The Hunger Games: Death of the Mockingjay

Rue

One year later.....

I step out from the school building and take a deep breath. All day I've struggled to concentrate on my studies what with the new Hunger Games drawing to a close last night. For nearly three weeks the whole country has been transfixed by the drama and action that took place in the arena and last night it came to an end. I don't know how I'm gonna be able to wait until next year.
I stop off at Kyler's class so I can walk him home then make our way back through the town with me lost in my thoughts while Kyler babbles on about what he and his friends have been up to.
I find the the Games inspiring, I look at how revered the Gladiators are, how they're idolised by children and honoured by the adults. I've seen it before of course with Mom and Dad. Even now they're still respected by everyone who meets them, they won the games and fought in the war and survived.
Sure people ask me what it's like to live with such legendary people but to me they're just my parents. The only time it hits me is in history class when we're taught about the rebellion and the war, about how the Mockingjay led a rebellion against President Snow and won. That was my Mom I think to myself, she was the Mockingjay.

We walk on and pass people chatting among themselves, I hear the odd word as they talk, 'Games, Gladiator, Victor' ,everyone's talking about the same thing.
Tonight they'll present the new Victor to the nation, a family friend of ours Steph Flickerman. She originally trained at the Hunger Games academy back in the dark days of Snow and now after many years she's finally a Victor. She won using bravery and cunning which is kinda similar to how my Mom won her Games.
When I saw Steph in the arena it inspired me, she wasn't the strongest gladiator but still she triumphed.

When I'm old enough I'm going to volunteer and be like my Mom, I want to be like Steph.

I WANT TO BE A VICTOR!

—

And so that's it. Three books and five years of work. These last two have been by far the hardest as I've struggled with writers block and the motivation to keep going. The first took only five months but Return of the Mockingjay holds the record at over 2 years!! This book wasn't easy either though, I knew there was still more to the story but my original plan was for all this to be in the second book, but that kinda got longer and longer so a third book was required. The arena chapters were pretty easy with this one as the arena is literally on my doorstep. I live just a couple of miles from the coast and that's where my idea came from for the Dune arena. I spent many hours walking the dunes and pinpointing different landmarks that I can use in the arena. I'm a keen mountain biker too so I'm often riding through the dunes and finding other things, like the mount which does actually exist!!!

Also, sometimes people ask me about how I dream  up these weird names for my characters?
Well, those of you who know me well know that I'm a truck driver travelling all over the UK. Often I'll see a village name on a road sign and use that as a character name. They seem to work well especially with the crazy names you tend to find in the Hunger Games universe.

This is where I got the name for the hermit and the Man Mutt in District 7

As you can probably guess I've left the story open for more. If you look at the last Chapter more literally the baton has already passed from Katniss to Rue and it'll be her who'll be telling the story from now on. The original characters will still be there but the timeline needs a reset from Wolfe and the Brotherhood.

But.....

The story isn't ending just yet!!!

Thanks for your support, your votes and comments make all the work and effort worthwhile!!!

Dave x