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So, I have a lot of ideas that pop into my head. The majority are silly or have no future, but for the handful of ideas that have some potential, I never seem to be able to bring them to an end or find an ending that satisfies me.
So...tips? Feedback? ideas? I recognize i'm far from skilled and bow to the superiority of those who surround me.
Comments
No Need for an Ending
Why do you feel like your story needs an ending? Most don't.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
if i don't have an ending to
if i don't have an ending to work towards, then it just faffs about doing nothing.
Every picture tells a story
A beginning, a middle and an ending.
It can be hard to make a story come to a conclusion. Just think of the stories that you have read in the past.
They all have an ending. Sadly, I think that many films these days don't have a logical ending. They just end with all sorts of loose ends hanging. That is IMHO not goos story telling.
May I humbly suggest that you go read Dickens or Conan Doyle. Many of their stories were originally published as either short stories or serialised weekly. For that you need an ending but with just enough hooks to keep the reader interested. The same goes for the old Dick Barton Radio shows.
I'm not saying that I get it right everytime. I have a huge number of stories that are unfinished and may probably remain that way for a long time. I did get fed up with reading stories that were never completed. so whenever I publish anything, it is a complete story.
Samantha
"Sadly, I think that many
"Sadly, I think that many films these days don't have a logical ending. They just end with all sorts of loose ends hanging. That is IMHO not good story telling."
Try looking at them as if they are telling a story about an event in the characters lives, not the complete biography of the character. The loose ends become less frustrating then. ;)
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
I think most movies are just
I think most movies are just hoping for a sequel.
As for writing, usually I have the end, it's the plausible beginning I struggle with.
Probably not very helpful for you
Í see in an earlier comment that you feel you need to have an ending to work towards. Otherwise in many stories, as often in real life, it's the journey that matters, not the goal. Many famous books have no ending or rather weak ones. E.g. one of the most famous Chech books "The Good Soldier Švejk" was only half-written, the end of "Robinson Crusoe" is not nearly as interesting as how he lived on his Island and who cares about the ending of "À la recherche du temps perdu"?
I suspect that another non-starter for you would be the Monty Python solution when not knowing how to end a sketch: "And now for something completely different .."
Personally I almost always start with the ending and work my way backwards (the story you inspired was an exception).
Always write the idea down
Always write the idea down, no matter how silly or stupid it may seem! I keep one folder on my computer of those ideas I have. If and when I get more ideas for for one of those ideas I add the new idea to it. The way I keep track is that I create a folder named for the idea, then as I think of more things that could be used with that idea I place documents in that folder.
For instance, I get an idea for human's that are exploring Mars to find ruins of an ancient civilization on Mars. I'll make a document about the explorers, all the idea I have about who and why they are there. 1. humans have colonize Mars, the colony is, A) very new and life is very harsh for them or B) a thriving colony with hundreds of thousands that have been there for generation's or, C) something in between. Then what would be the benefits and problems of each. What obstacles would each have?
Then another document about the ancient civilization, who were they? were they the ancestors of ancient humans or another unknown alien race? How was their technology in compassion to the human technology in the story? Was it more advanced or less advanced? Was it so far advanced that it appears to be based on magic to the people that find it? (Remember Clarke's law...Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic)
What impact would the ancient technology have on the world? Would there be a religious impact?
Look at movies, books and TV shows for inspiration. Take the movie Stargate as an example, the base idea behind the original movie, the later TV series(s) and video game was that human's discover an ancient alien teleportation device. The main obstacles they had to overcome in the movie were, 1. Discovering how to operate it. 2. Defeating Ra after they were discovered. 3.Getting back home to earth.
Don't worry if an idea sits for some time, I have folders of ideas that have been sitting around for years. The idea behind my story "Project: Super Soldier" had been sitting around for over 20 years before the idea of adding a TG element to it grabbed my muse by the horns and I began writing it.
Brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm! I can't say that enough times. Sitting around with friends talking about the idea will give you more ideas than anything else. Find some like minded friends to sit around and discuss ideas, bang around 'what if's.' You would be amazed how often one of your friends will give you an idea or one of their ideas will give you yet another idea for your story.
You don't need an ending to begin writing your story! Start writing and see where the act of writing takes you! As you write you will come up with more ideas and eventually that ending that eludes you.
I had no idea of an ending when I first began writing Super Soldier, but now I not only have an ending, I have some great ideas for sequels that I have already begun to plot out.
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Snowfall's story plan
Snowfall's story plan(sort of)
1) concept- main theme, under theme. ex: boy becomes girl, what happens during the change(project)
2) characters- protagonist, major support, minor support, antagonist/s, major support, minor support.
3) chapter structure- ch 1: intro protagonist, setting, location, antagonist, situation. ch 2: intro main major support of
protagonist and deduction of situation. continued until final chapter: goals achieved.
4) cover art
5) start writing.
quidquid sum ego, et omnia mea semper; Ego me.
alecia Snowfall
The best ending I've seen in a story was:
"The End"
Second best ending is "Fin"
:-)
Just don't forget to put it into your story :-)
Addendum: Almost forgot... WORST possible ending for the story is "To be continued". Never use it!
Then there's always this
The End? Keep them guessing!
I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.
An ending does not have to be an ending.
If you wanted, you could just tie up the plot strings to your story, with the end showing the characters going on with their rest of the lives.
Just Don't Make It All a Dream...
...unless it's a surrealistic tale to begin with. There's hardly anything worse, storywise, than spending a whole story suspending your disbelief and then discovering that in effect, the author had decided that doing so was a waste of time.
Eric
Ah, but
Supposing that the dream isn't a dream? Supposing the protagonist thinks that she is dreaming but might not be? How does anyone tell?
Such ideas get right down to the nature of reality. I dealt with this in SEE and came to the conclusion that there is really no way to prove anything. Beings? Perhaps she dreamed them too. How do you decide which is dream and which reality?
Penny
Some of my best endings...
...have been a surprise to me.
The important part is rather than trying to force the mind to produce an ending, let it relax and think around things that might reasonably (even better, unreasonably) happen.
Ending on a high leaves the reader feeling positive and much more likely to kudos or comment.
So surprise yourself, rather than trying to force yourself. If you're really stuck, why not let a few readers read your draft and suggest an ending. I'd always be happy to volunteer.
Charlotte