Future Words of Yesterday: Issue #7 (#wattys2016)

Writing Tips

Finding the Finish Line  

Let's say, hypothetically, that you don't hope to make a living someday by sitting in a chair and typing. Let's say this hypothetical you is in a race.

Now, there's a very clear beginning to this race, a long blue ribbon on the ground that says START. The starter shoots their pistol and hypothetical you is off. They're doing pretty good right now, just cruising along, passing all the obstacles, but then...

They realize that they don't know where the finish line is.

Hypothetical you has two choices now: abandon the race or just keep running, running until the end is in sight. They don't want to give up, but they can't just run blindly towards whatever way looks best. Hypothetical you's footsteps start to slow, they start to get passed by other runners...and then they just stop, looking around in bewilderment at the world around them.

This is not what you want to happen to your story.

See, writing a story is just like this hypothetical race: you have a beginning, sure, but if you don't have an set ending early on, it's going to be a whole lot harder to make it there in the first place. You (and I mean the real you, now) always want something to be writing towards, some result of a conflict, or a character change, or whatever happens in your story. I'm not saying you wouldn't be able to finish the race if you didn't know where the ending was, or if it changed (maybe your hypothetical self would end up finding the end naturally, perhaps), but having at least something set in stone does a lot of good. There's a reason why every race has a beginning and an end: the competitors want to get there. Try and think about your next new story, or even your current one: what do you want to happen at the end? What are the consequences of a character's actions? While you may believe that endings tend to 'box' your writing, most of the time, they actually expand it. Endings are a great way to keep track of what you're doing on the long, crazy journey of a novel. That middle part of the race, the actual running? That's all yours, for you to manipulate as you please. You'll find that what you're writing now fits surprisingly well with this ending you thought up before, because everything you've done has been leading up to this moment.

Now, how does one go about endings? Simple. Ask yourself. Ask your characters. It doesn't even have to be a good ending, because it will probably change slightly as you go to fit your work. One tip that I've found immensely helpful is from Sara Gruen, author of Water For Elephants, who mentioned in an interview that she liked to dig herself into a hole when she was writing, so that she could find her own way out. This is certainly exemplified in her the book itself: near the end, the main character is unemployed, homeless, and taking care of a pregnant woman, a dog, eleven horses, and an elephant! An ending is a bit like having a foothold down in that hole: even if you don't need it, you have a certain way out, a way that guides your story's progression. There are indeed exceptions to this need for an ending--short stories can easily be ended on the fly--but with bigger projects, a set ending is sort of a life saver.

In short, if you want a good novel, screenplay, musical, or whatever your heart desires, then you should definitely give your hypothetical runner a little starting line and a little finish line. Don't make them hunt for it or give up; let them know where to begin and where to end, because that's how you bring home the medal.

Remember: Nothing fancy. Just words.

Need help choosing your end? Check out these links:

1) http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/the-dos-and-donts-of-novel-endings

This link is good to take some quick tips from, even though I think some of them aren't necessary to apply, so pick and choose which ones you think are helpful (for example, I definitely didn't redeem the main character of my last novel).

2) http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2010/08/09/how-to-write-the-ending/  

These tips are a little more positive, but again, you can pick and choose.

3) http://www.stylist.co.uk/books/the-best-100-closing-lines-from-books#  

These are for inspiration purposes. Yes, I know the list is in slideshow format, but it is surprisingly fast and doesn't reload the page for every slide. Animal Farm's is personally one of my favorites.

- Article written by 

Its_a_leftie_thing 

How to End a Story

Hi everyone and welcome to the Writing Tips section of this lovely magazine. In this issue, I'm going to be talking about story endings.

I think we can all agree that endings are just as important as the beginnings. I mean, if the story happens to be really good and enjoyable, it's going to suck if it has a bad ending. Endings are the last impression the book leaves on you and if it's a bad impression, then you're probably not going to be very happy or satisfied with the story overall. Because it's the endings that tie up all the lose knots and that's why it's essential to have a proper ending.

Now that we can agree that endings are important, let's get down to some of the tips that'll help you end a story.

1 - Lose knots

Again, don't forget to tie up all of those lose knots. You don't want the readers disappointed if you haven't answered a certain question by the end. So make sure the ending is as wholesome as you can make it to be.

2 - Cliffhangers

If you intend to write a sequel for your book, then a cliffhanger is a splendid idea. That'll encourage your readers to read the sequel when it comes out so its good to tease them a bit. However, if you end your book with a cliffhanger and it doesn't have a sequel, some readers might get a bit turned off since their questions weren't answered and so the story feels incomplete. However, cliffhangers do work for certain books like the Goosebumps books and many of them didn't have sequels. But I guess it also depends on the genre of your book and in the Goosebumps books, they were horror-ish so that little bit of mystery by the end just adds up to the unknown horrors.

3 - Last sentences

Okay, I think we can all agree that the opening sentences of the books on Wattpad are what make us stay or make us leave. As writers, we've got to capture the readers' attention by the very first sentence. It's that crucial and so is the ending sentence. Now, don't feel too pressured. The sentence doesn't have to be that fancy. It can be simple and still make an impact. Take Harry Potter's last sentence for example: 'All was well.'

It's not that fancy. It's simple but still very powerful. So people, keep it simple and keep it real. But do keep in mind, that ending sentences are essential and have the power to make the book look so much more better.

Those are some of my tips on how to end your stories. Thank you so much for reading the issue! Until next month!

- Article written by

HSH_DeathStar