I always find novel endings to be the most infuriating. I mean, there I am, plugging away at my novel. The beginning rushes off full of inspiration and roses, the middle drags its butt for a bit and then lifts off and takes flight, and then at the end I'm trying to capture every one of the threads blowing in the wind and tie it into a pretty bow only to realise that I'm both athritic, drunk, and vision impaired.
Basically, endings ... I hate them.
I've written at least 3,000 pages worth of novels and it's only in this last one, The Curse of the Rose: The Butterfly Lady, where I've managed to write the ending. Only even then I hated it so much I wrote it in a very cruddy, rushed way that I felt even as I wrote it. Now that I've edited the novel a half dozen times I've realized that I always end the editing before the ending... Basically, I have a realtively polished manuscript with a First Draft ending. Now I've managed to edit my way partway through the ending. One could say that I've edited my way up to the Climax chapter.
And now?
Now I'm out of steam and want to start a new book or edit from the start again. *sigh* I guess I've gotta face my Endingitis.
What do you guys reckon? Are endings win or fail?
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oh my god i have the same problem. I have the ending in its roughest form but am forever editing the rest of the story over and over, avoiding the ending really, especially the climactic scenario that's supposed to tie stuff up. I have written plan after plan of the last three chapters!!
ReplyDeleteI'm halfway to the third to last chapter. I know I hate endings and did it poorly because in the past two chapters I've added a total of 20 double-spaced pages... Shows how many gaps there were originally!
ReplyDeleteEditing is the bane of a writers life. I try and edit each chapter when its finished. that way, no long novel editing that bores me to tears. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea but I think if I did it I would never have it finished. I'd just get stuck on that chapter!
ReplyDeleteMan I fear the blank page and now I'm bored of editing! What kind of a writer am I?