This week: The End Edited by: Annette  
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“Write a short story every week. It's not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.”
― Ray Bradbury
“When well told, a story captured the subtle movement of change. If a novel was a map of a country, a story was the bright silver pin that marked the crossroads.”
― Ann Patchett |
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The End
A young, pregnant woman lived with a controlling husband. She loved him as he was nice to her and so much fun. He just had some habits that showed that he did not regard her as his equal. There was also the fact that she had no memories before her life with him. One day, she noticed that a dining chair was wobbly. She discovered that one of the screws needed tightening. She would have to go get a screwdriver from the basement. But the basement was off-limits her, per her husband. Feeling guilty to break his rules, she went down there after all and tried to be quick in her search. Instead of the screwdriver, she found chains that were anchored in one of the walls and had bloody wrist cuffs. She ran up the stairs and into the bathroom to grab her medication and run away from him. The front door opened. "Honey, I'm home." The End.
What? No! No, no, no. That is not an ending. Every single question raised in this story is left open. Who is she? Who is he? What about those chains in the basement?
Stories should be finished. Open endings in which the author says, "I want the reader to imagine the ending," are a cop out.
When I pick up a short story, I come with the expectation that I will be dragged into a plot that entertains me, scares me, makes me wonder, gives me images to form in my mind, makes me love, hate, and so much more. At the end of it all, I want to know how the plot wraps up.
The end of a story does not mean everyone is dead. It also does not have to mean they live happily ever after.
Authors who want to have an open ending to their story should at least give closure to the biggest plot point. In the above story, I would at least like to know what happens when he finds out that she has seen the chains in the basement. Everything else is not necessarily relevant to the plot, but leaving a gaping hole of uncertainty in the end is very inelegant.
Do you prefer open endings or a definitive outcome?
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I received these replies to my last Short Stories newsletter "Author Filtering" . "Have you ever counted how often your characters look at or see something in your stories?"
Nobody’s Home  wrote: Thanks, Annette! I'm only a little embarrassed to say this was an incredibly timely article for me to read. Not two hours ago, I was working on a scene and stopped to consider how I should approach a character's appreciation of her arson. Did she look back to watch the room go up in flames, or did the boxes burst into flames like well-aged kindling as she popped out the window? I'm sure I'm guilty of "She saw this" and "She turned to look at that" as well, so the editing continues! I learn something new to improve my writing *every day* on WDC and I *love it!* Thank you for your patience with those of us with less experience/education! 
I am so glad that this came out at such an opportune time for you.
dragonwoman  wrote: Thank you for choosing "Being Mer" as one of your editor's picks
You are very welcome.
eyestar~*  wrote: I found this article very helpful as it had clear examples of what you mean by filtering. I am not too experienced with story writing and have done this head hopping and have noted in things I review. It can be confusing and now I know why and maybe how to explain it when I review. Thanks for the practical sharing!
Thank you for reading and commenting. It's good to know that it will help your reviewing.
🐕GeminiGem🎁  wrote: I always learn so much from everyone here on WdC. I knew that author filtering was a thing and not a very good thing, but I wasn't conscious of it enough to put my finger on it. This kind of filtering makes the writing seem wishy-washy and uninteresting. Thank you for bringing this to my attention!
I only learned about author filtering recently myself and it was such an eye-opener. I am glad that sharing it in a newsletter was helpful to others. |
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Short Stories: June 29, 2022 Issue [#11410]
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