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What To Do When You Can't Think of an Ending

Spy_on_the_Inside

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All this week, I have been working at outlining a writing a new short story, and it's been going great. Yesterday, I even hit 2000 words in one day!

But I have hit a block in my writing, because I CANNOT come up with an ending. And all my usual tricks for inspiring ideas aren't working. What do the rest of you do when you cannot come up with an ending?
 

Liz_V

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I've been hoping someone else would answer this, because I could use some new techniques. ;)

Depends a lot on what kind of gap you're trying to fill -- is it that you know what kind of end you want but not how to get there, or is it a "yes, but what happens NOW?" Some tricks I've used include:

- Make a list of 20 things that could happen. Don't worry about whether they make any sense or how to make them work. The first few will probably be predictable, a few others will probably be too nuts to use, but somewhere in there may be the pointer you need. Or several things will combine into a good idea.

- Pick out some music that seems appropriate to your story, put it on the car stereo, and go for a drive.

- Go for a walk, and explain the story-so-far to invisible people who aren't there. (This works better if you don't live in a high-population area.) Imagine their reactions, have arguments with them about what the story means, etc.

- Take a shower. All the best ideas come in the shower.

- Go back and look closely at the beginning. What did you set up there that should be echoed at the end?

- Try to work really hard on something else very important that requires your full concentration. (That's when my brain always decides to get with the creativity, anyway.)

- Try a random idea generator like Oblique Strategies, or open fortune cookies in the persona of your main character and interpret them accordingly.

Mostly I just bash my head against the wall. Eventually one of us falls down, and hopefully either the blood spatters or the rubble form shapes that give me a clue.... :Headbang:
 

birdy50

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Endings are so hard! This isn't for my other writings, but with my sketch comedy, I send it to a writer friend who I did improv with. He's great at helping me find an ending. Maybe reach out to others you trust and brainstorm?
 

Old Hack

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Try this: write a concise one-sentence plot summary of each section of the story (so you could write one for each paragraph or page, for example), and then look at how the plot works when it's removed from all the other things that make up the story. It won't take much time, and it might give you an ending and help you tighten up what you've already got.
 

Margrave86

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People say you should always start with the moment your character's life changes, but I think that's bunk. Whenever I write--barring prologues and the like--my first real scene is used to establish my main character's psychology. The main thrust of the story will be exploring or challenging that, and the climax and resolution will then necessarily present a new psychology or reaffirm the old one.

So the ending is implicit in the beginning.

That said, I write novels and not short stories (since my short stories tend to balloon out into novel length anyway).
 

Primus

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One of the things I've heard, and I believe this came from James Patterson, is to write out twenty or so of the most ridiculous endings you can think of, and the one that would make the most sense in your story, go with that one. Personally I have not put this into practice. I come up with the ending through trial and error. I'll write out whatever I think to be a suitable ending (whatever comes to mind), then come back to it after I've read and thus edited everything prior to it to see if it fits. More often than not I'll change it but I change it in regard to what best fits with the characters involved, not the plot itself. If it fits with the characters, then it fits with the story the way I see it.

If you can't come up with an ending, since you don't need it yet, don't stress over writing it. Go back over the beginning, the start of your story, doing your various editing and revisions and as you do that your mind/imagination very well may stumble upon the eureka ending. Within editing and revising is creativity itself and you could use that to your advantage by indirectly (subconsciously) thinking of what to end your story with. I hope you find the ending you're looking for!
 

Layla Nahar

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Keep writing what you can and don't think about the ending till you get there?
 

WildBill

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Okay- I'll admit that I haven't really had this particular problem on any of my film projects, but it may be due to how I prepare.

Before I begin actually writing a screenplay, I of course, do an outline (as you did) but I also go way further. Any significant character, human or otherwise, get's a full psychological profile and back story. Resources for such research include the various 'Personality' books by Florence Littauer, The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman and the classic, 'Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus' by John Gray. On the back story for each, I catalog anything that is significant in that character's life and how it affected the character's thinking in light of their profile. Once this is done, I look at my concept outline, determine what's on the mind of each character when first met and then apply the events in the Catalyst, midpoint, crisis and showdown. The results should lead to the realization or the ending fairly naturally if you let the characters be who they are.

-Wild Bill
 

benacrow

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Usually the easiest way to get around that is to build your story around the ending and work backward from there. It makes it a lot easier to have that end goal in mind when developing the story, plot, and characters.
 

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I have done it a couple of ways. I have gone back to the first part of the outline and tried to re imagine what the goal was when I wrote it. But the best way for me was to actually write the story and see where the characters took me. The novel I am currently working on ends completely differently than what I had imagined when I wrote out my initial outline. The ending was better because it flowed from the characters and their actions and was not something I had to 'aim' the story toward.
 

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My view would be that if you don't have an ending, you don't have a crisis. Every story leads up to a crisis in which some great choice of values must be made. The job of the ending it to prove that the choice has been made, rightly or wrongly. The ending lays out the consequences of the choice made at the crisis. The ending, therefore, flows of necessity from the crisis. If you don't know how it ends, you don't have a crisis, or you don't yet understand your crisis. That is how it seems to me, anyway. I've had trouble finding the crisis in some things I have written, but once I have the crisis, the ending flows from it easily.
 

Cindyt

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I couldn't think of a ending for either of my books, so I just grabbed one out of the air that could fit. As I did revisions and got to know my characters and story better, the right endings came. You just have to work the story until it comes.
 

MJG_Write

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I dabble in short stories, but I write mostly fiction. I'm currently struggling with an ending to my latest YA project. Like with my last couple projects, I always struggle with endings.

What has worked best for me, is to force out some so-so ending just to complete the draft. All that matters to me is that the draft is complete, even if the ending is awful. Then, I go back to the beginning and start on my second draft. I've found that going back to the beginning gives me inspiration for the end. I've recognized this pattern is common whenever I've writer's block: if I can't go forward, it usually means I'm not satisfied with previous chapters. I go back and make sure the previous chapters are as strong as I can make them, and then I move forward. It almost always solves the problem.

Another thing that really helps me is going on nature-walks. Putting away electronic devices and just thinking. Also, talking to my wife, who's my primary reader. Usually, if I talk about a problem long enough with her, I discover the solution, or what is holding me back.
 

NINA28

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Having this problem myself right now. I brain storm possible ending then leave it open.
Or I make a list of everything that NEEDS to be tied up at the end.
Then I just write the book and open by the time I get to the end, the perfect ending is in sight because I know my characters, plot and themes better.