currently...and don't mind me venting to you...I AM SICK TO DEATH OF BEGINNINGS. and don't let me fool you. it has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that i have rewritten my beginning (not edited, not revised, BUT completely rewritten, chopped, changed, started over) TEN times since July and this is in addition to countless edits and revisions. SOOOOOO. i DON'T want to hear your first line. your first 250. your first 5.
okay. it's not that i don't want to EVER. just not today.
today i want to know how it all ends. i want to revel in the fact that you are amazing.
that you are part of the 10% of all people who have written, completed, finished, ceased, terminated, concluded, drawn to a close, ended, stopped, and even finalized A NOVEL. (manuscript, whatever)
for those of you who have spent countless hours on your beginning, like me, let's take a day to rejoice in the finales of our stories. share your novel's parting words with me.
post your final sentence in my comments.
or...even your final 250.
instead of worrying, is there a HOOK? let's for once wonder if there is contentment, finality, wonder, something to leave the reader pondering, a closing that leaves us sighing, "ahhhh". inspiration. romance.
yes, how do YOU end your novel?
I agree. Arriving at the end is a long and tedious journey her are my last hundred and twenty-eight of Amber and the Whispering Willows. The last sums up everything,
ReplyDeleteLiah looked at Dak, stress lines imprinted on her flawless skin. “I must leave.” She took flight.
Dak followed.
Buzzing through countless trees, Liah arrived at the other side of the Willows and landed on the edge of the sparkling emerald pond. Dak landed next to her.
“Why have you come here, Liah?”
“I must speak to Elena.”
“Why now? We are missing the celebration.”
“Sedah may return. I am frightened for her safety; for we have not been able to free Jasper as of yet. It is crucial to keep Elena protected, for if she is captured by Sedah, Aaaamberrrr will be in even greater danger. ”
“Is that possible?” Dak raised an eyebrow. “Elena is well protected by our enchantment.”
“Dak, my loyal friend ... anything is possible.”
Of course, I didn't edit my first paragraph .... bad Michael!
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with yah, and I love this idea! Unfortunately, I just started my work in progress so I'm still in the first 250 words hell.
ReplyDeleteMichael, I love it! Heather, oooh..good luck! Actually I enjoy starting a novel--for the first time! It's the 15 times I restart it afterward that make me kind of sick to my stomach. I gave up, cough, I mean took a break from the novel I was complaining about, to start a new project. Due to our 21k race I am 15k in (only 6k for the competition)! I'm enjoying it. I SHOULD post my ending to the one with the rough beginning. MAYBE I'll be brave like Michael later! (christy)
ReplyDeleteBe Brave. We'd all love to read it Christy. I'm very happy you liked the ending. I wrote the first chapter on that novel at least ten times. First chapters are always difficult to write. It sets up the story.
ReplyDeleteI'm on about version 6 of my beginning (of AND). Only about 1/5 of the way done with CH, so no ending in sight. Here's AND:
ReplyDeleteHe sat up, which forced me to also, since we were all but attached. The look on his face sunk my heart and I was ready to do anything in my power to take it away. "Is it wrong to want more? To want to understand what I am, what my future holds?"
"No, it isn't wrong to want that," I said, kissing him deeply. "But it is wrong to think that what might happen thirty years from now is more important than what you have going for you right now."
We held each other all night and before the sun rose on a new day, he knew that I meant our futures were inextricable. A few months earlier, I didn't know who I was any more than I knew he even existed. Now, it felt like I needed him to live.
We had the rest of our lives to find out the rest of the story. At that point, we were ready, and we knew that together, nothing was impossible.
erica (A New Day)
You know what's funny... I NEVER redo the beginning until I've written the ending for the first time. I don't feel like I can KNOW where the critical start is until I've typed 'the end'
ReplyDeleteAs to the end... the 3 books I have REwritten... the end is not the end.--once I shortened it SIGNIFICANTLY, the other two I added twists and turns that made the ending bigger than it had been.
My recommendation? Don't worry about the beginning until you type the end. I mean SURE, you have to write it, but don't think that is really IT.
I've only finished one manuscript, start to finish. It was after I started submitting the first 250 words and five pages that I started the rewriting process. and the cutting process (the first 7 chapters) Again. and again...and, well, lots more. Since I've started project number 2, my vacation from rewriting, I've just kept going. I won't have to go through it all with this novel. I learned my lesson and this one is just perfect from the start (LOL!!!) Thanks, Hart and Michael!!!christy
ReplyDeleteHa, I love this post. Every time I go in to seriously edit I have to fight with myself to not start at the beginning. No doubt the beginning of my novel is far better than the middle at this stage. My ending is pretty cool, but yeah, it's hard for me to leave my beginning alone..:)
ReplyDelete