Young Writers Society

Okay so the thing is I have extreme trouble finding proper endings for my novels. I've been told so many times that I should start my stories knowing the ending. Sometimes I don't even know how it begins, never mind how it ends.


So my burning question is how do you find an ending before the beginning?

-Ink

That's a good question. I don't know.

You don't have to know every single detail of the ending before you begin, just big things that lead to the resolution of the conflict. If your character changes shoes right before the resolution, that's probably not going to be a big detail. But if he meets someone new and they solve a life-changing riddle or something, that'll impact how the story finishes.

Basically, when you start the story, ask yourself "what is the problem?" (sometimes there will be more than one problem; sometime each character will have a problem, etc.), and then ask "how is that problem solved?" to figure out the end. The reasoning behind this is so that you know where you're going. Kind of like a road trip: if you just get in a car and drive, you might make it from New York to Los Angeles *eventually*. But if you even take out a map and circle New York and circle Los Angeles, things will be much much easier ^_^

Good luck and happy writing!