, I remember scoffing at the thought of any rich (often straight) movie star having any idea how my life would turn out.

But now here I am… it’s my turn to be a famous, out of touch person and to tell you – it does get better! It might not be in the way you expect, but as you age, you just get more and more comfortable in yourself. Every wrinkle I get is a reminder that I made it! And I realized that if I went with my original bittersweet ending, I would be lying to them! I had lived the life I was denying my characters.

And so without giving away any details, The Divine Order is my gift to my characters. It’s my “It Gets Better” video! It’s an ending I could’ve only created by aging out of my old ending.

Endings are so good because they can be so divisive. I love a happy ending. I love a sad ending. I love a controversial ending. Some people don’t want a good book to end, while I’m always racing as fast as I can toward it. I often hear people review a book and say “I loved it, except for the ending!” but whenever I encounter a final page that confuses, surprises, upsets or even disappoints me, it makes me excited! If you believe a book should have ended in a different way, I feel the book has worked. Because endings don’t exist in real life!

After every happily ever after wedding, there comes the marriage. After every drive off into the sunset, there comes the night. After every funeral, there are those left behind. And maybe like death, an ending of a book is a passing of a torch to those left behind: the reader. It becomes your story. Should it have gone another way? What happens to the characters next? That’s no longer my decision, it’s yours. Choosing to end a series is choosing to give your characters to your audience. I may write a fourth book one day but it’ll be just as valid as whatever “book four” is in my reader’s head.

Because if I always start a story with an ending, what is an ending but the beginning of a new story?

Meet the author

Hamish Steele (he/they) is a freelance animation director and illustrator who grew up in Somerset, England, surrounded by legends, myths, and folktales. Since graduating from Kingston University in 2013, Hamish has worked for the BBC, Cartoon Network, Disney, and Nickelodeon, among others. Hamish currently lives in London, UK.

About DeadEndia: The Divine Order

Eisner Award–winning creator Hamish Steele’s DeadEndia series is Steven Universe meets Adventure Time for fans of Scott Pilgrim, Rick and Morty, Adventure Time, and Pumpkinheads.

In this diverse young adult graphic novel, third in the DeadEndia trilogy, Barney, Norma, and friends team up with unlikely heroes to fight a battle for the fate of the universe, all while dealing with their greatest challenge of all: their love lives.

The battle between angels and demons rages on, and Courtney finds themselves restored to former glory in the realm of the angels with a new mission: bring about a new Divine Order and create a fourteenth plane of existence to keep the demons at bay. On the seventh plane, known to us as Earth, Norma Khan and Barney Guttman have allied with the demons in a search for both freedom and peace. There’s just one thing standing in their way: the Guttman family reunion. Badyah has joined the resistance as well, honing her martial arts skills and getting ready to protect Norma in battle.

But Pael, the Divine’s lead angel, has tricks up their sleeve that throw everything into chaos as Norma, Barney, and Badyah learn the truth behind everything. The three friends struggle to stop Pael before their lives are changed forever, and a familiar friend returns with a power that just might save them all in this stunning conclusion to the DeadEndia graphic novel series.

Part workplace comedy, part supernatural horror adventure, with a splash of LGBTQ+ romance, The Divine Order is perfect for fans of author Hamish Steele’s Netflix original TV series Dead End: Paranormal Park who are in search of more adventures, for graphic novel lovers who want more diversity in their reads, or for anyone who has finished The Watcher’s Test and The Broken Halo and is ready for the final entry in the zany, creative, and laugh-out-loud funny world of DeadEndia.

ISBN-13: 9781454949015
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
Publication date: 04/23/2024
Series: DeadEndia #3
Age Range: 14 – 18 Years

Filed under: Guest Post