A small group of writer friends met recently, and one of them talked about a book she had read. The characters were interesting and the writing was excellent, she told us, but the ending disappointed her.
As I currently struggle with writing the ending of the novel I’ve worked on for over two years, it was a reminder of the importance of endings. It has to be just right—and I’m not there yet.
Brining History to Life, Means Trying to Live It
Writing a novel, I go through several steps. Since my novels are historical fiction, the first steps are research, research, and research. I read everything I can about the subject. I interview experts. In this case, my story takes place recently enough to interview people who remember the event, people who were there. It’s also recent enough that I was able to listen to interviews that other people did and to watch video footage.
After I organize all that research, I have to create characters whose point of view I want to tell the story through. I have to flesh them out and make them real enough to live and breathe (at least in my mind). My novel Empty Places had one point of view, but my other novels had two each. That meant getting inside two different minds and bodies. This current novel has six points of view. Six! I set myself a real challenge this time, but I felt it was necessary for the story I want to tell.
So, Where Do We Start?
Next, I write the beginning. That’s often tricky. In this case, it took me eight beginnings to finally decide just how I wanted to tell the story. I also had to decide which of the six characters to begin with. I finally found a beginning that satisfied me.
Middles are more than a bridge between beginning and end. They are where the action happens, where characters face challenges and overcome them (or fail to). It’s where change occurs. And in historical fiction, all that action and change has to fit into actual history. It needs to be woven into real events as seamlessly as possible.
After I’ve gone through all that work to research, create, and weave, I can’t let the ending fall flat. It needs to wrap up the story well, though not too neatly. I can’t leave loose ends, but “happily ever after” endings are rarely believable. Yet, I’m not a fan of depressing endings. I usually try to close on a hopeful note…if history allows me the opportunity.
It’s Make It Or Break It
If someone invests time in my characters and my story, I feel responsible to write an ending that doesn’t let the reader down. It’s OK to leave them wanting more, but they have to feel satisfied. Definitely a tall order. And so I struggle today with an ending. If it takes me eight tries, so be it.
Now, back to work.
