Good endings. by Deborah Jenkins
In real life, I'm not good with endings. When full stops hover, in relation to anything really - job, location, an unavailable breakfast cereal - I dislike the idea of change. It's strange because I also get bored easily and often long for it, but change in principle is not the same as the real thing.
I've experienced some quite major changes in my life. Some I chose for myself - going to live abroad, changing jobs, moving out of London. Others were thrust upon me - sight and hearing loss for example or losing a loved one. All change can be stressful whether you desire it or not but endings mean beginnings. And that's true for writers too.
Strangely, in writing, I never have a problem with endings. I always know how a story will start and end. Or an article, or a blog post like this one. How I'm going to get there - that's the problem.
I thought I'd look at some of the endings I've enjoyed, ones that stayed with me after I've turned the last page.
1. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier: 'And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea.' I love this partly because the sea is such a strong presence in the story. And despite the darkness of the book, represented by the ashes, the flavour of salt is somehow hopeful.
2. Oh William! Elizabeth Strout: 'We are all mysteries is what I mean. This may be the only thing in the world I know to be true.' I like this because it's so true and her books are all about human nature, the quirkiness and beauty and unpredictability of it.
3. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell: 'After all, tomorrow is another day.' This is something we all need to be reminded of at times. I read Gone with the Wind as a teenager and this is still one of my favourite endings.
4. Charlotte's Web, E B White: 'It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.' Not sure if my family and friends would agree with this (!), but I'd be very happy to have it on my gravestone.
5. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens: 'So, as Tiny Tim observed, god bless us every one.' No further comment needed really.
Good endings are important. Sometimes it takes me as long to craft the final few words of a piece as it does to write the rest of it. Sometimes I'm writing towards an ending then realise I'm already there.
I've been writing monthly for the More than Writers' blog since its inception. I can't quite remember when that was -2014? I may be wrong but I think I've only missed one post and that was a couple of months ago when Susan Sanderson kindly filled in for me. I don't like letting people down and after a good honest look at my other commitments - including my own blog which I haven't written since March - I decided it was time for an ending. I don't like endings.
But good endings, in my book, should be hopeful as well as realistic. Because endings mean beginnings. Who knows where God will take us in our writing next?
What are you like with endings and which ones from books have stayed with you?
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I often find, as I think many do, that when I'm writing a story, I reach the ending of it before I'd planned. Or, I write an ending, and then think, 'This is superfluous. The job's already done.' So I cut off the final few paragraphs. Maybe that applies to life too. I find myself not-an-English-teacher-any-more way before I thought that was going to happen. Or perhaps it will again. Or perhaps one is always a teacher. Who knows? I'll miss your posts, Deborah. Always a great read. I'll watch out for new ones on your own blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you. I will miss writing them! Endings are interesting aren't they? We can't always plan them and as you say, they sometimes arrive before we're really ready. But the art of the good 'bye' is perhaps something we learn with time and experience. And just for the record, once teacher, always a teacher :)
ReplyDeleteYes I think the way an author chooses to end a novel defines what is about. I do like a bittersweet ending. One of my favourites is from 'The Great Gatsby'. 'So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past' I hope I've quoted it right! ( SC Skillman, aka Anonymous)
ReplyDeleteAh yes, someone else mentioned that ending too. Thank you Sheila!
DeleteLovely post Deborah, thanks. I like a post like this one that makes me pause and start thinking of endings in my life or my attitude to endings in a book, film, or my own writing. I love good endings in films and books. So I believe in ' happily ever after'! However, when I am writing to represent true life as in a real event or incident, I follow it on to its tragic end without spearing my feelings and that of readers. It is so symbolic that endings lead to beginnings like a circle sort of. Isn't it? Some continuity of some sort. I guess that why we writers have books 2 or even 3 following Book
ReplyDelete1.Thank you so much for easing yourself off very gently on us. You will be so missed as I have always enjoyed your posts. God's blessings and favour on you in whatever you do after MTW posts. Blessings.
Thank you so much for your lovely words, Sophia. I think you are right about endings. I too, prefer happy ones, although, for me, they must be realistic so often need a tinge of sadness or uncertainty, at least! Thanks again x
DeleteA lovely post, Deborah. I always enjoy your posts and it was no trouble to cover for you recently. Writing a regular contribution to this blog is a different matter. Were you at the online Writers' day in October when we were advised to chop off the end of what we have written? Perhaps I should have done that for this comment! I have also heard that some stories are better without the initial sentences. And the advice never to throw them out completely. Now a story made up of outtakes might be challenge.
ReplyDeleteYour posts have always been full of good things and will be missed.
ReplyDeleteThank you Aggie. Much appreciated.
DeleteSince starting my MA, I've gone back and looked at some of my past poetry and realised I ought to chop off the ends of many of them! I need to let go of my need to tie everything up neatly or hammer home my point.
ReplyDeleteOne of my tutors also suggested moving our last stanzas to the beginning - it's surprisingly effective. Perhaps that ties in with your point about beginnings and endings being like co-dependent.
I will miss you on this blog, Deborah. Your posts are always thoughtful and thought provoking. But it will be lovely to read more of your own blog.
God bless
Thank you so much Liz. I am not a poet but I find that advice really interesting. Can you please ask if it also works for short stories?! That's what I'm doing at the moment. Thank you for your kind words about my posts :)
DeleteI am wiping away a tear. I LOVE your posts, Deborah and I will miss them hugely. But this is a good ending and it will lead to other exciting beginnings. One of my favourite endings is AS Byatt's Possession. ""'Tell your aunt,' he said, 'that you met a poet, who was looking for the Belle Dame Sans Merci, and who met you instead, and who sends his compliments, and will not disturb her, and is on his way to fresh woods and pastures new'. And on the way home, she met her brothers, and there was a rough-and-tumble, and the lovely crown was broken, and she forgot the message, which was never delivered." So desperately sad and yet somehow satisfying.
ReplyDeleteAh thank you Ruth! That is a very interesting ending. As you say, it's sad but realistic and therefore satisfying. In real life, ends are mostly not all tied up like that. Thank you for your lovely words about missing the posts :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent post, Deborah, as always, and a good one to end on - since there has to be endings, at least while we live in Time.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly inspired me to think a bit about endings, at least the literary sort, and the ones I like to read and write. As some have mentioned on your facebook post, the worst sort of ending is one that is very obviously twisting your arm to make you read the next book in the series. On the other hand, a well done and satisfying conclusion can still leave the door open for a sequel, whilst at the same time leaving me with the feeling I can trust the author not to leave me dangling! That's certainly what I aim for in my own writing.
One of the best endings that comes to mind (in my opinion) is in The Lord Of The Rings, where after all the incredible adventures and great events, Sam comes home to find the evening meal ready and his wife to welcome him, and his daughter to sit on his lap.
'He drew a deep breath. "Well, I'm back,' he said.'
So at the end of the great epic, there is fireside and family and home: which I think sums up the whole point of it. This is what it was all for.
Brilliant ending. And of course, I've read everything I can of Tolkien's work!