The End ... ing. How did you get to yours?

[Kurt]

I tend to know the ending first. I don't try to blindly write to and unknown ending. I may write scenes from the novel first, but I always end up outlining the plot (not that it doesn't get revised as I go along).

[Hákon]

I knew the ending of the novel I'm writing now when I began, but at this point I'm not entirely sure if I'll actually reach that ending or will find another one. I'm fine with that. It will end where it needs to end.

[Stan]

1. Is it important to you to know the ending of your story when you start writing?
Usually, but not always. In 2012, I began writing Surviving the Fog-Kathy's Recollections. Before beginning, I made a conscious decision to write until I was satisfied with the story. Not only did I not (whoa! two nots) know the ending to the story, I had not even imagined all of the characters. After 200,000 words, I finished.

2. Are you comfortable starting a plot without knowing the ending?
Yes, because I usually have a final scene in mind. I like to end my books with the title, so that forces me to think of an appropriate sentence, and that creates the scene.

For example, for much of Sam's Winnings, the question in the mind of the reader is "Will these two young teenagers engage in sexual activity?" and I make clear that Sam, 14, can do this without serious repercussions. But the story is about how a young teenage boy discovers that he is capable of self control, and that leads to the last two sentences in the main body of the book (there is an epilogue.)

"An interesting human boy," the District Supervisor remarked.
"Yes, he is," Jane answered, smiling, as she was reading Ashley's physical examination report. With satisfaction, she realized that still uncollected, were Sam's winnings.

So, in this case, I had to develop a scene that revolved around these two characters, but I did not know this before beginning the story.


3. How did the ending come to you? Where were you at the time?
Not sure I understand the second half of this question. In the shower? As to the first part; The last scene is developed early in my plotting process.

For my short story, Stony Faces, I wrote the last sentence first, because the ending is an unexpected twist, in which the reader discovers that the narrator is 18 months old.

4. Do you ever start a plot from the end?
I think so, but I'm not certain. Encounter With a Werewolf was done that way, I think.

5. Does your ending evolve A LOT, or is it always about the way you envisioned it the first time.
The evolution of the ending often has to do with the description of the scene. It can evolve a lot, but not necessarily. I had a vague idea how I wanted to end The Colors of Passion and Love, but it was not until I reached the end of that book, that I was able to imagine the setting.

[J.L.]

I plot and write an outline for my books and sometimes my short stories. I'll deviate from the outline as I go but I will end up where I planned.

1. Is it important to you to know the ending of your story when you start writing?
Yes. If I don't know the end I will not even start writing. I don't want to get to some point in the story and have it fall off the cliff. Or write a cheesy ending like I ran out of paper. I have a story in mind for several years now, I have a title, I have a plot, I even have two/three subplots, I just don't have an end in sight.

2. Are you comfortable starting a plot without knowing the ending?
Yes I'll start plotting out the story and looking for good subplots.

3. How did the ending come to you? Where were you at the time?
That depends on the story, sometimes I envision the whole story at once, other times I'll see or hear something that I would say that's the ending I've been looking for. (Or it is better then the one I had in mind.) For Killer With A Heart, I had the whole story in mind because it was the start of a series. I decide to write this book first so I could write the next one, Killer With Three Heads, which I actually thought up first.

4. Do you ever start a plot from the end?
Quite often I'll have the ending of a story in mind, some major event that I then begin to think what had to happen to reach this point in time. Cold Storage
and The Rainmaker are short stories which I had an end then wrote the beginning and middle for.

5. Does your ending evolve A LOT, or is it always about the way you envisioned it the first time?
I try to stay on track but if during the story circumstances changes that require the end to move to the left or the right then that is just how it has to be. Like I said in number 1, I don't want the ending to seem like I ran out of paper.

[CeeCee]

I knew the ending, but it still was the hardest part to write. I rewrote it at least 3 times, with many edits. Ugggh, it tied with the blurb (and the synopsis, yuck!) with being the hardest part to write.

[Michael]

I don't any planning at all and simply start writing once I've got enough ideas bouncing around in my head.

Some of those ideas might include the ending but not always. By and large stuff just pops into head at random points during the day, sometimes when I'm out shopping for milk and other times when I'm actually writing.

[T.N.]

With this first novel I published the ending was a mystery to me and then it just kinda slapped me in the face a few chapters before the ending was to be written. I felt like I had a great story and one of the characters deserved a follow up novel so I left the ending open. Now as I write the sequel I already know how I want it to end, its just filling up the spaces to get there and making sure its as good if not better than the first novel.

With other novels that I have started writing I never know the ending I just have an idea of which characters need to survive so I can write a follow up book... Most of the time ideas come to me while I'm doing something nonrelated to whatever i'm writing

[Teddy O'Malley]

1. Is it important to you to know the ending of your story when you start writing?

No, a lot of my stories end up tying themselves together. If I try to write the ending first, I'll almost always end up tripping over the plot.

Occasionally, I will make an outline, but it's usually in my head.

2. Are you comfortable starting a plot without knowing the ending?

As long as I have a general idea of my plot, yes, I'm totally comfortable not knowing the ending.

3. How did the ending come to you? Where were you at the time?

For my Destiny and Faith books, I thought I had the ending both the first and second time, and my content editor said, "No, you need to wrap these ends up."

I just write until the book feels finished. I try to add a little bit after the solution, so the story doesn't feel unfinished.

With Bristol's Big Wish, the story just came to me a little at a time and I put it together. It was easy to tell when it was finished because the ending is so important to the story.

4. Do you ever start a plot from the end?

I've tried. It's almost never worked out.

5. Does your ending evolve A LOT, or is it always about the way you envisioned it the first time.

It really depends on the book. Bristol's Big Wish ended the way I envisioned it to end. Destiny and Faith evolved.

[Bo]

No. I never know the ending when I start out; I only ever know the very first scene.

I don’t really plot or outline either. But when I’m researching I use mind map to highlight the key points that I want to include in my stories.

My books are character driven, so the ending tends to be wherever they take it.

[Emily]

No I don't know the ending when I start out, with the book I've just finished the ending came to me about halfway through the writing process. I find I don't write chronologically either, so I had the bit just before the ending written first. Putting the final version together was a bit like doing a jigsaw! I like to focus on the characters so I tend to write their experiences down and the changes they go through first, then I do an outline. I'm working on my second book now and I've started off by writing a profile of each character first so I can get inside their heads. I feel like my writing process is a bit haphazard, but it seems to work. I just write lots down in a random order and then structure it and cull it. And then cull it some more!

[Jim]

In my opinion, the most effective 'good ending' will often include a very subtle relationship to something referenced the beginning paragraph of the story.

If the author plans a sequel, the ending should effectively resolve the issues revealed in the original story while subtly hinting that there are other issues yet to be addressed.

[Abraham]

Though my eBook "The Man" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...) is just a short story, I tied the word tandem of flotsam/jetsam together to bookend the story. For my other short story, "Trial 39" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...) I start with the word "Soft" and the last word is "Hard" to indicate the progression of my protagonist's impact on the other characters.
BTW, both are free on Goodreads (and Amazon Kindle with a Prime account).

[Stan]

Jim wrote: "In my opinion, the most effective 'good ending' will often include a very subtle relationship to something referenced the beginning paragraph of the story.

If the author plans a sequel, the endin..."

I agree with this except I would say reference the first page instead of the first paragraph.

[P.D.]

Sometimes I know the end when I start, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I have a vague idea or goal that I am working toward. Sometimes I outline, sometimes I don't.

It can be difficult to write without knowing where you are going. But sometimes knowing the ending can be off-putting and shut off the creative juices. Outlining can help you get from one point to another, but sometimes you might not feel like writing the next scene. There are pluses and minuses for each approach.

[Judith]

Writing is personal. Everyone has to find what works for them. I'm a plot driven writer, so I have to know the ending before I start a novel or novella. I tend to think of an idea that hooks me and the idea leads to an opening scene. I'll flesh those out to "hear" my characters and get to know them better, but I won't go any farther than that until I know the ending and hopefully, two or three major scenes that up the ante or twist the book's direction somehow. The more scenes I can outline ahead, the better. Then I don't have to think about plotting while I try to bring each scene to life. If the characters resist, though, I listen to them...to a point. The ending gives me something to aim for to tie the plot and subplots together.

[Ben]

I'll answer these in relation to The Miranda Contract

1. Is it important to you to know the ending of your story when you start writing?

In a general sense, yes. I've found that I do need to have a clear idea of what is included in my book fairly early on, or else I tend to get lost in potential subplots and spiralling story lines. I don't know exactly what happens but there is a fairly good idea of where it's going.

The Miranda Contract is clearly about a clash of ideas and expectations between Dan and his supervillain grandfather. You can pretty much predict the climax. However, the actual ending wasn't as easy to peg. I ended up changing the aftermath a couple of times, trying to decide what the new status quo should look like.

2. Are you comfortable starting a plot without knowing the ending?

I have in the past, but I think after writing this book I will continue to write in a similar way - knowing the general direction and what is included in the story. I don't feel comfortable knowing every twist and turn, but if I can peg out the major parts of the story before I really get stuck into the writing I know where I am going. It also really helps with foreshadowing.

3. How did the ending come to you? Where were you at the time?

The climactic battle (it's not really a spoiler) was a problem for me. Dan must confront his grandfather. Sure, Dan has superpowers and can control electricity, but his grandfather The Mad Russian is a god with almost limitless powers. I had to come up with a way for Dan to defeat his grandfather and that meant using more than brawl and raw power. I remember when I decided the outcome and the way it unfolded, I was walking around a lagoon in my town. No one was there for me to run up to and shout: "I've GOT it!" I was so desperate to tell someone I'd worked it out.

4. Do you ever start a plot from the end?

Not yet. Although... my books will form a series and I did begin the whole premise knowing what the end would be. So the individual books do add up to a place I had imagined before I'd even started the first novel. That's not really the plot, but it is the over-arching theme.

5. Does your ending evolve A LOT, or is it always about the way you envisioned it the first time.

What happens after the major climax really did evolve over the course of writing and revising. I changed my mind of how I wanted to leave Dan and Miranda, and this was because of feedback from editors and friends. In the end I am happy with how it's resolved. There's enough closure for people who want to read the one book, while there is also a lead-in to the next book if people wanted more.

Thanks for reading!

Ben Langdon
www.benlangdon.net

[Rylie]

I am a bit tardy responding here, but I could use a bit of focus this morning, and I think this would help.

1. Is it important to you to know the ending of your story when you start writing?

I have to know where I am going. The exact circumstances do not need to be there, but some sort of an idea has to be there, otherwise, I won't know how to write the characters into the ending.

2. Are you comfortable starting a plot without knowing the ending?

Not especially.

3. How did the ending come to you? Where were you at the time? I was probably somewhere where I couldn't write it down. :) All of my "good" ideas tend to come at some terribly inconvenient time.

4. Do you ever start a plot from the end?
I never have, but that is not a bad idea!

5. Does your ending evolve A LOT, or is it always about the way you envisioned it the first time.
I knew I wanted Gillian to be happy and free. I wasn't sure what that was really going to look like until I wrote the picnic scene. Then, it just seemed fitting to revisit that place later - both emotionally and physically.

[Dave]

To paraphrase Matthew Reilly, I know the beginning and the end, and the stuff in between I mostly figure out as I write. Well, to be truthful, I do prepare an outline with important plot events and character development, but that outline is very fluid and it changes as I write.

For me, it all begins with a general concept. Since I write action/political thrillers, it is usually a big picture element. For example, I'm working now on book #3 in my Peter Savage series (book #1, "Crossing Savage" was just released) and it revolves around the historical conflict between China and Japan. From there I go to joint US/Japan naval exercises and this sets up the first action scene and the foundation for the plot to grow. I have a good idea how the ending will be written, but the specific details will come together later as the chapters are drafted.

[Amber]

I'm the same way. With my web serial I am currently writing, I only knew the beginning. The rest will come to me as I am writing it and I do it as a weekly serial so I write one chapter a week. I'll be doing that until I am finished. I don't know the ending yet but its fun to find out as I'm writing it.