Never Ending Stories

There are some people who don't finish stories because they run out of steam. Others don't finish because they have too much steam! Words flow out of them as freely as water gushing over Niagara Falls - on and on, words, words, thousands of words. They never finish stories because there always seems more to say. In a workshop they say things like, 'It's already 157,000 words, and I haven't yet got anywhere near the end.'

It's not a problem I personally have ever had, but I've come across it often enough to know it's a real issue for some people. Short stories never finish, novels start spreading into two, three, four book series. What I think happens is one of two things: the writer gets event happy or falls in love with their world.

First things first: what do I mean by 'event happy'?

Let's suppose I'm being chased by a couple of baddies. I run into a deserted house, they run after me. I run to the roof, and manage to jump across from one house to another. I've got away - hooray! Oh no, there are some more baddies, so I start running again, down the stairs and into the street. I think I've lost them but - oh no, some more baddies. Off I go again, run run run, into a church, baddies close behind. I hide in the crypt, they go away, then I come out and into the street, when - oops, the baddies spot me and off I go again...

OK, that's essentially ONE event - Sarah gets chased by various baddies. Nothing has changed for me except the location where I'm running. Because nothing changes, the scene stays the same. This is although there is lots of action, lots of events. Nothing changes, so the story doesn't actually move on.

You see the same effect in some action films, for example, Quantum of Solace, the last James Bond film I saw, which was one darn explosion or car chase after another, with little meaning behind any of it. The second Matrix film was another example - lots of CGI, but no real point to any of it.

I've seen it in (unpublished) historical novels where our main character sits through various tea drinking meetings and social soirees, perpetually commenting on what people are wearing, drinking, saying, without the story moving on at all. I saw it in 'The Shakespeare Secret' which, despite relentless activity, never moved the characters on at all. And it turns up a lot in fantasy novels - recently an acquaintance complained of having to critique a fantasy novel which was nudging the quarter of a million word mark, and yet had nothing to say.

The solution? Change! Make things change for the main character on some deep down emotional level. Give them a choice to make that has serious implications. And finally, decide what the point is of all these words. That should give you an idea of where the ending is. For example, if the theme is 'Love Conquers All,' then go out there and make it happen.

I'll talk about world creation tomorrow.

Starter Finisher

If you watched The Apprentice, at the interview stage a former employer apparently described Inventor Tom as not being a Starter Finisher.  Tom looked startled by this, though it didn't stop him from going on to win.  I think Lord Sugar saw Tom as a Starter, with himself doing the Finishing.  

Wouldn't it be great if there was someone who'd do the finishing for all of us?  When I began writing I was brilliant at beginnings and had deskfuls of Chapter Ones.  I was useless at the Finishing bit though.  (I wasn't much good at the middle, either, to be honest but that's another story.)  

Writing short stories helped me.  They were, by definition, short and got me into the habit of finishing.  As I learned about writing and wrote more short stories, I got better about finishing them.  Gradually I realised any ending was better than none, because then you could DO something with them - send out to magazines or competitions, for example.  

Fast forward a couple of years and writing the first draft of my first novel.  I did it in one immense push taking 10 weeks - the school holidays were coming up and I knew I wouldn't be able to sustain writing AND childcare.  I didn't know what was going to be the 'right' ending.  Were my characters going to split up or stay together? I flipped a coin and gave it a 'they stay together' ending.  Later I rewrote and gave it a 'they split up' ending.  Even later I rewrote again and gave it a completely different ending.  

That turned out to be the 'right' ending for the story, but for the first draft it really didn't matter what ending I chose so long as it was there.  I see many students who can write really well but because they never finish any work they can't move on and do anything with it.  People sometimes ask me if I think their work will get published, and I say, 'Finish it first, then ask.'

Unlike Inventor Tom we have to learn to be Starter Finishers because no one will do it for us.  I used short stories to develop my Finishing habit.  Any other suggestions for getting to the point where you can write "The End"?

The Siren Call of the New Story

The first time I can remember it happening to me was during my MA in Creative Writing. I was about 25,000 words into a novel when I had a brilliant idea - for something else. I could see it all ahead of me - the characters, how the story would pan out, the layers and added meaning. It was The One, the book that would get me published.

I went to see my tutor to ask what he thought. We discussed both ideas and in the end he said he thought I should go with the new idea, because I was so enthusiastic about it. Well, call me contrary, but somehow, being told to go in one direction makes me immediately hanker after the alternative. The brilliant idea remained unwritten, the 25,000 words got added to and became The One, the book that got me published.

I'm writing about this now because I've just had a brilliant idea for a new novel. The only problem is, I'm half way through the rewrite of the current book and I simply can't leave it. But the new idea shimmers in the future: it calls to me.

I am older and wiser now. I don't need to ask someone else to know what to do. Every novel I've written has had a moment - usually at the 25,000 word mark - when another idea pops up and lures me into abandoning the old idea. The solution is to write the idea down with as much detail as you're holding in your head (which turns out to be surprisingly little when you have to put it down on paper). Then, when your current piece of writing is finished, you can go back to the brilliant idea.

I've only once been back to my brilliant idea, and that became A Single to Rome. None of the other brilliant ideas have ever been written up. When I go back and look at them I can see what the attraction was, but writing a novel and having ideas are two different things. Most of my brilliant ideas are just that - ideas. They're not stories. A Single to Rome was different because I woke up one morning with the final scene in my head. I wrote it down, then went back to the current novel.

Obviously a novel is a longer process, but I see students do this with short stories. They get so far with the writing, then drop it for another idea. The result is lots of unfinished pieces which can't be used. Remember this: the poorest idea badly written but finished is more use than the brilliant idea beautifully written and unfinished. Resist the siren call of the new story, and finish your work.