Need an ending

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satyesu

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Of all things. I'm confident in the main part of the story, but I don't know what the climax or end will be.
 

Sage

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A giant cat terrorizes the town/city/island/planet/etc. but the MC climbs the tail, travels across the back by pulling his/herself along with handfuls of fur, and gets to the nape of the neck, where he/she begins scratching the poor cat's oversized fleabite. The cat lies down and purrs, soothing everyone's stress over their ruined town/city/island/planet, and they all adopt it as a pet. But only the MC goes down in history as the great Cat Rider.
 

JulianneQJohnson

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Personally, I like Sage's ending. if that doesn't fit, jump in and start writing come Nov. 1st. Maybe the tale will tell you what the ending is.
 

Carrie in PA

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A giant cat terrorizes the town/city/island/planet/etc. but the MC climbs the tail, travels across the back by pulling his/herself along with handfuls of fur, and gets to the nape of the neck, where he/she begins scratching the poor cat's oversized fleabite. The cat lies down and purrs, soothing everyone's stress over their ruined town/city/island/planet, and they all adopt it as a pet. But only the MC goes down in history as the great Cat Rider.

But then the cat, as cats are wont to do, suddenly stops purring and bites several townsfolk. Just because cats are kind of assholes.

And the giant flea that bit the giant cat is lurking behind nearby Mount Litterbox with thousands of his cohorts. The townspeople raid an abandoned Frontline factory and, in shades of the old TV show V, haul the Frontline up in the air via hot air balloon, dumping it over the land, thus killing the fleas and protecting the cat from any unhatched larvae (as well as many other biting insects, heartworm, ringworm, telemarketers and vacuum salesmen).

...but it's only effective for six weeks...
 

KateSmash

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Ned Flanders diddilys the ding-dang doodily.

(I'm sorry. I had to.)
 

satyesu

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Lost about an ending

My wip follows two teens, O and L through rivalry and friendship to enemies. I know where they start and a number of ideas that get them through the middle, but I can't think of an ending! I was thinking O could manipulate his way to the political "top," but why? And what would be the point of having magic in acts 1 and 2? I'm stumped and NaNoWriMo is in ten days! Help!
 

Brightdreamer

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This cannot be answered without knowing your world, your characters, and your story.

My suggestion? Start with what you've got and see how it plays out as you write. Part of the point of NaNoWriMo is to "just write it", to not let yourself get hung up on prep work or the perfect outline or any other hangups. It's a rough draft - its job is to be rough, so later drafts can be smooth. If you don't like your on-the-fly ending, it can always be changed in Draft 2, but sometimes you just gotta walk the path with the characters to find out where they go, and that means writing the words.

But if you're dead-set on having to know the ending now, my guess is something's still mushy in your world and/or characters. How well do you know your setting, and what possibilities that setting offers? How do your characters fit into (or fail to fit in, or attempt to change and fail/succeed) this world? What are their options? What sort of theme or feel are you going for? What strikes you as most "true" to your characters and your plot arc?

Good luck!
 

satyesu

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Forgot: a key idea is that they discover a new form of magic. That should be acknowledged.
 

Myrealana

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Well, what is your inciting incident? What is the driving force behind your plot? What are your character's initial goals?

Do they achieve those goals? Do they change their goals? What stands in their way? How will they get around that thing, and how will that challenge their values?
 

sunandshadow

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Nanowrimo is well-suited to producing rough drafts. It's a situation where it will be fine if, while writing the middle, you come up with an idea for the ending that requires you to revise the beginning. That's what the two months after nano are for: recovery and rewrites to strengthen and streamline your story when you aren't sleep deprived and in a hurry.
 

satyesu

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Wish me luck, because I pantsed it last year. Also, thanks, guys.
 

zanzjan

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Hi Satyesu,

A few things. One, please do not start multiple threads on the same topic. I will be merging this one with your identical thread over in the NaNoWriMo room. Second, in general the appropriate place to ask for help brainstorming specific story ideas is the Brainstorming Sandbox, not SFF (which is for larger discussions on writing the genre) although since this is a NaNo project, NaNo is in this instance just as good.

Thanks,

-zanzjan, mod
 

Sage

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Satyesu, may I suggest that you may get more serious answers, if we had more information about the book.

Also, just pointing out that there is a thread in this subforum that specifically deals with working out plot (or anything really) problems. And that you shouldn't start multiple threads on the same subject in different rooms.
 
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