writing is hard

[edenfalling]

The problem with endings is that they have to thematically resolve the entire preceding story, which in this case is particularly tricky since I still have not 100% pinned down the thematic arc of the fic and once I do resolve whatever it ends up being, I will have to go back and make sure to write that into existence in the first place.

Um. That made more sense in my head?

But anyway, I think both [thing A] and [thing B] are out, because reasons, and I am not yet sure how to find a third option. Dammit.

...

I'm going to go do laundry and hope the break will let the back of my brain gnaw over the problem and figure something out, because my conscious mind sure as heck isn’t getting anywhere.

---------------

ETA, 10pm

Alas, laundry did not help.

However, I talked through the plot and my problems with my friend Susan on the phone this evening, and she suggested an option that works beautifully. She also made me take a closer look at a tertiary plot arc and realize it needs A) reworking and B) more emphasis, which I think will dramatically improve the story as a whole.

So... I have an ending!

I also have a metric shitton of rewrites, but still. ENDING! :DDD

Comments

[the_rck]

Hurrah for an ending!

Those are often hard for me. I have a tendency to blow by the proper end point and only realize four paragraphs later. Or when someone else tells me I've missed it.

[edenfalling]

In this case, I finally finished the space battle this morning and then realized I had never actually planned an ending -- all I had was a vague note to the effect of "and then denouement/falling action goes here" without any idea what that falling action should be. *headdesk* And I couldn't just cut off with the space battle, because that would have been hideously abrupt and left every other plot thread dangling loose waiting for resolution.

I know what you mean about identifying the correct end point. I often hit a sort of tipping point in stories, where if I don't end right there and then, the story will have to be two or three times as long in order to properly develop and wrap up all the threads and themes. The trick, of course, is recognizing that point before I get too far into the large version of the fic. *wry* I am not always as good at spotting the necessary cutoff as I'd like to be, though I think I've gotten a little better over the years.

[the_rck]

Oh, good heavens, I know what you mean about tipping points. I've gotten better about them by writing exchange fics, but I'm apt to miss them in other things. And catching them generally means readers wanting the rest that they can see could be there and isn't.

[wistfulmemory]

Yay for group brainstorming and coming up with usable ideas! :)

[edenfalling]

Sometimes what you really need is an outside perspective on a problem. :)