Endings are Only the Beginning

As writers, we know that killer beginnings are important.

Opening lines get the attention of an agent, and hopefully, a publisher.

Beginning words can make the difference of whether or not a buyer decides they're willing to take a risk on an unknown author, and plunk down their hard-earned cash.

Beginnings set the stage for something juicy ahead. Enticing. Mysterious. Worth further exploration.

The beginning in my manuscript has changed three times. I went from what I thought was a clever beginning (something I don't recall seeing before but surely must have), to a murder scene (Chris Roerden's Don't Murder Your Mystery talked me out of that one) to what it is today.

I worked it and reworked it, then worked it again.

And now I'm worried because although it focuses on one of my protagonists, weather is involved. And people will tell you weather is a horrible thing to open with.

Crud.

So maybe it's good that it's not beginnings I'm talking about today, but endings.

We've all heard (and I believe it to be true), while the beginning will sell your book, endings will sell your next one. (Note: the little girl in the picture is at the end of her book, cash in hand.)

I can think of one book in particular whose beginning grabbed me. The entire plot was fascinating and well done. There was no sagging middle. It was a "wow" read.

Until I got to the ending.

I truly believe that the author was forced to rewrite whatever ending he had originally written. Or maybe the editor wrote it. Or the __________(fill in the blank). It was so out of left-field, I read parts of it twice to make sure I wasn't missing something.

Unfortunately, I wasn't.

This could be why this author's debut novel was published in 1997. I can't find evidence that he's had a second.

Have you ever been hugely disappointed in an ending?

Almost as bad as a wrong ending, is one that simply isn't memorable. That happens to me a lot. I'm sure it's partly my memory, but it's also that the endings are blah. And they kind of drag on way past where they should have stopped.

So I'm slogging through multiple rewrites of my ending. All for the better. They include: actually writing the confrontational scene rather than just alluding to it (whodathunk?); getting the medical details right (I have a great medical resource who is a detail-oriented Tom Clancy type, but with a sweet smile); and then s-l-o-w-i-n-g down the confrontation scene by writing it again (I remind myself I want to be Dean Koontz when I grow up so I should practice now).

The trick with an ending is to know when to stop.

When you've finished the story, don't blather on for another umpteen pages (or even paragraphs) because, um . . . you've finished the story.

Stop.

Say, "Goodnight, Gracie."

Just finished: Dark of the Moon by John Sandford. Since I've concluded that his scene/not-scene scene structure is his style, I'm much happier (see the previous posts).

Just began: Vansihed by Joseph Finder.

It's all better with friends.

I've Birthed a Book!

"I hope that this time I will be able to hold all the threads together, that the characters will evoke a sense of reality, that what I've written will elucidate a theme, that an occasional paragraph will sing, that I can, in a phrase I learned in England, 'bring it off.' This, I believe, is the constant ambition of the writer and his constant prayer."

~ JAMES A. MICHENER

I finished my SFD about 6:30 last night. After pacing (and yeah, flexing a little), I finished printing it out about 9:30.

Now what? My last two attempts are stuck in the proverbial bottomless drawer.

This one is different.

I have about twelve gazillion craft books and workshop notes on editing. Too much data.

The next few days are going to be focused on researching this next giant step. That delay will help with the "settling/stewing" thing I've heard about so often.

Nothing like accomplishing something by doing nothing.

CR: Relentless by Dean Koontz.

Will be crawling through Margie Lawson's Deep Editing system, Chris Roerden's Don't Murder Your Mystery, Browne and King's Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass, with Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird standing by to make me feel better.

It's all better with friends.

Suspense Novelist Bites Bullet

I have entered the Danger Zone. There are other people here, but I'm the only Me, and it's a bit frightening.

Making a monetary investment in one's career can be daunting. Inspiring. Murderous. Visionary. Intense.

I have joined Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Add that to American Christian Fiction Writers and Sisters in Crime, and I'm well . . . plugged in. And a dues paying writer. To writer's groups. Three of them.

Tomorrow I'm attending a workshop sponsored by RMFW and given by Chris Roerden, author of Don't Murder Your Mystery. An investment of both time and money.

But the big one? The one that has brought suspense to my own doorstep?

I registered for the ACFW conference in September. I'll be taking a class from Donald Maass the day before at an Early Bird session. That kind of expense bestows commitment. My self-imposed finish line (which today feels much more like a deadline) of mid-July has taken on all kinds of ominous overtones.

I have been referred to two agents by other writers, but have promised myself not to pursue them until I had something reasonably marketable to offer. I also refrained from paying for yet another conference until I had the same. Now, I'm paying for a conference and planning on scheduling appointments with those agents.

What have I wrought?

Today is either gonna be a fantabulous day of writing for me, or it's just gonna suck. Anxiety is propelling me. I pray toward something productive and as close to what Jenny calls a Perfect First Draft as I can get.

All advice welcome. Company, too.

Sheesh.

CR: Dead On by Robert W. Walker. I'm almost 1/2 through. Hope to finish it sometime this weekend.

It's all better with friends.

Potted Plots

We've all heard that there are no new plots under the sun. That may or may not be true (how does that concept explain J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series?) but assuming it's true doesn't mean writers shouldn't avoid situational plot cliches.

In Don't Murder Your Mystery, Chris Roerden offers up this advice:

A cliched plot won't cause the immediate death of your submission, because plot defects don't show up right away. Still, to round out our discussion of triteness, we ought to take a look at some cliched situations.

• the wrongly accused who is saved by the arrival of a long-lost twin;
• the sole witness for the prosecution who decides to walk her dog the night before she testifies and is not seen again (though Buster is found in a dumpster);
• the prostitute who will quit the profession as soon as she saves enough to become a real mom to the baby she gave up years ago;

She includes a few more, including the urgent telephone call to the sleuth requesting a clandestine meeting, and well . . . you get the idea.

Unless it's a parody, you should create something new and fresh. If the cliche is useful to your plot, acknowledge it as a cliche so readers don't think you've created this blatant bungle by accident and they should no longer trust you as an author.

While we're talking about situational cliches, don't forget those red herrings, suspenseful foreshadowing elements, and plot twists. As readers become more sophisticated, these tricks of the trade become more difficult to successfully pull off in a story. The tendency can be to pile one on top of another -- we've all read books like this. Sometimes, less is more -- especially if it's the right one.

As you plant your plot situations, make sure they're indigenous. Mixing tropical with desert in one pot is usually not a good idea. (Okay, give me some leeway here. I liked my title and had to come up with a tie-in. Cliche?)

The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof, shit detector. This is the writer's radar and all great writers have had it.

~ERNEST HEMINGWAY

CR: Still working on The Chameleon's Shadow, and pulling together an ever increasing list of books I want to look into downloading on my Kindle. Too bad I'm such a slow reader . . .

It's all better with friends.

Prologues

I've written about prologues before. I happen to like them. It's like being let in on some great, important, inner-circle secret. Of course, the prologue needs to make sense. It needs to belong right where it is. Before the beginning, so to speak.

It appears however, that prologue readers (let alone "likers") are in the minority.

Personally, I think the people who skip prologues are the same people who jump ahead and read the last page. So much is lost. Why bother reading? (Okay, full disclosure: I have skimmed the last few pages to make sure I see a certain name with quotation marks by it, or the name of a dog doing something in the present tense. But that's it. I promise.)

When a multi-pubbed author critiqued my first few pages, I thought I'd be clever and call the prologue chapter one. When I got it back, she referred to my "prologue." I decided that meant it made sense, it belonged, and so I've kept it.

Now I'm not so sure.

Chris Roerden devotes an entire chapter about the bias against prologues in her book, Don't Murder Your Mystery. In fact, she calls the chapter "Perilous Prologues." Doesn't bode well, does it?

Because there's not an issue of time in my prologue, I'll be taking a good look (after I've finished the first draft) and will see if it makes sense for it to either become my second chapter, or a second scene in the first chapter.

Do you like prologues? Do your manuscripts have them? Why?

If prologue is backstory, blast it out if you can weave the information throughout the NOW-story. Roerden suggest than an alternative is to rename it to scene one of chapter one.

It's important that the reader form a quick and sure bond with your protagonist. If the prologue is about someone else, or something not directly connected with chapter one, or worse . . . it makes the reader care about someone they assume is the protag, and before the know it, that character bites the dust. Their trust has been shattered and it's going to be that much more difficult for them to like the real protag who shows up in chapter one. No telling what might happen. . . .

Make sense?

My prologue shows the antagonist. The old body-on-page-one trick. So the reader doesn't meet my co-protags until chapter one. Hmmm . . . multiple problems for the manuscript of an unpublished writer.

When I'm ready, I'll toss a few things around. For now? It's a prologue.

Can anyone explain the following quote to me? I like it, but I don't know why.

Writers, like teeth, are divided into incisors and grinders. ~WALTER BAGEHOT

Just finished: The Ghost by Robert Harris

It's all better with friends.