Endings
By Kathleen Bolton | May 9, 2007 |
Nobody could’ve been more thrilled for Therese that she’d finished a good draft of her current WIP than me. Well, Therese is thrilled, but that’s a given. Being able to type THE END and know that you’ve really figured out a cathartic ending, the one that’s supposed to be there, is a golden feeling.
I’m not experiencing that feeling in my current wip. I’m at the final plot point in my own work, and I have no clue how it’s supposed to end.
Well, you’re probably thinking, shouldn’t you have figured that out before you began writing?
I did, I respond. But my story mutated between then and now. The ending I’d envisioned isn’t the right one.
So I do what I normally do in situations like this when I don’t know What Happens Next. Freak out, calm myself, then go in search of answers.
And I found a great one over at Thinking Writer. See if you agree with THIS then come on back.
TW wisely reminds us that the story is about getting people to understand a theme. Thus the ending should flow naturally from the theme. TW uses a couple film examples (boy, it’s great to read that M. Night Shyamalan had to write Sixth Sense 6 times). If a writer is having trouble with the ending, it’s probably because the theme isn’t developed enough.
Boom. Problem solved.
I’ll be able to figure out the ending now. And how to re-work a few scenes that are giving me hell ’cause I strayed from the theme.
How do you solve your ending problems? We are interested in your gory details if you want to share. I’m always curious about how others solve their writing problems.
Kathleen Bolton is co-founder of Writer Unboxed. She writes under a variety of pseudonyms, including Ani Bolton.
She has written two novels as Cassidy Calloway: Confessions of a First Daughter, and Secrets of a First Daughter–both books in a YA series about the misadventures of the U.S. President’s teen-aged daughter, published by HarperCollins, and Tamara Blake, for the novel Slumber.
Thanks, Kath! This is reassuring, because my ending does link strongly with theme. Great post.
I find theme not only shapes the ending, but the ‘darkest decision’ point in the story (crisis) where the protagonist must make a very difficult choice that resolves their internal conflict.
My silly example:
Bob is afraid of heights. During the crisis of the story, Bob is stuck on a ledge of a highrise while the villain taunts him. Bob must transform himself by overcoming his fear of heights and venturing out on the ledge to take on the bad guy. In the story’s aftermath, when we resolve everything, we show Bob moving into a 40th floor condo. Clearly he has overcome his fear and the theme is resolved.
If you didn’t understand the theme was ‘overcoming personal fear’ it would be difficult, if not impossible, to plot it so that Bob ends out on that ledge. Nor would you be able to decide “I want Bob to move into a 40th floor condo at the end of the story.”
Keep in mind this is an extremely generic example. :)
I think the inciting incident, hero’s ability to commit, crisis, climax, and aftermath all revolve around the story’s central theme and the emotional conflict the character faces.
That’s just my take.