'I think I did a pretty good job...'

Author Michael Grant reflects on how it feels to have come to the end of the bestselling GONE series

A lot of people have asked me how it feels to have finished the last book in the GONE series. Pretty good, that’s how it feels. 

I knew it was a major undertaking. I sold it as a six book series, so I knew from Day One that I was in for 2,500 to 3,000 manuscript pages. And since I type with just two or at most three fingers, that’s a lot of hunt and peck. 

As I was designing the series I knew I’d need both a lot of characters up front, (Sam, Astrid, Caine, Diana, Lana, Edilio, Dekka, Mary, Quinn, Howard, Albert, Brianna, Drake etc...) and the ability to draw in additional characters from the general population of The FAYZ (Duck, EZ, Zil, Sanjit, Toto, Penny, Gaia, etc...) 

And I knew I would need some real estate. About a twenty diameter circle of real estate including the town of Perdido Beach, the mine shaft, Clifftop, the forest, the beaches, the ocean, the islands and the lake. 

So basically, I packed heavy. I filled all my suitcases and brought plenty of stuff: characters, sets, potential plot lines. I didn’t want to find myself staggering into LIGHT all exhausted and gasping for breath.  

What I did not have at the start was any idea where the story would go. I knew the premise, I knew the characters and the setting, but I did not know where it would go. That made it fun for me. I was finding my way around the FAYZ just like the characters, as lost as they were. 

Now that I’m done, I feel pretty good about the whole thing. I think I did a pretty good job. In fact, I’ll set aside my usual self-critical, faux-modest attitude and just say it: GONE is the best beyond-trilogy YA series that does not have the name Harry in the title. 

Read our review of LIGHT, the final book in the GONE series.

Read an interview with Michael Grant

To celebrate LIGHT, Egmont has created an online game based on the books, which can be played over a six week period. Visit www.goneonlinegame.com