Full Circle

raegan_1 · May 1, 2008

I read more novels than short stories, and most of the short stories I read are meant to entertain (to the point where finding a meaning in them is impossible, other than "Hee hee the author was amused.")

I like to write, and I've written a variety of things (short and otherwise) and I was wondering about a method I've seen and used. It's where the first line of the story is repeated, verbatim or paraphrased, at the very end of the story. I've seen this more in thematic writing than that of the entertainment sort, but I've found it a variety of ways.

Have you ever used this method? If so, how often and to what effect in your writing? Have you ever seen it done poorly, such that it's obvious the author was trying to emphasize a point and lacked any other tools to do so? I've seen this done with entire scenes in novels as well, but that's a topic for another subforum.

Maryn · May 1, 2008

The story I've got out to the Big-Name market in its genre does that. It opens and closes with the same sentence, implying what's going to happen next without saying so outright.

I was really quite pleased with it, and hope the editors feel the same.

I've used it once before, to less satisfaction. The same line, but it meant something different at the end than the beginning. That one, I never tried to sell.

Maryn, pleased to meet you

astonwest · May 1, 2008

I've used the same line at various points in a story...not just the beginning and end.

In my short story "Little White Truths", I use the line "[FONT=&quot]I never thought I would one day become an addict[/FONT]" at the very beginning, and then a paragraph or two before the end of the story.

Sometimes, it helps to refresh the reader's memory...but as Maryn points out, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

raegan_1 · May 1, 2008

I've attempted it myself once, though it didn't work. I had started with the idea of bringing the story full circle, but in writing the middle, found that I didn't want to bring it back to the starting point. By veering off in a different direction about 2/3 of the way through, it made the meaning more solid.

Maryn, pleased to make your acquaintance. Aston, thanks for chiming in.

kct webber · May 2, 2008

I've used this in two stories to bring them full circle. I loved how it turned out both times--and so did my betas. Yay! I've also used the same phrase over and over again in the same story. It had a nice effect. It can't always work, of course, but sometimes it works out wonderfully.

HeronW · May 2, 2008

I'm more likely to do that line repetition in a poem but I try to keep a light hand. I prefer novel and chapter names that can have several meanings vs repeating the same one--unless I can twist it around and add a tad more to clinch it.

kct webber · May 2, 2008

HeronW said:
I'm more likely to do that line repetition in a poem but I try to keep a light hand. I prefer novel and chapter names that can have several meanings vs repeating the same one--unless I can twist it around and add a tad more to clinch it.

You know, that is odd. One of my betas said the story with line repetitions read like a poem. She was refering to the rhythm, I think. That was certainly news to me; I couldn't write poetry if you had a gun to my head.

astonwest · May 2, 2008

raegan_1 said:
I've attempted it myself once, though it didn't work.

I didn't set out to do it, but it made sense with the way the story turned out.

Pike · May 2, 2008

I've heard this open/ close issue refered as "book ends"; encapsulating the story in a similair beginning and ending. It gives it a sense of completion and continuity, and works nicely as long as you don't do it with most of your stories. Then it would become predictable.

Pike

kuwisdelu · May 3, 2008

I haven't used it as a technique particularly for the beginning and ending lines of the story, but I've used repetition of the same line before.

In particular, I've used it in one story where the primary story is about a couple the narrator sees everyday on the subway. The narrator keeps repeating a particular line about how he the story is about them, and how he isn't sad. Over the course of the story, the reader realizes more and more that the couples' story reflects the narrator's own past, and he's secretly deeply jealous of them.

Chuck Palahniuk is a big fan of this technique, I believe, though not necessarily in the beginning or ending lines either. But he repeats certain lines often as part of a theme in his novels. He's talked about it in interviews before and calls them kind of like a "chorus."

Fjm3eyes · May 3, 2008

If it's used to good effect (with emphasis to the story, for instance), I might use it. I know of a similiar thing: In his novel I Know This Much Is True, Wally Lamb repeats the title, although not exactly, in the last two sentences (and paragraph): This much, at least, I've figured out. I know this much is true.

Full Circle

raegan_1

Funny, motivated, eccentric.

Maryn

I Tried

astonwest

2 WIP? A glutton for punishment

raegan_1

Funny, motivated, eccentric.

kct webber

Squirrel, Sekrit type, 1 ea.

HeronW

Down Under Fan

kct webber

Squirrel, Sekrit type, 1 ea.

astonwest

2 WIP? A glutton for punishment

Pike

Chivalry ain't dead

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

Fjm3eyes