z

Young Writers Society


Tips for Conclusions?



User avatar
100 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 1395
Reviews: 100
Mon Aug 07, 2017 2:12 pm
View Likes
LittleFox says...



Hello fellow writers!

Lately I've been having trouble coming up with good climaxes and endings for my stories. I can come up with beginning and middle just fine, but then I get towards the end and I have trouble thinking of an ending that isn't too obvious or predictable. I end up just making the middle part of the story longer and longer and sometimes the conflict becomes too complicated, or simply starts to fizzle out. Is there some kind of secret strategy to wrapping things up in a creative way?
Thanks!
"What's 'taters, Precious?"
  





User avatar
212 Reviews

Supporter


Gender: Male
Points: 13620
Reviews: 212
Mon Aug 07, 2017 3:03 pm
View Likes
birk says...



Really no secret to this, unless it's so secret that I haven't even heard whispers of it. Generally, the ending of a book is probably the hardest thing for any writer to pull off. There's rarely a perfect way to end a piece.

I'd say most novels are about the journey, and in an ending I'd want to see all the arcs, all the threads, finally pull together into a final climax and highest point of the story, before ushering the story into that final page.

If you look at the bibliography of for example Stephen King, you'll find that while he has immense creativity and skill, he's not really that good at endings. And that hasn't stopped him from becoming one of the most known authors on the planet. Even the end to his magnum opus, The Dark Tower, has people split.

So, I'm always a-okay with a satisfying ending. It doesn't have to be the best ending ever. As long as it finishes the story in a decent way.

*edit; from one fox to another xD
"I never saved anything for the swim back."


Do not mistake coincidence for fate. - Mr Eko

they're selling razor blades and mirrors in the street
  





User avatar
1272 Reviews



Gender: Other
Points: 89625
Reviews: 1272
Mon Aug 07, 2017 6:31 pm
View Likes
Rosendorn says...



Make the character want something above all else. Have the character try and get it. Forget about it being original, obvious, or predictable. Just work on the desire.

Endings take multiple drafts to flesh out, so don't worry about getting it right the first time! Just figure out what the character's overreaching desire is and have them commit completely to getting it.

I have a soapbox on predictability, which is basically that everything has been done before. Barring the very few authors who codify a genre (like Tolkien or Agatha Christie), you're treading on old ground. The trick is to tell your story, because your story is what's going to be the original part.

It just might take awhile to come out. So pick an end point and work towards it, keeping an eye out on little surprises that come up in the story. Those little what-ifs you didn't plan for are often the key to making something original, and you can't plan for them.

But really, for me a good ending has the commitment to a desire, and it is built around whether or not a person gets it.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  








The man who never makes a mistake always takes orders from one who does.
— Anonymous