@noisyastronomer.com: "You are my inspirational mentor. I beg your wisdom in this next chapter of my life."

@philplait.bsky.social: "Naps are great. Have you tried them? Strong recommend."

I do think that there will be a renewed power in the live, physical, and personal. We just can't trust anything digital is made by humans.

Yup. Honestly, probably for the best. I've unsubscribed from a dozen things today.

I'm curious what series people feel ended well, and if my sleep-addled categorization holds up?

I don't know that I've ever seen this done well, so I don't know what it looks like at its best.

At its worst, it's bland and closes off opportunities for imagination and play within the world. There is no room left for the reader think of what could come next.

The extended epilogue is when we follow absolutely everything to its conclusion. We stitch up every character's story forever, usually through exposition. We know the path of their love, career, death, and legacy.

At its best, the apocalypse is an emotional powerhouse, with the destruction of things you've grown to love over the series set against the final victory to make the triumph even more poignant.

At its worst, it's a betrayal. Just ruining the world that was built for the sake of a story beat.

The apocalypse is when the world is effectively destroyed. The story is over because win or lose, the world that once was is gone.

This doesn't have to be literal, but often is. It's the rebel victory, the defeat of the dark lord, the return of magic.
Nothing can be the same.

At its best, a grand tour is a comfortable and satisfying journey, giving everyone an opportunity to shine for a chapter or two. It's a cozy goodbye.

At worst, it feels like a checklist or a series of unconnected short stories.

The grand tour visits each location, character, set-piece from the series in turn, and gives them their own miniature arc to resolve anything outstanding.

I could think of three broad and sometimes overlapping series ending methods: The grand tour, the apocalypse, and the extended epilogue.

Finishing a series is different than finishing a single story. The promise is that everything, every character arc resolves, every thread ties up, every mystery is revealed. But how do we do that well?