May 2014 Ramble: It All Comes Right in the End

Have you ever finished a book, put it down and sighed?  Was it a sigh of exasperation, or one of contentment?  Perhaps it was one filled with regret because the story had ended.  Maybe it was a sigh of pure joy because you felt empowered and changed.  What is it that gives us these varying reactions at the end of a tale?  What kind of reactions do you want your readers to have?  What kinds of endings do you as a reader find most satisfying and have you ever paused to figure out why?

Many ingredients are used in the art of storytelling, many things to consider at each stage of your story.  This post is going to discuss what makes an ending satisfying.  There is a difference between happy endings and satisfying endings.  A story doesn’t have to end happily for it to be satisfying to a reader.  So what does it need to be?

The first thing you need to consider is any promises you have made to the reader throughout your story.  It is a good idea to keep a list as you are writing of the different agreements you’ve entered into.  Notice what you’ve shined a light on, where you have led the reader, what events you have set in motion, etc.  You don’t need to wrap up every scenario and subplot with a pretty bow, but you do need to understand what you’ve led the reader to expect, what you’ve set them up for, and deliver it.

That in no way means to be staid and predictable.  What most readers expect is a logical resolution, in whatever form you may have in mind.  Have as many twists and turns and upsets as your story can safely and logically handle, but realize what expectations you are building in your reader.

People read for myriad reasons, but in some way it generally comes down to an emotional payoff.  Deliver an ending with the emotional payoff that your reader is looking for.  How do you know what your reader is looking for?  Well, if you write mysteries it’s a safe bet someone who picks up your book is looking for a mystery, n’est pas?

This leads into the next item to remember.  Be mindful of your genre and audience.  If you are writing a mystery, then you’d better solve the crime by the end!  In a romance readers expect the main characters to get together eventually.  Epic fantasy is an interesting genre; readers expect wonder and struggle and heroism, etc.  This may span across more than one book.  Each book needs a satisfying ending even if the main arc of the story has not been resolved, the minor arc of that book needs to resolve.  The protagonist may have lost his magic which will lead into another quest of getting it back in a second book, but by sacrificing or overextending himself he thwarted the immediate threat.

Your ending/resolution should never come out of left field.  If you are planning a twist or desire a surprise ending, you need to make sure you have left enough bread crumbs throughout your book that your reader can say, “How did I not see that coming? All the clues were there!” and not, “Uhhh… what??”  A wonderful example of this is the movie The Sixth Sense.  If you haven’t seen it, watch it and you’ll understand what I mean.

While most readers can handle (and sometimes thoroughly enjoy) mind bending endings, they don’t like being tricked or cheated.  It isn’t wise to write a mystery leading the reader toward the butler, then the husband, then the neighbor only to end it with the culprit being a character only introduced at the end.  ‘Oh ho! I’m so clever!  You didn’t see that coming, did you?’  “Of course not!  You made me invest my detective skills into figuring out which of the characters you’d actually developed had done it.  Boo!  I’ll not read you again, and I’ll tell all my friends!”

There are as many ways to end a story as there are stories, but as long as you remember to keep your promises; deliver an appropriate emotional payoff; abide by the rules of your genre; and have enough foreshadowing and subtle clues to ensure your ending is logical, authentic and makes sense, your readers will be satisfied.

I’m curious to know your opinions about satisfying endings.  Which stories have had your favorites?  Which stories have left you feeling unsatisfied?  Leave a comment with your thoughts :)

February 2014 Ramble: Why Do You Write?

Any time someone asks the question “Why do you write?” I hear the following quote in my mind: “I write because I must. It's not a choice or a pastime; it's an unyielding calling and my passion.” ― Elizabeth Reyes

I write because I must. If I don’t write, how will anyone else know these fantastically odd and incredibly charming people that populate my mind? If I don’t write, how will I keep my head from exploding? I imagine words as being paintbrushes with unlimited colors on their pallets, or an endless supply of clay. It thrills me to see worlds and peoples take shape under my fingers.

I like the feeling of my mind expanding when a new perspective shows itself. Or when a phrase I’ve heard a thousand times before (or never) sparks a new life in my brain. I admit I enjoy the romantic notion of sitting at a computer, a cup of tea steaming while the clickity clacking sounds of brilliance being unbound issue from my keyboard. Perhaps surprisingly, I will also admit to enjoying the pacing, agonizing and hair tearing of brilliance being a bit bashful (Which, let’s be honest, is usually more frequent than the former idyllic scenario).

Writing is a hundred different games I can play with myself. I like the solitary aspect of an activity that’s purpose is, in essence, to connect. I’m a bundle of contradictions and in writing I find a balance between them all.

I’m going to end this post with a rather long quote because I agree with each line and didn’t want to shorten it. Feel free to leave a comment and tell me why you write.

"I write to find strength.
I write to become the person that hides inside me.
I write to light the way through the darkness for others.
I write to be seen and heard.
I write to be near those I love.
I write by accident, promptings, purposefully and anywhere there is paper.
I write because my heart speaks a different language that someone needs to hear.
I write past the embarrassment of exposure.
I write because hypocrisy doesn’t need answers, rather it needs questions to heal.
I write myself out of nightmares.
I write because I am nostalgic, romantic and demand happy endings.
I write to remember.
I write knowing conversations don’t always take place.
I write because speaking can’t be reread.
I write to soothe a mind that races.
I write because you can play on the page like a child left alone in the sand.
I write because my emotions belong to the moon; high tide, low tide.
I write knowing I will fall on my words, but no one will say it was for very long.
I write because I want to paint the world the way I see love should be.
I write to provide a legacy.
I write to make sense out of senselessness.
I write knowing I will be killed by my own words, stabbed by critics, crucified by both misunderstanding and understanding.
I write for the haters, the lovers, the lonely, the brokenhearted and the dreamers.
I write because one day someone will tell me that my emotions were not a waste of time.
I write because God loves stories.
I write because one day I will be gone, but what I believed and felt will live on.”
 ― Shannon L. Alder

January 2014 Ramble: Resolutions and Promises

This month in the Ramble we have decided to make our writing goals public so that they are out there and you all can help us be accountable.  Kind of us to volunteer you, wasn't it? :)  Without further ado, here are my goals, dreams and aspirations for the coming year (in no particular order).

1.  Submit to Writer's of the Future First Quarter (to begin with).

2. Begin publishing the series I started in NaNoWriMo 2013 (more news on this later).

3. Write an effective fight scene (I love watching various fighting styles, but I haven't figured out the art of writing them).

4. Have something to submit to my writing groups at least every other month.

5.  Write for an hour every day.

6.  Keep a dream journal again.

Goals can be big, small, long term or short.  They can be about the craft itself or about an end product.  All that matters is that they fill you with excitement, motivation and inspiration.  Take a few moments and think of what you really want to accomplish this year and write it down.  Leave it in a comment if that helps!  You kick my butt, I'll kick yours - how does that sound? :)

Time to Wake Up

I had a dream today that I knocked on my door. The me I should be answered. The one who writes every day. The one who exercises every day. The one who lives in the house of mine that is organized the way I want it to be. I felt sad and out of sorts. I told her that she should wake up and leave me in the dream since she knows how to actually live my life. She just smiled and shook her head, "It is you who needs to wake up." And so I did. 

 I can't stop thinking about it. It -is- time I woke up.

Guest Blog post on The Fictorians!

Check out my guest post on The Fictorians!

November 2013 Ramble: What Traveling Has Taught Me About Writing

This month in the Writer’s Ramble we discuss Outlining vs Discovery writing, Plotting vs Pantsing, Architects vs Gardeners.  However you are used to classifying these two creation styles they boil down to the same two categories.  Do you like to plan out your novels and short stories or do you prefer to let your stories tell themselves?

At heart, I am a pantser – I like to sit down, start typing and see what comes out – even the way I travel could be considered pantsing.  I’ve gone on trips with my family as well as with my old job as a travel agent where I would wander off, discovering what the cities had to offer; wherever my feet took me.  I had so many adventures that were not in the tour books, it almost seems unreal.  I collected so many wild stories, it became a joke in our family. "Well of COURSE that would happen to Heidi..."

Much of the writing I’ve done has come about the same way.  I let my fingers wander and end up running into characters and situations I’d never dreamed of, but which ended up being just what the story needed.  A discovery writer, a pantser, is a more organic writer.  You kind of sit back, let things grow as they will and if it turns into something useable? Great!

However, as my traveling habits have evolved, I’ve come to appreciate having a basic plan.  I found I could see more of a place and not miss out on things that I know I enjoy by doing a little research and having a game plan in place before I arrive in a new city.  Outlining, plotting, planning – these are all new things to me in my writing life as well. 

This month for NaNoWriMo I decided to try my hand at plotting.  Okay, I’ll be honest, it wasn’t a conscious decision.  My sister was brainstorming with me about a series of books I’d gotten an idea for.  At the end of the session, we had two of the ten books pretty well plotted with rough ideas about the other eight.  I’d never done that before.

It feels good to know where I’m going with this story, and that there are nine other stories waiting to be told once this one is done.  I’d gotten familiar with the characters before I started writing them.  Just as researching a city made me feel more like I was coming home than venturing out into a unfamiliar and foreign place, so has plotting out this series made these characters feel more like family than strangers I need to get to know.

As a writer I’ve come to the realization that to be my best I need to be both a plotter and a pantser, depending on what the situation calls for.  I still leave myself time in my travels to do some wandering.  I leave myself open to adventure.  If my characters want to take a left when I want them to take a right, I’ll go along with it.  You never know where a wrong turn will take you – until you make it.

(I’ll let you in on a little secret.  This blog post was completely by the seat of my pants.  I hadn’t thought about the correlation between my thoughts on travel and my thoughts on writing – until I wrote it out.  My advice is to be focused, have goals and an end game in mind, but keep yourself open to the adventures of the unknown. It’s a wild ride, enjoy it!)

What are your thoughts about these two different approaches to writing? Leave a comment with what works best for you!

Nanu Nanu

September 2013 Ramble: The Hero's Journey Part 1

Over the next few months in our Writers’ Ramble we will be discussing and dissecting a story structure developed by Joseph Campbell in his “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”. You may be more familiar with it termed as “The Hero’s Journey”. Campbell determined there were 17 stages of this journey and broke them into three main sections: Departure, Initiation and Return.

This month we will be discussing the five elements of the Departure phase. I will be covering Refusal of the Call. Check out our main blog for my group’s take on the other stages.

Refusal of the Call

"Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, or 'culture,' the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved. His flowering world becomes a wasteland of dry stones and his life feels meaningless - even though, like King Minos, he may through titanic effort succeed in building an empire or renown. Whatever house he builds, it will be a house of death: a labyrinth of cyclopean walls to hide from him his minotaur. All he can do is create new problems for himself and await the gradual approach of his disintegration." (Campbell p. 59)

 
In a story that follows the Hero’s Journey, it is common to be presented with a situation that calls for a specific Hero. This is generally a world or a people in peril or conflict. Events unfold that make the Hero aware of the conflict via The Call to Adventure. How the Hero responds to the Call sets the tone of the story. It is quite common for a Hero to initially Refuse the Call; this builds tension and shows the Hero to be relatable and human.

There are many reasons a Hero would Refuse the Call:

• Luke Skywalker refuses to go to Alderaan with Obi-wan because he has chores to do and a responsibility to his aunt and uncle and their farm. 
• Sherlock Holmes will refuse a case until some bit of evidence presents itself as a sufficiently intriguing puzzle worthy of his great intellect. 
• In the Matrix, Neo refuses the Call numerous times because of his initial disbelief in the Matrix as a whole and later in himself as a Hero. 
• Fear of the unknown and a fear of what they would be giving up by leaving home are also common reasons for refusing .

When a Hero Refuses the Call, three paths open up, though they share the same road for awhile:  First, they can struggle for a time, but eventually something (usually very personal and tragic) will happen that outweighs their objections and they finally Accept the Call and the Adventure begins! Luke Skywalker’s home and family were burned to a crisp.  “There’s nothing left for me here.” Let’s go save a Princess!

Second, the Call follows them everywhere they go, as Calls are wont to do, but the Hero keeps slipping the noose.  Eventually, the Call stops playing the nice guy and the Hero is caught in a trap.  Take Jonah and the Whale.  There are some Calls to which there is no escape.

Third, because they have been chosen by the powers that be for the specific task, their life will be plagued by misadventures until they give in (as was shown in paths 1 and 2) but by continuing to Refuse they will be forced out of the role of Hero and into the role of Damsel in Distress or Villain.  They will either need to be rescued by a Hero who Accepted the Call or become the Villain in another Hero’s story.

There are times when a story works best with a Hero who jumps at the Call, but generally it is more interesting and satisfying for a reader to have a Hero who is reluctant, shows fear and weaknesses and who at times has to be beaten over the head with the Call before they accept it.  Of course, you can go too far with this, but the payoff a reader gets once the Hero overcomes their resistance to the Call is usually in direct proportion to the amount of fight the Hero put up initially.

There is a variation to the Refusal of the Call that some call Can’t Stay Normalwhere an old Hero has forgotten or given up their powers, deliberately or otherwise. They get tired of their life of adventure and just want something Normal. Eventually they get it, but once they have a normal life they either miss their Adventure and want it back or they are enjoying their normal life, but the Call will not leave them alone. They have a destiny to fulfill, dangit! The world needs saving again!

If you are writing a story that follows the Hero’s Journey, does your Hero Refuse the Call?  I’d love to hear how, leave me a comment! :)