FIXING Problem Endings

[ookami_kasumi]

"...Too many good books, book series, anime, etc. suffer from Bad Endings."

This most frequently happens when:
-- A) The author didn't know how they wanted to end the story before they started writing. They just wrote ... until they couldn't write any more. (AKA: Writing by the seat of their pants.)

-- B) They planned the end, but painted themselves into a corner by tossing in a major (head/heart/sex) problem they didn't know how to fix before they could get to the end. (AKA: Bit off more than they could swallow.)

Finding the End

Stories aren’t just about characters Doing stuff, it’s about character’s Dealing with stuff and Figuring out stuff about themselves. The really good stories, the ones that grab us and stay in our memories the longest, all illustrate normal people problems and issues, and the SOLUTIONS they come across.

No matter how fantastic the setting or characters are, stories are still about people being people dealing with people stuff. It isn’t what they Do, it’s How they did it, and what they discovered about themselves on the way.

"But the story is already halfway written and I have no idea where to go from there!"

Go back to the beginning and figure out what your MAIN Character's Problem was Internally (emotionally) & Externally (plot/quest). If you haven't solved them yet, then that's all you need to do -- solve the quest & fix their emotional issue.

Note: Your main character is the Point of View character most of the story is told from.

"But I don't know HOW to fix the problem I set up!"

FIXING the Problem.

1) Written by the Seat of your Pants
-- When you've written something by the seat of your pants, the only way to fix it is by stopping cold and figuring out where you want it to end - then adjusting the whole story to suit your ending. This means extensive rewrites.

This also means making a decision.

What's more important to you as an author?
A) The hours you spent writing all those words that got you nowhere?
- OR -
B) Making a story your readers will swoon over?


2) Bit off more than you can Swallow
-- I've noticed that this shows up most frequently when you have an ANGST plot. Oddly, it also shows up when someone wants to write a smut scene, but never had sex before.

Fixing Smut
- This is actually really easy. READ smut stories. (Porn movies gets you the visuals but not what it FEELS like.) Make damned sure you read the warnings!  Some of this stuff can make you hurl!

Het smut - I recommend reading books by author Angela Knight for excellent graphic detailing without making you wanna hurl.
Yaoi smut - go here: Minotaurs Sex Tips for Slash Writers. Read that.

Just, for God's sake, don't copy someone's smut scenes word for word - that's plagerism. Paraphrase instead -- that's perfectly legal.

Fixing Angst
- This one's tough. If you're trying to fix a serious problem like Grief over lost loved ones begin by Googling 'stages of grief', so you know what your character is supposed to be going through, and follow the advice given for getting over it. If you're trying to fix a heart-ache like a break-up between lovers, the stages of grief still works.

If you're trying to get them back together again - then you have a real problem.
-- Here in the West, getting back together rarely ever happens in real life because it's just easier to end the relationship completely and not deal with it anymore.

-- In the East, it's another story entirely. People do get back together because they are tought from childhood that Family and personal Honor is far more important than personal feelings.
- Enemies WILL put their personal vendettas on hold until a common enemy is vanquished.
- Wives will go back to their husbands for the sake of keeping the rest of the family safe from harm; giving those husbands a chance to make their wives fall in love with them again.


In conclusion...
-- When you've come up with the most diabolical problem known to man (or beast) the only way to fix it is by finding out how REAL People fixed it and applying that to your characters. Ahem, RESEARCH. Hint: Google.com is your friend.

 

Comments

[elkica.livejournal.com]

I really, really love your posts. They are allways such a big help to me.

[ookami-kasumi.livejournal.com]

Calp-clap-clap!
- Goody! I LIKE being helpful!

[neldluva.livejournal.com]

Wow ... I find this such good advice. For me, the ending is always the most difficult part of the story to write, and thus they often just don't happen. I think I'm commonly stricken with the "bit off more than you can chew" bit. I like my plotbunnies to be big and difficult and complicated, and my stories are more often than not just plain long. But, well, they have to end eventually, as all stories do.

I hope I can put your good advice into practice. It would be fun to finish one of my epics for once.

[ookami-kasumi.livejournal.com]

I understand completely.
- It's much easier to get your characters IN to trouble, than it is to get them OUT of trouble.

Hmm, have you tried plotting Backwards? Deciding where you want your characters to end up and then figuring out how to get your characters to that point?

By the way, what is a plot-bunny?

[neldluva.livejournal.com]

Plotting backwards would be a fantastic idea. I should try it with my next story. I always know I'm going to have a problem if I can't clearly see the end of the story when I start it, so starting from the end would keep me from getting lost.

And ... huh, I've never had to explain a plotbunny before. I guess the term is common in fanfiction, when an idea bites and doesn't let go. At least, that's how my bunnies work. They're the sorts of things that you feel like you HAVE to write. Have you felt that before?

[ookami-kasumi.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see...
-- What you call a plot-bunny is also known as a Concept. (nod-nod) Okay.

By the way...

My FFVII fan-fic DIABOLIC was plotted backwards.
-- I wanted to end the story with both Seph & Vinc getting a chance to reclaim the lives that had been stolen from them. That meant researching exactly where their normal human lives had ended and somehow getting them to arrive at the point.

Of course the beginning had to be how they got together, (Seph was DEAD so naturally he had to be a ghost,) and arrange WHY they would even help each other in the first place. (Blackmail, my plot-device of choice.)

The rest practically fell together all by itself.

[neldluva.livejournal.com]

And Diabolic was oh-so-successful. Thank you for the wise words of wisdom. I'll try to talk my bunnies into starting from the end and working backwords from now on. It would be very nice to finish something. ;)