 Short Stories: January 26, 2011 Issue [#4204] |
  Short Stories
This week: The Ending Comes Before the Beginning Edited by: Ben Langhinrichs  
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Greetings! I am one of the editors for the Short Stories Newsletter, and I hope to share some of my thoughts on writing short stories, and perhaps about writing in general. I suggest you treat these not as pearls of wisdom dropped from on high, but rather musings of a fellow writer, written to inspire, provoke or stimulate your personal muse. I welcome your thoughts, feedback and suggestions.
~ Ben Langhinrichs
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The Ending Comes Before the Beginning
Two newsletters ago, in "Are we there yet? When to end." , I wrote about how to make sure you ended your story at the right place, but I realized that I should have written a post before that about planning for the ending.
This may not be a popular sentiment among beginning writers, but I strongly believe that you should know the ending of your story before you start writing the beginning. You don't need to know every detail, but a trip without a destination may never fail, but it is also seldom successful.
I have read comments from countless writers here on WDC who say they like to just start writing and see where the story goes. I'm going to climb out on a limb and say that too often such a story goes nowhere. Almost all stories need some sort of an arc, some kind of quest where the main character is transformed. Tension is usually a requirement, whether it is a mystery, a romance, high fantasy or science fiction. Even literary fiction supposes an internal quest or transformation.
If you want to build that tension, you need to know what's ahead so that you can keep the reader from knowing too much while also making sure there is appropriate setup and foreshadowing. Stories are intentional, or else they are just wishy washy.
Saying this goes against the popular opinion that anybody can write anything they like and it is all equally worthy. Writing takes hard work and discipline, at least if you want good writing. Part of that discipline is having a plan. You need to be flexible enough to adjust as the characters surprise you, but if they surprise you so much that it dramatically changes the ending, you need to go back and rewrite the earlier part.
Meandering in the woods can be lots of fun for the wanderer, but not for the person waiting urgently for the wanderer to arrive. Trying to make a story sound intentional after the fact is harder than making it intentional in the first place. Make your plans, plot your starting point and destination, and then settle down to move your characters along while ratcheting up the tension. If you want to wander on and on and see where life takes you, put down the pen or keyboard and enjoy the outdoors instead.
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Feedback from readers
The newsletter these readers were responding to is
"Benefit of Brevity" by Ben Langhinrichs
There are burdens to the brevity of a short story, but there are benefits as well. (Short Stories Newsletter - December 28, 2010)
StephBee  Ben - ditto beverity is good. I often think of it as finding a good economy of words to tell a story without slowing it down.
Janet Nimoy  I loved this newsletter on Brevity. It shows how only 100 words can be so attention grabbing. I would love to read a full length novel from that small snippet.
DRSmith  Benefits of Brevity looks like yet another work of a literary sage, my friend. Merely thought I'd add flash fiction can also be quite an exercise in honing one's skills. It can be quite a challenge and takes skill to effectively introduce a scene, setting, plot, characters, THEME.... and then give it meaningful, vibrant life with well chosen words that work hard for the piece in so short a space is quite a task indeed. Yes, fellow WDC'rs... "flashing" now and then may expose one's finely crafted attributes.
atwhatcost I like writing short stories, but I'm long winded by nature. I keep thinking, "But will the reader understand it completely?" And then I read your very short story. Cool! Complete understanding not required. ;)
sofie712 offers Invalid Item with the comment: Speaking of brevity, this piece is describing my brief encounter with the publishing industry. I submit this in fun, and hope it's received that way.
BIG BAD WOLF is Howling  offers Good-Bye Squirrel with the comment: Some things arn't meant to be.
gaywriter offers Broken Silence without comment
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