: Re: Writing a Story From The End There is a writing technique where a writer would imagine in her mind's eye where her story should end and will write it 'backwards'. Writing the end and then

@Sarah872

Vote Up Vote Down

Many books have weak, undeserved, implausible or disconnected endings, so this is one approach that could help that. If you're starting from the end, the questions you want to ask yourself are "What will be different from the beginning?" "What will remain constant from the beginning?" "What will return to the way it was at the beginning, after having changed?"

I'll give an example. This is based on a book I just finished reading ("Draw the Line"), about a gay teenager growing up in a homophobic town in Texas. At the end of the book, the big change is that the main character has gained self-confidence, and has gone public with a lot of hidden aspects of his personality (not just his sexuality, but also the fact that he is an artist). The big thing that has stayed the same is that the town hasn't changed, he's just learned how not to be afraid of it. And the thing that changed and changed back is that he lost his best friends, and then regained them. (This is just an example from a book that is fresh in my mind --you can find those things for any book.) Once you know the answers to those three questions, you'll know where your book will start, and what the shape of it will roughly be.

What you want to watch out for is: 1) You don't want the book to feel lifeless and fated, and 2) You want to leave room for the book to take a different shape than the one you first planned. In other words, if you get into this book, and you realize it's not going to reach the end you first thought it would, don't dismiss that possibility, be open to it.

(0)

Login to post a comment!