Re: re: Endings
Jim,
A late response to your
request; it's my pleasure to tell you which bits of advice I took.
First off, I took this one:
"If your last line is the weakest one in the story, cut it."
That made me re-align the forces that led up to the conclusion, and prepared a more integrated climax.
Then I rewrote the ending and did this:
"Ask your beta readers for their opinions."
I agree, it always helps, so I then did this:
"Write a new story, then come back to this one."
When I came back and re-penned the last third of the story (including changing a key plot point so that it made more sense), it fell into place.
Then, of course, I took it out of double-spaced-Courier-12 and into single-spaced-Times-New-Roman-12 and read it out loud to myself. Twice.
Ta-da! Something I can be proud of.
Thanks again for the advice.
Jeff
P.S. One thing I could not do is this:
"The best fix might be: Consider the writing of it as experience. Write a new story, this time with a strong climax. The climax is where you reward the reader for believing your tissue of lies."
I had to make this story work, because it came from a set of experiences and touched on a subject (dance and the art of dance) that I doubt I will ever treat again. It's an idea I love and a one-shot deal, so I damned the torpedoes and did it anyway