There was an interesting discussion on Novel Motivation recently about endings. Do you have an ending already in mind at the start of the novel to guide the story development? If so, what happens when the story diverges too far from it? Do you write a new one?
Some published novels seem to have rather perfuntory endings, and one wonders if this was the original one, and the author could not think of an alternative to fit with the changes in the developing story.

I currently have two wips, one is stalled because I have no idea how to end it. The other I had an ending from the outstart, but now I'm within a chapter of it, it nolonger seems 'right' for the story, and I do not have an obvious alternative - it's about a character's adventures as a child, which could just as easily carry on until he dies of old age.

So, how do I find the right ending for my stories? Should I just let the characters dictate it, even if it's a rather weak 'they all lived happily ever after'? Should I leave it open ended? Should I kill off the MC - it would make life so much easier...


- NaomiM

First I have to overcome my desire for everyone I like in the novel to live happily ever after (and I always like everyone by the time I've written it: comprendre tous, c'ést pardonner tous. Or should that be 'tout'?)

Then, I think I look for an ending which will make sense in the light of the ways the characters have changed, and which will make sense of that change. A trite example would be that the MC gets his girl, but only after he's spent the novel learning properly what she's like, and she him, and possibly having their ideas of relationships rearranged too. One way or another, it has to be earned.

It does depend on the book, but I think it can be enough of an ending for the MC to realise just how much they've changed, without anything dramatic actually happening. They don't have to decide to get married/divorced/sell the company/buy the company, just suddenly to realise that because of everything that's happened, all these possibilities and people look different: even if the view hasn't changed, the perspective has rearranged itself.

I know exactly what you mean about perfunctory endings - all these interesting things set up and the complications multiplying fascinatingly, and then all of a sudden all the ends get tidied up in the twinkling of an eye, or a sudden car-crash/flood/death turns everything on its head, and all the things that mattered suddenly don't. Not convincing, either way. I suspect you're right and they stuck on the original ending. Or sometimes that, actually, for many novelists the 'what if?' question is the really interesting one, and the resolution just isn't as interesting. Perhaps the more interesting an original premise and complications, the less tidied up they'd ever get in real life, but one reason we read fiction is to feel that things can be resolved, so at some unconscious level neither we nor the writer are convinced by whatever the writer tries to do to resolve it.

Emma

It should end when the story you introduced on page one is resolved. Many novels fail simply because the author started telling one tale and finished another. If you’re having problems resolving the story you’ve told, it might be that you’ve started in the wrong place, usually too far back.

Then again Stephen King says, “why be such a control freak, the story will end up somewhere,” and who am I to argue with the King.

I hope this helps.

Cheers, Grinder

Naomi

Interesting discussion.

I seem to have trouble starting but the ending of the thing I am suddenly very sure of...though maybe not from the beginning of writing. When beginning I tend to be thrashing about all over the place (err as I recently miserably said) but towards the end it is like I suddenly know there is only one place it can go...which is very euphoric. Though that maybe not the place I thought it would end up right back towards the start. But usually its better than my first notion because my notion towards the start is usually more formulaic and hence less original and specific to the rest and less "right" and "aha!" because i don't really know all the complications at that stage, if you like. Then it's the rewriting and rewriting stage.

As to how to solve your problem - I know exactly what you mean about feeling cheated as a reader and perhaps you have to treat the ms like a reader would. Sit down and read it and sort of note where your expectations are and what you need as a READER to be resolved/worked out/whatever. Then maybe decide if you want to straightforwardly go with these or whether you want to use the knowledge of the reader's expectations to play with them or subvert them or surprise them a little. This is really pleasurable IF it doesn't seem tacked on and i think that can only be achieved if you have a real sense of the way the whole thing moves and the expectations of the reader. Err also probably depends on genre though.

I think it can be enough of an ending for the MC to realise just how much they've changed

Agreed, Emma, although there must be something - possibly some situation - at the end to show that. Although, as you say, it doesn't necessarily have to be dramatic.

...whether you want to use the knowledge of the reader's expectations to play with them or subvert them or surprise them a little.

Yes, those are the novels I like, Snowy. Ones where a question is set up at or near the start of the story, which is finally answered at the end, but preferably not the answer the reader may be expecting - based on how the MC has changed in the course of the narrative.

There are the endings that come round full circle, back to the start, but the MC has been changed by their experiences and realizes s/he can never go back.

It is easier in genre novels such as Crime/Thrillers where solving the crime/saving the world pretty much signals the end of the story, and the MC can return to whatever they were doing before +/- accompanied by the love interest.

started in the wrong place, usually too far back

That is possible Grinder, if the WIP centred around one incident and it's resolution. Unfortunately the MC has a series of adventures, so resolution of one just leads onto the next.

I have the 'he can't go back' and the 'MC is offered two choices and chooses the third' parts to my ending. I'm just worried the MC's motivation for making his final choice is not logical, but as you say, Snowy, I'll have to read through it and double check I'm not short changing the reader - I can see why some writers resort to the 'and then he woke up', ending

Tout comprendre, tout pardonner. Very helpful, and really sheds light on my current dilemma, which is how to shade an ending which seemed simple when I began the story.

I've just been looking at an admittedly rather arty literary magazine: magical realism (sic)has been mention three times and I've only read a twenty pages! It includes author interviews, amd one says endings should be open to different interpretations. That's also helpful.

I'm writing a short story in which a character has to make a decision - that's clear in the first line. I did have in mind the choice she's make - partly dictated by the nature of the outlet for which the story is intended. It's based on someone I know whose situation and character is similar to those depicted in the magazine stories. She inspired me on a recent visit. Having reached the final scene, the one that will resolve the dilemma, I'm finding it difficult to finish as I intended. It's not as simple as I thought.

Naomi, I think you should just carry on writing about your MC until the ending comes to you. Of course you do run the risk of him dying of old age...

What's that story that goes 'The King may die, or the horse may die, or ...' ? I think it may be in a Shakespeare play. Anyway, the moral is that if you wait long enough it will all resolve itself.

Sheila

It is easier in genre novels such as Crime/Thrillers where solving the crime/saving the world pretty much signals the end of the story, and the MC can return to whatever they were doing before +/- accompanied by the love interest.

Yes, that's true Naomi, or at least I think that in a crime novel - or more specifically a mystery novel - you have to be pretty sure where you're going before you start writing. I actually wrote the endings to AGA and AVL in a fairly developed form at the same time as writing a chapter by chapter synopsis. Most chapters had about half to one page, but the crucial chapter at the end would take up many more pages...

That's just me though.

I haven't always worked like that. With Taking Comfort I experimented with a number of different endings - all pretty radically different - before discovering the ending that felt right for me. And I had started writing and got quite far into it without the ending being resolved.

In the genre I write - adventure - the ending is probably the most important part of the story - because those kinds of plot benefit greatly from being constructed as if for the screen. (and in screenplay the ending is the most important - is said to be able to make or break a film).

Robert McKee advises in his book "Story" - that the ending should take 75% of the time/thought of the planning. In fact he kind of advises retro-planning - think of a powerful ending and then track back to put in all the factors which will make that the only, the inevitable and yet surprising way that the story could end.

I'm a BIG fan of Aristotle's Recognition within the Reversal to drive the ending. But it can take a long time to come up with that. Understanding the conscious and unconscious desires of the protagonist is key. Ideally the Reversal turns upon the one being satisfied at the expense of the other.

Which is why I can see why some writers might start writing before they had that finale in mind - because you have to have thought so much about the plot, which is easier once you're actually inside the narrative.

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HOWEVER - I really enjoy reading unresolved novels. Like all of Kafka's novels - I love the way they trail off (which of course wasn't his intention!). Murakami, a big Kafka fan, has something of the unfinished ending. A friend told me that it's very Japanese - that incompleteness is viewed as fortunate (you don't give gifts of even-numbers of things apparently...). The idea is that life is incomplete and that art requires the observer to bring something of him/herself to complete the piece. Cool huh?

In Chinese culture gifts are offered in even numbers - two mandarin oranges, for instance, and a two-dollar note in hongbao, or red envelopes at Chinese New Year. When you give the gift it is respectful to give with two hands.

Sheila

I accidentally wrote the ending to this one about six months ago. I just wrote it and thought, 'Hmm. That's the end.' It's been quite cool knowing it's there as a point to work to, but at the moment, I'm struggling to get there, even though I know it's completely right. I have to go back now and redraft the rest of the book, and hope that these last 4,000 words taking me to the final scene will work next time.

Interesting what you say about Magical Realism, Sheila, because that is probably the stumbling block I was having with the ending. The one I wrote originally had a spiritual element to it and the story was ment to be a parable with an undefined time and setting, just enough familiar points to make the reader think somewhere tropical a few hundred years ago. But as I wrote it several facts dropped in to anchor the narrative - such as mention of the French Revolution; also I quickly dropped the spiritual references so the narrative became more of a real-life adventure story: more Treasure Island than Pilgrims Progress. The ending, however, revolves round a moral dilemma for which I needed the spiritual aspect, and at which point 'magical realism' crept in.
However, I have found a useful template to follow in the Children's fiction genre - eg, the Jules Verne, Haggard, Burroughs, etc, adventure stories. The seemingly normal adventure that ends up in a strange and wonderful place. Lost Horizons, She, Solomons Mines, Capt. Nemo, Krackens and the Fountain of Youth. So I'm a little less freaked out by it now.
And I will be taking Maria's advice about retro-planning to make sure the MC's motivations ring true when he makes his final self-sacrificial decision.

- NaomiM

Sound fascinatingly multi-layered, Naomi. I hope I get to read some of it. My character's decision doesn't have a moral element except in a very general sense, so it's much simpler.

Sheila

Oh, it's still complete crap, Sheila. I just wanted the sense of accomplishment one gets from actually finishing it.

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I could simply chuck in the original ending, but, to bring in your Colin Toibin quote, sheila, it is not to oneself that one must remain true to, nor to the reader; ultimately you must respect the story and endeavour to do your best by it.

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Maybe I'm being a little melodramatic, but I honestly believe the story writes itself. I've just been over the previous chapter and the story is showing me exactly which way to go - via an Inca child sacrifice in the high mountains which the MC has just walked past, and which I did not realize was in there.

retro-planning

good term!

I recognised a lot of what Maria was saying there. I think people who talk a lot about planning maybe leave out the problem of not really knowing your characters etc well enough at the start. But i think you do need to do it at some point and "retro-planning" sounds a great idea to me.

It also allows things to loop round and reflect each other in a much more satisfying way I think. Possibly. Depending how you work and all those other provisos.

I like the sound of your ending Naomi...