The Writers' Lounge

Howdy all!

First off, let me apologise for not being around since, like, ever. I am a flake. I suck. However, the comm clearly does not need me to function, which is a very good thing, and I’d just like to say hello and thank you (as appropriate) to those of you joining, posting, and generally keeping things moving around here.

Anyway, I’d like to pose a question about endings. I don’t know about you, but I think they are one of the things I find most difficult to write.

For me, it’s the multiple issues of a) needing to tie up loose ends in terms of plot, character, and thematic or other floating things, b) finding a mechanism or moment in the story at which the ending actually sits naturally, and c) like a fastidious painter with a bad eye for colour, truly knowing when to stop, put down the brush pen keyboard, and step away.

Of course, added to this, endings come in many different forms. There are neat ones, dangling ones, ambiguous ones, signposted ones… and ones that leave the reader wondering what on earth just happened.

I’d like to know what, in your view, makes a successful ending. Whether it’s happy, sad, conclusive or inconclusive, what do you think the key components are? And how do you all go about constructing and refining your endings?

I admit, there is an ulterior motive here, in that I want/need to rewrite the end of a book and I don’t know wtf I’m doing with it.

If anyone would like to workshop/read/comment/generally peruse the specific bits in question, I’m posting them on my journal, access list only, because of contractual things. So, add me to your circle to read, then feel free to point and laugh. *grin*

I would be eternally grateful for any suggestions on my own bit of messed-up ending, but I’m interested in other people’s thoughts on the subject generally, too.

Discuss. ;D

Link to my journal post: http://analect.dreamwidth.org/42292.html

All righty... in the interests of leaving some discussion open for those who want it, I have a question. How far do you take artistic license when dealing with something in a fictional context, and how much knowledge - either of the thing itself, or in terms of acknowledgement of the license you're taking - do you expect your audience to have?

I'm sure we all have different approaches here, so I'm curious.

As a kick-off point, I recently posted a story of mine that's been kicking around for a while to my journal. The Red Man is a horror short that involves references to Celtic druidism [click to read]. Though I researched a bit for the story, I don't know a lot about either historical or modern practice - however, I do have a few druid friends.

Their religious/philosophical slant is very different to the angle the story explores (notions of Awen and bardic tradition, while awesome, are not terribly horrific). So I guess you could say, here, I've taken the same kind of artistic license that The Wicker Man (the proper film; let's pretend the 2006 remake never happened) took with ideas of preserved pagan practice; i.e., it could have happened that way.

Is this something you do with different ideas? Or are you a stickler for realism and research? Does artistic license always (or ever) mean pandering to stereotypes, or is it a useful tool for playing 'what-if' with?

All right, I figured it was time for a discussion thread. Thought we might throw one of these around every week or so and see where it gets us. Please feel free to make more, and better ones.

In the meantime, your opinions: show me them!

( Do main characters have to be sympathetic, or even likable, to serve their purpose in a story? )