Do you know the end of your story before you start writing? I never do.
I write romance for the most part, so with those, I know that the guy gets the girl (or vice versa). If I'm writing horror/suspense (the other genre I seem to be decent at), I know that someone's going to die in the end. Preferably someone important. My stories always end in either true love or extreme tragedy, it seems. That's about as far as I even think about the end most times, even when I'm outlining. Because if I plan the end, the story is finished in my brain - and I don't have a need to write it anymore.
The whole time I've been working on Her Private Chef, I haven't known how it would end. I had a few ideas of what might happen, but that's it. And then I added another plot line that completely changed things - including the possible endings. But it's time to end it now...I'm close to finishing up the draft. Normally I just keep writing, and go with whatever ending comes out.
Last night, my eyes were so sore I just could not look at the computer screen any longer (no writing), so I got out a notepad and pen, and started brainstorming. I wrote down some of the background to the new plot line that will be added in later so I'd know what the story as a whole would eventually look like, and then I wrote down all the problems that need to be tied up in "the end". I started looking at "what if" questions, and in the space of about 20 minutes, came up with the ending for my draft. It could change in revisions, but for now, it's perfect.
So now I know how it's going to end, I just have to write it. And that was so much easier than just writing through in kind of a "blunt force" style to find the ending, that I think I'll do that for the next draft too. I think it's probably much better than my normal endings as well, since I really thought about all the plot lines in concrete terms and how they could logically be tied up.
What's your method for finding the end of your story? Do you plan it out before you start writing? Just keep writing until the ending sort of "comes out"? Or something in between?
1 hour ago
4 comments:
Most of the times in my stories, I either have an ending in mind when I start, or it comes to me as I get to know my fictional world and characters better. I do like to play "What if?" but so far I haven't had to do that to specifically find an ending (though that game has led me to endings while I'm looking for other parts of the story).
I always know the ending of my stories. What I usually don't know is how I am going to get there. Endings usually come to me pretty much at the beginning. Because I am very impatient by nature, I want to know immidiately how everything is going to turn out happily ever after (I only have tragic endings in short stories.
I generally don't like reading stories that end badly, because I always feel annoyed after getting attached to the character, so my characters have a chance to be happy at the end.
So cool! I can't wait to read the new ending!! I'm with you, this whole outlining planning thing, is the way to go :)
I don't know my endings either, just the basics of what I want accomplished. I need to work on that...
Yay! Can't wait to see what you chose.
I tend to have a vague idea of the ending, and even outline it but it never feels real and as full on as it should be.
Of course, I never know how they end because I've never actually finished a novel.
Post a Comment