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How to write endings that make your readers say, "wow."

https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2016/11/04/how-to-write-endings-that-wow/

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Endings come in all shapes and sizes: from "happily ever after," to "Gosh, am I ever glad that's over." Your art journal is the perfect place to explore, record, and re-imagine a wide variety of endings in your life.

Some of the questions and topics surrounding the theme of "endings" can include:

• Taking a good, long look at endings you've never quite been able to accept: the sudden and unexpected end of a job or relationship; moving from a much-loved home or city; losing a loved one.
• Endings that need closure so you can move on to enjoy and more fully appreciate your current situation.
• Areas in your life that need to end in order to keep your health and sanity, for instance a toxic friendship; a dead-end, low-paying job; an organization that requires far too much of your time with little return or appreciation.

On a lighter note, endings, can also be something to celebrate, especially when the end of one chapter opens the door to a new and brighter future. For instance:

• Graduations.
• Retirement.
• Getting out of a thankless situation.
• Selling a home or business.
• Leaving a job to become self-employed.
• Significant birthdays.
• Moving.

All of these experiences make good fodder for collage, artwork, poetry; creative work that goes a long way toward accepting and even thanking the endings in our lives.

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Hi folks, I'm continuing my series called Novel Craft. I'm uncovering what has worked for me in the last year as I have moved forward with my novel writing. This is a way to make a stronger ending to your book. I found it very effective. It helped me untangle some weakness in my plot and gave me new energy toward a project I had grown frustrated with.

I asked myself  a simple question, what is a better ending to this story?

Yes, that is it. I'm not great with complicated solutions. This is the absolute truth. I love to make complicated plans, but I rarely enact them. Embarrassing but true. I have to find elegant, simple solutions to succeed, and my writer-sense (not be confused with Spidy-sense) let me know that my question was going to work.

My method to answer this question may seem weird, I talked to myself about while driving my umpteen errands. I suppose people looked at me and thought that is one crazy gal. Oh, well.
I chattered on bout the tried and true ending, poking at my ideas. I started by asking myself questions. How can I make this character suffer more? How can her darkest moment be darker? What would bring this character bigger change?

There was a little drama--like I don't know if this is going to work, and then, yay, ideas popped up. I continued to chatter on about the how these new ideas might be better than my old one.  I chattered for about a half hour. I'm pretty sure I'm not the first author who uses the the professional "chatterer" technique.

Finally in midst of my chattering, eureka, a better ending to the story popped in my head.  A way better end. I wrote that ending, and, yeah, I started chanting (while writing), "I've got this!"

Hint, hint, a simple questions, a conversation with yourself may help you improve your existence. Try it. Thanks for dropping by. I will return next week with more on this series.

Here is a doodle for you:

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This is apparently the Korean drama recommendation episode! This week JJ and Kelly tackle the end of NaNoWriMo. Sort of. We hope. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving! We will be on hiatus next week, but will pick up again in December! Gobble, gobble.

Show Notes

Have some tropes!

• Bicker Bicker, Kiss Kiss (What TVTropes calls Slap-Slap-Kiss)
• Kong-ji, Pat-ji (Korean Cinderella)
• The Big Misunderstanding

Remember, whether or not you “win” NaNoWriMo this year, be proud of everything you have accomplished! Success isn’t defined solely by word count, and hopefully you’ve taken away some tools and lessons from the experience.

What We’re Reading/Books Discussed

• Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones (hey, we had to promote our own at some point)
• The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas
• Winter by Marissa Meyer
• A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
• The Harry Potter audiobooks (narrated by Jim Dale)
• Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (narrated by Alan Cumming)
• The Song of the Lioness and The Chronicles of Prydain 
• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Off Menu Recommendations

It’s the holidays! Movies! Time! Netflix and chill!

• Full House (Korean drama)
• Propose (Korean drama)¹
• Sungkyunkwan Scandal (Korean drama) (JJ reviewed this on her blog)
• Rooftop Prince (Korean drama)
• Stranger Than Fiction
• When Harry Met Sally
• Trainwreck
• You’ve Got Mail (remake of The Shop Around the Corner)
• Prince of Thieves (and Men in Tights)
• Cabaret (1998 Broadway Revival)
• Pride & Prejudice (with Colin Firth) and Bridget Jones’ Diary
• The Lord of the Rings extended trilogy
• The Sound of Music
• Muppet Christmas Carol
• While You Were Sleeping
• Cool Runnings
• The Cutting Edge
• Elf
• Home Alone
• White Christmas
• Mixed Nuts
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
• The Nightmare Before Christmas

That’s all for this week! We are returning to our old format, wherein we discuss a publishing topic in depth. Leave your suggestions in the comments or email us or ask us on Tumblr! The next episode will be a year end round-up, but 2016 (Already????) is a blank slate, y’all!

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Your ending should wrap up the story in a way that resonates with your readers.

http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/2015/08/crafting-satisfying-ending-to-your.html#.Vgwy-s9Vikp

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We're very pleased to welcome author Amy Fellner Dominy to the blog today. If there's one thing more important than how you start your story, it's how you end it. Amy offers some excellent advice for crafting an ending that your reader will be sure to love...and remember.

And be sure to check out Amy's new release, A Matter of Heart!

Crafting a Satisfying Ending to Your Story, A Craft of Writing Post by Amy Fellner Dominy

ENDINGS

As summer winds down it seems like a good time to talk about endings.

Great endings make you sigh, tear-up or smile. They make you sad for the book to be over, and they make you want to flip the pages and go back to the beginning and start again. Great endings are, simply put, satisfying.

If only they were simple to write.

So, here are a few suggestions to help you craft a satisfying ending to your story.


Read more »

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• Avoid editing anything while writing a first draft--including the first draft of any new and/or revised section or scene. Just keep writing until you reach the last page or paragraph. (For some extra help with that last page, check out  my earlier post on writing your endings first.)
• Once you're ready to read through your initial or discovery draft, try to read without a pen or pencil in hand. Be a spectator rather than an editor.
• The second read-through is the time to make notes. Aim for order: chapter-by-chapter, line-by-line. Keep everything together in a special manuscript binder, preferably one with dividers.
• Once you've finished writing your editorial notes, switch to right-brain mode and journal out your feelings and overall impressions. What did you like best about your manuscript? What do you feel is missing? Do you need to write any new scenes? Did any parts of the story bore you to the point you didn't want to read them? (Extra tip: be ruthless--cut out anything you don't enjoy. Readers won't like those sections either.) Make a comprehensive to-do list for your next draft.
• Examine the chapter arrangement. Are the chapters in the right order to tell the story most effectively? What about the chapter lengths? Are some chapters too long, while others are too short? While it's not essential to make your chapters always the same length, you also don't want to throw your reader off balance with too much variation unless it's intentional.
• Look at POV (point-of-view) use. Have you gone for single or multiple POVs? Have you kept them consistent? If not, make your changes now.
• Read the manuscript aloud whenever possible. Reading to your critique group can be helpful.
• Create a style sheet to record important story details, e.g., correct spellings of characters' names, their dates and places of birth, the floor plans of their houses, a map of their city streets. I like to make a list of their wardrobes and other belongings--items in the story that will appear more than once. For instance, if I've said my heroine lives in a one-story house, I don't want her to ever go upstairs unless she's visiting someone who lives in a multi-level dwelling; or have her receive a compliment for her lovely green dress after I've dressed her in shorts and a T-shirt.
• Use your computer's "search and replace" function to weed out repetitions and buzz words. For instance, how many times have you used the words "suddenly," "actually," or "really," or had your main character bite his lip, run his hand over his hair, or drink a cup of coffee? Or used a word like "enthrall" too many times?
• Once a draft is finished, put it away for a while and work on something new. Two to four weeks between drafts is usually long enough to let a manuscript "rest." Follow the guidelines above and you may only have to rest two or three times before you're ready to submit your work to a publisher.

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by

E.C. Myers

—

One of my favorite parts of writing happens when I’m not writing. You know, those moments during the day when you’re thinking about, maybe even dreaming about, the story or the characters in your work in progress. I love brainstorming, whether it’s my own book or someone else’s work, because there’s a sense of play to it; you aren’t committing anything to paper yet, so it doesn’t take much work. (It also may not feel like work, so you might worry you’re just procrastinating, but trust me, it’s useful.) You can feel free to be as goofy or wild as you want–you’re just throwing things against the wall to see what sticks. And it’s cool because you’re working on your book anywhere and everywhere: in the shower, walking your dog, on line at the bank, riding the train, reading other books, watching TV, in meetings at work. A little part of my brain never stops thinking about my novel.

I can’t speak to every writer’s experience, but this is how my imagination works. The more I think about the story, the more ideas I have. Often, my subconscious mind makes connections that needed days, weeks, or months to develop. Initially, I avoided outlining because I wanted to give myself as much of that flexibility as possible to discover the story and let it develop organically, but I’ve since realized that outlining can also get you thinking about the whole thing much earlier, and there’s nothing limiting about it–it’s just one path, and you can take the story in different directions any time a better idea presents itself. I like research for the same reason; all that reading feeds me more ideas and opens up new possibilities.

So this book I’m working on… It started with a lot of brainstorming and outlining, then I started drafting it and inevitably veered off from the outline a bit. I got some great notes from my editors, and I just completed the first major revision—a few hours ago. As I tried to re-imagine the plot and characters and come up with a better ending, the whole process reminded me of something very old, something from my childhood: Choose Your Own Adventure.

You’ve probably seen a Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) book at some point, or one of the many similar series borrowing the concept. They’re basically stories that present many decisions for the reader, allowing you to have some control over the story. “If you decide to start back home, turn to page 4. If you decide to wait, turn to page 5.” There are usually only a few “good” endings and many bad, boring, or mediocre ones. When I read them as a kid, I always wanted to make sure I had taken every choice, explored every path, seen every ending. And I realized recently that all those CYOA books had been training me from early on to be a creative writer.

The way I plot out a book is really similar to how these books are set up. At each major plot point, I have to decide what the characters are going to do next, and what impact that will have on the story farther down the line. I’m constantly coming up with various scenarios and playing them out, discarding them, picking up another thread, trying something else. Working with Scrivener makes it even easier, and more fluid, because I can rewrite a scene several different ways, then revert to a previous version if none of them fit. I can move the scene or cut it entirely. I’m trying to see every path, and test every ending—all in search of the one “good” ending for the book. Of course, it’s preferable if I don’t have to actually write every alternative first.

It’s probably no wonder that I like stories about parallel universes so much. In some ways, each draft of my book is an alternate version of itself. (Sometimes I can’t even keep them straight anymore. Was that in the final draft, or did I cut it?) Fun fact: In the original ending of Fair Coin, Ephraim stops Nate from using the coin to facilitate a shooting spree at their high school. What?! Yeah. It was super dark, and very wrong for the book, and I knew it while I was writing it. (On the other hand, it was also my first novel, so.) But I often have to take some of those wrong turns and try out the “bad” endings — sometimes just to get to the end — before I can figure out what the real ending is supposed to be. Making mistakes doesn’t make you a bad writer, it just means you have to turn to a new page and try again. Revision is like getting to erase those unsuccessful outcomes and make a better decision.

Did you read Choose Your Own Adventure? Which was your favorite? And how do you plot out your endings?

The End

—

E.C. Myers was assembled in the U.S. from Korean and German parts and raised by a single mother and a public library in Yonkers, New York. He is the author of the Andre Norton Award–winning young adult novel FAIR COIN and its sequel, QUANTUM COIN, as well as numerous short stories in anthologies and magazines. You can find traces of him all over the internet, but especially at his blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

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Ready for NaNoWriMo? Here's a tip to make the next month easy on your time, planning, and imagination: Write your ending first.

Writing the end of my novels and short stories before I write my first page is a trick I've been using for years, and I love it. It's especially helpful for someone like me because I've never really been either a total pantster (someone who freewrites her way through a manuscript as opposed to persnickety planning), or an obsessive outliner. I've always preferred a combination of the two. 

For instance, I like to know who my characters are and what makes them tick in advance of writing a full manuscript, but to get there I still have to freewrite what those traits and motivations are going to be. If I have a pre-written ending that tells me where my characters will be on the last page, complete with dialogue and action, I'll know exactly what they need to do, be, and feel to reach that point. 

Writing my last three to  five pages first has saved me a lot of worry. Here's why:

1.  Writing your ending first gives you a life raft to swim toward. You will always know where you're supposed to go, giving your scenes a sense of forward movement.

2.  When somebody (like an editor) asks what your WIP is about, you will instinctively know the answer based on the tone and mood of your ending.

3.  Many writers (like me) love to write back story, but so often we're told "no back story allowed!" I think this is because so often back story is inserted into the wrong places where it slows the plot down. However, if you have to write your story backwards to explain how you reached your ending, you get to write all the "back story" you can think of--and it's always in the right place because it IS your story!

4.  Writing "The End" first means that technically at least, your manuscript is finished; a nifty psychological ploy to keep you from feeling overwhelmed on the blah-days when it seems your book is going nowhere fast.

5.  Which creates confidence--you know in advance that your story has a strong and satisfying conclusion. No more unfinished manuscripts piling up in your filing cabinet, no more excuses for not sending out those query letters!

Tip of the Day: Even if you have no intention of participating in National Novel Writing Month this year, take some time on Friday November 1 to sit down and write the last five pages of either a new work, or something you've already started. The first time I tried this exercise was with a novella I was playing around with just for fun. What I discovered from writing that final scene before I'd even written Chapter Two completely turned the book around from being a superficial light comedy to a serious story about aging and accepting mistakes with grace. Wow--who'd of thunk it? Happy Nanowrimo-ing!

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For both the reader and the writer, endings are extremely powerful things. I know I feel like celebrating when I’ve typed the words THE END on a manuscript, even though I’m fully aware that in the life of a finished manuscript the hard work has only just begun. Which type of ending did I go for? Fairy Tale, Hollywood, Bollywood or Hopeless?

Hopeless endings are few and far between, and rarely have a place in children’s literature.




I guess we’re generally conditioned to expect the happy ending. I suspect it’s what most children want, and perhaps what most adults want too. Imagine reading lots of books where the whole book is dark and grim and the ending no less so, the outcome so hopeless that you wonder what frame of mind the writer was in, or what he or she had gone through in their life, to end a book in that way.

Numerous studies have shown that a person’s reaction to a traumatic event can be significantly leavened by an ending that is positive – as long as the peak pain felt during the experience is less than the pain experienced at the end.

Recently, debate has intensified with regards to the darkness in teenage literature, specifically the supposed rise in ‘Sick Lit’. Alongside the waves of paranormal romances and dark dystopian thrillers, are readers looking for escapism or to be protected from dark issues and themes? Is it time for a return to ‘lighter’ teen/YA fiction? Or should we be encouraging authors to continue to explore the dark themes that teenagers need help coping with?

I’ll be interested in hearing what other authors and industry professionals have to say, but regarding endings specifically, I think most people would want an All’s Well That Ends Well ending.



www.savitakalhan.com

The Long Weekend book trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14TfYyHgD6Y

@savitakalhan

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I don't usually write movie reviews--in fact, I don't think I've ever written a single one, but I couldn't resist blogging about how much I enjoyed watching "Bride and Prejudice" two weekends back.

Made in 2004 and directed by Gurinder Chadhu of "Bend it Like Beckham" fame, the movie was one I've wanted to see for some time but never seemed to get around to it. Recently, however, I've been on a bit of a Jane Austen tangent, so when I was at the library the other day and saw the film on the DVD shelf, I knew it was the right time for a little fairy tale fantasy.

It turned out to be a serendipitous choice--I absolutely LOVED this movie. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's a modern-day version of Pride and Prejudice set in rural India. Aishwarya Rai (aka "the most beautiful woman in the world") and Martin Henderson play the parts of Lalita Bakshi and Will Darcy, or as we might recognize them from the original Austen text: Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Moving the story up a few centuries and taking it from the English countryside to Amritsar was an incredibly clever interpretation of a much beloved classic. The Bakshi family was the perfect remake of the Bennets; Will and Lalita were just as conflict-ridden as their original counterparts; and the chemistry between all the characters--including Jaya (Jane) and Mr. Balraj (Bingley) was almost better than the book!

I've always been a big fan of Bollywood: lots of bling, embroidered silk veils and saris, singing and dancing for no reason whatsoever, dreamy couples who seem to have all the money and time they need to fly around the world to gaze wistfully at sunsets and each other, and of course the 3-hankie happily-ever-after ending. Bollywood is the ultimate escapist, love-conquers-all movie moment. "Bride and Prejudice" was no exception.

Which got me thinking about what makes a great romance book or movie. And this is what I've come up with: two strong, intelligent characters overcome their very real differences so they can learn to work together. Yep, it's all about work. Kissing is the easy part. Getting to the altar takes courage. And a lot of singing and dancing.

I've always thought Pride and Prejudice is essentially a story about marriage. The relationship between the parents--the Bennets in Pride, and the Bakshis in Bride--truly intrigues me. Mismatched on the surface but made for each other; their bond is what has made Jaya and Lalita the heroines they are. My favorite line from "Bride and Prejudice" is when a distraught Mrs. Bakshi is scolding her daughters on being so concerned about marrying for love. She turns and points to a sheepish-looking Mr. Bakshi. "Where was love in the beginning?" she chides. Where indeed? And yet here she is, with four pretty girls, a home of her own, and a husband who obviously cares for her. Awww. As the girls sing after dinner with the endearingly awful Mr. Kholi: "No Life Without Wife!"

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Sometimes writing feels like running a marathon. You write, write, write, lather, rinse, and repeat. You develop your plot, you explore characters, you get in your 1000 words or x-number of pages per day, and the end feels so very far away. In fact, it feels like you might never reach it. My current WIP has felt like a particularly long marathon. I’ve been going to school, so the normal “get to the end” trajectory has been peppered with revisions, feedback, and more revisions. All of which has made me a better writer. But part of me was starting to believe I would never finish anything again.

Don’t get too excited, I haven’t finished this book — YET. But the end is in sight. I can see it. Finally!

My lack of blog-posts have therefore been in pursuit of the ever elusive ending. So please bear with me as I find my final wind and race to “The End!”

In honor of this final sprint, I offer these lovely words of wisdom on endings:

“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.” – Frank Herbert

“Let your characters actions and situations reveal the significance of your ending. Don’t explain what your story means or what your characters have learned.” – Scott Eddleston

“What rings and resounds at the end of a novel is not just physical. What moves us is not just characters, images and events…we are moved by the increasing connectedness of things, ultimately a connectedness of values.” – John Gardner

“When a symphony is over we feel the notes and tunes composing it have been liberated, they have found in the rhythm of the whole their individual freedom. Cannot the novel be like that?…Music, though it does not employ human beings, though it is governed by intricate laws, nevertheless does offer in its final expression a type of beauty which fiction might achieve in its own way. Expansion. That is the idea the novelist must cling to. Not completion.” – E.M. Forster

As you all run your marathons and reach for the end, may your journey (and your protagonist’s journey) find expansion in the space of reaching your goals! Happy writing everyone. I’ll be back when I’ve finished this draft.

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Big news: I'm moving! I'll still be in Albuquerque, but I'm trading home ownership for apartment living with more time for writing and art, not to mention a swimming pool. It's a major change, for sure, and as much as I will be glad to leave yardwork behind, the one thing I know I'm going to miss is my little at-home studio. However, in its place I'm getting industrial space with lots of room to go wild with clay, paint, and all the glue I can spill. Watch out Etsy!

In preparation for packing, I've taken stock of my works-in-progress shelf and files and realized that besides my bulging "idea file" I have no less than 22 manuscripts in various states of completion. For some people this may seem an excessive (and frightening) amount, but to me it signifies productivity and never having to say I'm bored. It also means I'm going to be extremely busy for the next few years if I want to get these works into print and/or up for sale. So if my math skills are correct, here's the line-up:

• 5 screenplays. 1 at 3rd/final draft stage; 2 have reached the full first draft stage; 1 is halfway finished; 1 is still incubating.
• 9 novels. 1 is finished and ready for submission; 3 are full first drafts; the other 5 are pretty well outlined considering I'm a dedicated "pantster."
• 4 books of poetry. All complete first drafts.
• 2 short story collections. All complete first drafts.
• 2 non-fiction manuscripts: 1 is a complete first draft, 1 is approximately 200 pages of notes. (Does that qualify as a draft?)

Which brings me to Stay Creative Tip Every Day #9: Finish What You Start. Do your best to not leave any piece of work unfinished. Unfinished work is usually about not knowing what to do next. To find the solution, try being playful: add a new character; paint red squiggly lines down the middle; paste on some text cut from a magazine. If you really dislike a piece and don't want to finish it, stop and consciously throw it away and don't think about it again.

In my how-to book, The Essential Guide for New Writers, one of the most important points I teach is that the only manuscripts that sell are finished manuscripts. Even if you're lucky enough to pitch and sell a 10-book series to an editor by sharing a few ideas scribbled on a dinner napkin, at some stage you will have to write and finish those books to get your full advance and avoid a law suit.

So how to stay motivated and on track even when you've added all the red squiggly lines you can? The top 4 ways I know for completing any w

0 Comments on Stay Creative Every Day Tip #9: Finish What You Start as of 5/2/2012 3:42:00 PM

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The final part of the Forts trilogy is now available in both ebook and print editions. For all the links fit to link check out MY WEBSITE!The Kindle edition can be found by simply clicking the picture above.Let me just say that it feels great to finally have this series wrapped up. Could things have gone smoother? Sure. Would I have preferred to not have the issues with the original publisher of the series? Of course. In the end, I wrote three books.Me. I did that.That's nearly 600,000 words and three years of my life. Despite everything that's happened and the way things played out, it's something to be proud of. I like Forts.It was important to me to write it and even more important that I finished it. It was fun and it was therapy, and I learned a lot about myself and my work from it, and in the end I wouldn't change a word.That's a pretty cool thing.Steven

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The book is arriving soon. Really soon. Before you know it, I'll be asking you to fork over some of your hard earned cash to read it. 


Until then, here's some free stuff.

16. TEMAZCAL 
   The heat was sweltering. The summer had been particularly rough and dry, and altogether uncomfortable. This was an angry heat, tailor-made for the suffering of those forced to live through it. In the backyard of the Jarvis family, tucked safely beneath the shade of a thick-trunked Oak Tree, sat the house of the family dog, Mr. Button. Built when Button was a pup, the years were noticeably rough on the modest dwelling. The rain had warped its walls and rusted the nails holding them perilously in place. Once a crisp, almost blinding shade of white, the paint had been peeling away for quite some time, exposing the worn and damaged wood beneath in softball sized clumps of pure ugly. The roof was little more than ragged jumble of partially rotted materials, and the likelihood of the structure's collapse grew substantially with every passing day. So pathetic was this shell of a once proud doghouse that Mr. Button had taken to lying outside rather than in. Even he was capable of understanding it was a disaster waiting to happen. 
   Despite the heat and the ever-present fear of being buried beneath a heap of rotted wood, jagged sheet metal and copper colored nail chips, eight year old Tommy Jarvis had been sitting cross-legged inside the funky-smelling piece of construction for hours. His hair was soaked with perspiration, his clothes drenched so thoroughly they could literally be ringed out. The dirt beneath him transformed into a moist, muddy-wet stew of yellow-tinted sweat and soil that smelled as bad as it looked. His throat was dry and his lips cracked to the point that that act of running his tongue across their surface no longer accomplished anything at all. 
   Despite his aching bones, and the fact that his vision had begun to blur, young Tommy had no intentions of leaving. 
   He was determined to remain exactly where he was. He wanted to sit there, and stay there, and keep himself angry, because anger was what he was feeling, and because it was all he wanted to feel. Would it have been possible, Tommy might have sat in that exact spot forever, until his skin peeled away, caught the breeze and fluttered off, until his bones turned to dust and became indiscernible from the ground beneath. 

0 Comments on ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS SAMPLE CHAPTER! as of 1/1/1900

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That's right, the final piece in the Forts Trilogy arrives on the 14th of next month!If you were planning on reading the series from the beginning and just haven't gotten around to it, there's no time like the present to get started. 
 The links are HERE and the first book in the series is still a measly $0.99 for all the kindle owners out there.
Get on it.

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It's been a while since I updated over here, so what have I been up to?Working mostly.Was that a boring answer?I guess it was a bit of a boring answer and I guess I should elaborate.The final piece of the FORTS TRILOGY is on schedule and expected sometime before the end of the year (November). If you haven't yet scooped up a copy of the first two, my suggestion is to get on that. If you have no interest in scooping up the first two, prepare yourself for one of my patented knuckle sandwiches. Beyond that, I'm currently illustrating a picture book for Featherweight Press, and I've been slowly piecing together my next project.Check out the trailer below:The first volume of Goats Eat Cans is in the hands of my editor and set for release early next year. You can find more information at the OFFICIAL SITE.Even if you hated FORTS, give this one a try. It's nothing like FORTS.Nothing at all.Seriously.

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It's official!

The above image is the final cover for the thirds and final book in the Forts series, Endings and Beginnings!

The OFFICIAL WEBSITE is also in the process of being updated to reflect the look of the new book and I'll be adding some goodies on there over the next few weeks!

Steven

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And so we come to the last of my series of posts based on Jane Yolen’s list of “10 Words Every Picture Book Author Must Know.”  Resolution… a fitting word to end the series with! Thank you, Jane, for providing us with such thought-provoking bounty (and two months worth of fodder for blog posts!)

Resolution shares its root with “resolve,” and in literary terms, it means the point within the story when the central conflict is worked out, or the problem is solved. Perhaps not exactly how the protagonist intended or hoped, but solved nonetheless, and in such a way that the hero has learned something and has changed or grown in the process.

The best resolutions satisfy a need created at the beginning of the book.  This needn’t be happy – but it should feel both earned and inevitable, which is different from predictable.  Rather than anticipating how the book will end, the reader should be pleasantly surprised, yet also feel “But of course it had to end that way!”  And picture book endings must also be clear, as opposed to implied or left open; young readers may have difficulty choosing between possible outcomes.

Let’s look at an example. In the beginning of Where the Wild Things Are, Max’s mother is angry with him, and sends him to bed without any supper.  The resolution occurs when Max decides, after a long ‘journey’ indulging in all his wild fantasies, to return home where “someone loves him best of all,” and discovers his dinner waiting for him. There’s that memorable last line: “And it was still hot.”

From this the reader understands that Max has been forgiven.  The need established at the beginning of the book – for Max to know that he is still loved, and lovable – has been met.  His problem – going to bed without supper – has been solved.  But note that his Mother is not calling him to dinner at the family table.  He has, after all, been naughty.  Yet we worry for a child who goes to bed without any supper, so dinner in his room feels both earned and satisfying (at least, by the parenting standards of Maurice Sendak’s era!)  And the fact that it’s still hot tells us that it wasn’t such a long journey after all. In fact, maybe just as short as a dream.

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“A novel is like a symphony in that its closing movement echoes and resounds with all that has gone before. Toward the close of a novel, the writer brings back — directly or in the form of his characters recollections — images, characters, events, and intellectual motifs encountered earlier. Unexpected connections begin to surface; hidden causes become plain; life becomes, however briefly and unstably, organized; the universe reveals itself, if only for the moment, as inexorably moral; the outcome of the various characters’ actions is at least manifest; and we see the responsibility of free will.” – John Gardner (From The Art Of Fiction).

John Gardner was an American novelist, essayist, literary critic and university professor. He is perhaps most noted for his Grendel novel , a retelling of the Beowulf myth from the monster’s point of view. Other notable novels include The Sunlight Diaries, October Light, and his craft book The Art of Fiction.

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I've been having excruciating writer's block this week. I'm finishing up a revision of Starting From Here, which has involved writing a new final scene.

Now, I zipped (okay, I don't zip, I plod along at a moderate pace, but still) through several other new scenes dispersed throughout the novel. But this final scene has been a particular challenge. It's the last word. I've got to leave readers with something meaningful. Something that will resonate. Something that will linger.

No pressure.

I made a plea on Facebook. "Help! I need a new last line for my novel." And, because I have wonderful, generous friends, this is what I was able to cobble together with their help:

The night was...the night was...it was a dark and stormy night? And so it was. So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past, something something lesbians something something puppies.

As I walked out of the train door, the conductor tipped his hat and said, “Sometimes, the car eludes you. Happy trails until we meet again.” For a brief moment, I considered starting over; but it seemed easier to just put one foot in front of the other, so I kept walking.

She smiled skyward and glimpsed the small patch of cerulean, growing ever larger—it would soon spread to overtake the clouds. And they all lived happily ever after. Except for the bad guy, who was slowly disintegrated in a boiling pool of acid. And they vowed never to try to train squirrels for the circus again. Amen.

The end.
Or is it?????????!!

I tell you, it makes about as much sense as what I've got.

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Progress on the cover for Forts 3 continues to putter forward. It feels pretty good to be woking on these characters again. I took too much time away.

Art has always been therapy for me and this has been a rough year.

Steven

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Last weekend I saw Inception, a film that I mostly enjoyed; I could have done without the alpine fortress/firefights on skis, the relentless soundtrack, and the director's obvious desire to offset tricky ideas with cool special effects (Thinking got you down? Watch this!) but unlike many audience members, I did like the ending. It was, I thought, a niftily ambiguous conclusion, and it called to mind a polite but on-going discussion I’m having with a writer I know, whose novel features an ending that I find indeterminate but unsatisfying. How a book ends matters to me—if the resolution feels forced, artificial, or worse yet, phoned in, I feel cheated, and perfectly entitled to hurl the offending volume across the room.

While mulling over endings, both ideal and infuriating, I noted that The Millions has a terrific article on this very subject. This is the wonderful thing about the internet, one need not go far to discover that the same ideas you’ve been kicking around in an inchoate, undisciplined sort of way have been thought-through, researched, and then recorded, in clear, lively prose. Or such was my experience with Literary Endings: Pretty Bows, Blunt Axes, and Modular Furniture.  In it the, author creates a taxonomy of possible endings, cites examples of these different approaches, and offers up some of her favorites. To my her list I’d add: Nadine Gordimer’s July’s People; Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca, Scott Turow’s clever twist in Presumed Innocent; Ian McEwan’s Atonement; Clea, the whole fourth installment of Lawrence Durell’s Alexandria Quartet, in which all manner of hazy details snap into sharp and shocking focus. My husband offered up Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. Bleak, but kick-in-the-stomach effective.

Your favorite endings? Least favorite endings?

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"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times."

"Now is the winter of our discontent."

"Call me Ishmael."

Novelists strive to capture a reader's attention from the first word or opening line. Overall, writers work toward creating the perfect opening scene with enough intrigue to draw the reader into the storyline.

But what happens when the reader flips each page, develops a sense of empathy with the hero or heroine, struggles through the nail-biting conflict leading to a satisfying conclusion only to find themselves unfulfilled?

An impractical or bland ending will leave readers wondering why they invested quality reading time in a novel that failed to gratify. And worse yet, those readers may not endorse a book. While the situation may not seem terrible, writers need to remember that a reader's positive review to a fellow reader, a book club member, librarian, a book blog readership will ultimately increase sales.

What's a reader to do or not to do? Keep these trusted tips in mind when you're writing those last lines:

• Do foreshadow the conclusion by using your imagination and sharing that insight early in the story. A surprise ending will work if it's plausible.
• DO NOT introduce new characters in the last few pages.
• Do resolve subplots with realistic outcomes.
• DO NOT wrap up loose ends too quickly. A story must keep its natural sense of rhythm or readers will recognize the hurry-up-and-get-this-finished work.

A story's ending should be as exciting as its opening pages. It should engage the reader, keep them flipping through pages, allow for empathy, and keep her on the edge of her seat with anticipation.

If a story doesn't meet these needs at the end, even the best written story will be forgotten instead of possibly becoming a classic.

by LuAnn Schindler. Visit her website http://luannschindler.com or follow her on Twitter @luannschindler.

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One more time...please welcome Rita William Garcia to the Tollbooth. 




Hi Rita! This week has been a lot of fun and educational. I loved hearing about your thoughts on the "first person."  And I may jump back to yesterday's post with some questions...but today, let's focus on one of the most essential elements of any book: novel, picture book, or non fiction.  THE ENDING.

And WOW--The ending of JUMPED does it all....

It's controversial.
             It's inevitable.
                     It's surprising.

PROVACATIVE. 

(I loved it!)(that's the beating heart that must begin on page one...and keep going all the way to the last page.)

 

So let's talk....

In general, where in the process do you know how your story will end? Now specifically, when did you craft the ending of JUMPED?

 

I knew my ending before I began writing.  

 

Wow. That is sort of daunting.

 

It wasn’t so much about crafting but beginning with a clear point of view, which was my basis for writing the story.  Namely, girl violence is on the rise, and a good deal of it is random and baseless. Now, JUMPED was my toughest novel and I scrapped it and restarted many, many times. With each trek into the desert, I had to keep the oasis in view. I always asked during the writing if the ending still held now that my characters were becoming more filled in. I was prepared to make adjustments if needed.

 

I think I will make a sign that says, “Be prepared to make adjustments.” That is so true on every level of revision. 

 

 

Did you consider any alternate endings for JUMPED?  (In other words: did you ever consider protecting your characters?)

 

No. I did make a narrative POV change that allowed me to push ahead. But no. I was pretty much goal focused.  I promised myself I’d change course if the characters and story dictated a different outcome, but seriously…what else could have happened? Leticia could have warned Lottie, who told Dottie, and then got word to Ivan, who would have told Trina, and then Trina could have cut out of school. But what would that have served? Coach could have said, “Duncan. I’ll let you play, if you get a note from your teachers saying you’re currently in good standing.” Or, I could have Dominique question herself and take a deep reflective look at her anger and the true source of it. Nah. Goes against character.  Trina, with body guards, could have gone up to Dominique and asked her why she wanted to jump her and then Dominique would have realized how trite her reasons were. Makes for great conflict resolution but would you believe that? I wouldn’t.

 

Nope.  Me neither.  But it was brave of you not to try!

When I was a student at VCFA, most of my advisors asked me to consider offering the reader “hope” at the end of my stories. Do you see hope or promise at the end of this book? What emotions do you hope your readers will experience?

 

This is definitely not a book of hope, and I think an older reader can handle that.   That’s not to say, in this bit of comic realism that I don’t see change. Change happens within Trina. It’s not the type of change we’d like to see happen to a character, but Trina can never be as blind as when we first meet her. She’s forever changed. That’s good and bad. 

 

Change.  That's right.  It is good.  And bad.  And authentic.

Just a side note:  When I was working with people post traumatic brain injury, the family always needed time to mourn the person “that was.” But as rehab progressed, we all got to know the person that remained, and that person often had new strengths and new goals. One mom said it best: “I thought I knew what my child was going to become. Now I see new possibilities. They are different, but still so meaningful.”

 

(Not to put any pressure, but I’d love to read about Trina four years from now. How she is experiencing her world through these new eyes.) 

So...how is Jumped different from your other work?

 

In No Laughter Here,

I could offer the reader optimism as small as a girl’s tiny giggle, because there must be hope for Victoria and for the millions of girls affected by FGM. JUMPED is different. Everyone has a hand in this outcome. Leticia could warn Trina. Trina could have a more realistic view of herself and the world around her. Dominique could turn it around. But no one looks at self in a meaningful way. Optimism or hope must be earned into realism and no one has earned it, so I can’t give it. I do want my readers to experience something, but it isn’t emotion. I want the reader to consider their own role in this story. 

School attacks rarely happen without witnesses. Having witnesses or spectators is part of the appeal of the attack. The attacker is making a statement about self. How many of us stand around and watch like it’s pay-per-view and then add to the attacker’s lore by spreading a play-by-play account? Excuse me, videotape it. We now videotape these attacks.   It’s easy to shift responsibility to the attacker, but we, as witnesses of and listeners to accounts of these attacks must also take responsibility.

 

Observers have always been an essential part of violence. Check out Facing History for an organization dedicated to studying moral choices. 

                                                                                    
 

And I’m glad you mentioned video. The media’s fueling of violence does make its way to everyone. Don’t get me started.

 

There will always be the classic bullying story where the protagonist overcomes the bully. David Almond’s bullying and grief story  

The Savage absolutely dazzles and uplifts. But my kids are older. Fights and attacks break out with little provocation. The problem is more societal than localized to a bully. I have to turn it back at society. Or us.

 

(I am clapping my hands and standing...yes, I agree!!!)

Leticia gets the first and last words of the story. Did you ever consider giving Trina or Dominique the last word?

 

No. This was always Leticia’s story.   Dominique and Trina are set in motion. As inevitable as Trina cutting through Dominique’s space at the wrong time. It’s only Leticia who can have an effect, but of course, she chooses not to. We know she hasn’t learned anything because she, in typical Leticia fashion, can only think about the celebrity aspect of this attack. I do bring all girls together in the final chapter, as well as Leticia’s conscience, Bea. Trina is forever altered and traumatized, Dominique is in prison getting harder, and Leticia doesn’t change. So, we have an anti-novel. No change for the main character, and no ray of hope. At what point do we stop watching the train wreck? 

 

We are a nation of rubberneckers. (no picture necessary.)

 

Friendship and making choices—or choiceless choice—are important themes or threads in JUMPED. Can you speak a little bit about these ideas? How did you feel writing from Letitia’s POV?

 

 It boils down to honesty. Your friends support you, but they should also be honest with you. A good, true friend is always a life line—but you have to be willing to take it. Dominique has friends, a boyfriend, the respect of the stars on her team, but no one challenges her. I’m sure they’re afraid of her. Trina thinks she has friends but in reality has bonded with no one.  If she slowed down to be real with herself, we’d see that she wants a “polypeptide” bond with people around her, an unknown father, a missing piece.  But Trina has built this wall of “ain’t I great,” pushing everyone away. She just can’t see it. Well, she, unbeknownst to her, she has one true friend. Ivan is honest with her. Leticia is just one friend away from being in the same boat as Trina.  She could even have a healthy relationship with a guy. But her priorities are out of whack and she loses everything. She just doesn’t know it. .

I have to say, Leticia made me laugh. Of course, I wanted to shake her, but I liked her even when I didn’t like her.

 

What advice do you have for your readers, especially those dealing with bullying and violence?

 

Peace be with you.   

It’s hard out there. 

I’m not going to pretend I have the magic wand, which is why JUMPED can’t end in that optimistic, empowering way. It does help to have a constant group of friends, as it’s easier to target loners.   If you are being bullied, you must tell someone in authority, and even that has its consequences. I am not joking. It’s hard out there. Girl violence and random attacks are as equally on the rise as bullying. I should make something clear: Dominique isn’t a classic bully, but she is a time bomb.   Dominique doesn’t go trolling for targets, as a bully would. She’s a person with rage and respect issues who is frustrated by being denied her sense of control, respect and identity. Taken away, the rage comes out and Trina happens to be in the wrong spot, making herself a pink target with her “hot-chick” bulls eye. Even though I have Dominique in a counseling class to learn to make better choices, she’s a step above the simple solutions and knows how to “do time” in the system. Hold that thought, ‘Nique. That’s going to come in handy. In spite of that failure, I still believe the intervention must come to the attacker. That’s where change must happen. Unfortunately, the target has less options, and the school systems generally fail to protect them. 

 

Rita, thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to answer these questions, but more important, for talking honestly about JUMPED and its social implications. 

 

If you have questions for Rita, please post them today, or contact her on her website!

 

http://www.ritawg.com/

-Sarah Aronson

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