When do you decide to end a story?

[Deadman]

Kinda trying to figure out when to end a story that I’ve been writing.

My story Scooby Gang Time has been going for a while and I have a bunch of chapters to post, but as I continue to write it, I come up with new chapters.

I am wondering if I should just finish the story where I was planning to and then post new stories when I write these new ideas/chapters. For those who haven’t read it, they’re mostly one shot stories that don’t technically need to be in the same story.

Thoughts?


 

[InvidiaRed]

The only correct answer is its done when you affirm that it is done.

[GeorgeGlass]

I’d love to tell you that I always know exactly when and how a story will end. And that’s often the case, but definitely not always, because I sometimes write stories that don’t have a real plot arc. The chapters are more like series of vignettes in chronological order. 

One of these stories is “Country Summer,” a furry fic about a city girl who goes to the country to spend a month on her aunt and uncle’s farm and has one sexual adventure after another with the far more sexually liberal country folk. I had no plan for how long it would go or what would happen in each chapter; I was just pantsing it. But while I was writing chapter 8, I started thinking, “This story has got to end at some point. What would be a good way to do that?” I ended up writing 3 more chapters—2 for the grand finale (a big birthday party with lots of sexy fun), and 1 for the denouement. And I think that worked pretty well.

[Desiderius Price]

Even the “Neverending Story” had an ending…

Me?  I usually have a goal already in mind, an ending, so once I reach it, I reach it.  Sometimes I mull over the exact cut-point… like that Halloween story, do I show Lana’s next action as a teaser, or do I save it as an epigraph to Toby’s story?

[Deadman]

I’m having a somewhat new problem in the same vein.

I finished a story but the opening chapter was written in bullet point form originally for the first few pages, then I got more in depth later. I had it in my head that I would add to the bullet point version of the story.

Now I’m going through the first chapter to try and get in shape and I’m trying to figure out how much detail to add. I want it to be consistent with the later chapters which are more detailed. But I don’t know how much to add in.

[Desiderius Price]

2 minutes ago, Deadman said:

I’m having a somewhat new problem in the same vein.

I finished a story but the opening chapter was written in bullet point form originally for the first few pages, then I got more in depth later. I had it in my head that I would add to the bullet point version of the story.

Now I’m going through the first chapter to try and get in shape and I’m trying to figure out how much detail to add. I want it to be consistent with the later chapters which are more detailed. But I don’t know how much to add in.

On my potter fanfic, I went to reread that first chapter, and now I’m rewriting the whole bloody story.  So, it’s definitely a pandora’s box to revisit!  However, it’s a much better story now too, so there’s that.

In your case, it’s definitely a challenge.  Mesh it with chapter two as possible, don’t be afraid to move things around into other chapters as warranted.

 

[Deadman]

24 minutes ago, Desiderius Price said:

On my potter fanfic, I went to reread that first chapter, and now I’m rewriting the whole bloody story.  So, it’s definitely a pandora’s box to revisit!  However, it’s a much better story now too, so there’s that.

In your case, it’s definitely a challenge.  Mesh it with chapter two as possible, don’t be afraid to move things around into other chapters as warranted.

 

Oh I don’t think that it’ll be a necessity to move things around. My issue is more along other issues. Here’s how it looked when I wrote the first few pages:
 

Quote

 

Buffy walked down the stairs.

She met Harmony.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

 

Whereas later pages would be like this

Quote

Buffy walked down the stairs, hearing the click of her foot against each step. She came to the end of the stairs and was stopped by Harmony being there, “What the hell are you doing here?”

Harmony smiled at her, “I live here.”

 

Most of chapters 2-7 look like the second quote. Which I only got into detailing like 7 pages into the chapter 1. Mainly because of technological limitations.

I don’t want to have to reread the other chapters to really get into how to fix the first 7 pages.

[Desiderius Price]

1 minute ago, Deadman said:

Oh I don’t think that it’ll be a necessity to move things around. My issue is more along other issues.

Oh, that doesn’t seem as bad as I had imagined.  Pretty much envisioning what you had before, and writing it in full.  (fyi, my *first* potter fanfic reads much closer to that first example, which is why it’s in need of revision, but I’m limiting my active projects.)

[Deadman]

36 minutes ago, Desiderius Price said:

Oh, that doesn’t seem as bad as I had imagined.  Pretty much envisioning what you had before, and writing it in full.  (fyi, my *first* potter fanfic reads much closer to that first example, which is why it’s in need of revision, but I’m limiting my active projects.)

Yeah, it’s a bit of a problem in part because in general I write like the second quote. My early writing as more like the first quote, so we have that in common. But I wrote it more bullet point form for what was essentially the first time. I didn’t even have punctuation like periods after sentences because I was thinking “I’ll fix that later.” I’m just only getting back to it now and my head space is much different now. Especially because I finished the rest of the story and it feels complete in my head.

[Wilde_Guess]

Hi, Deadman and all.

1 hour ago, Deadman said:

Yeah, it’s a bit of a problem in part because in general I write like the second quote. My early writing as more like the first quote, so we have that in common. But I wrote it more bullet point form for what was essentially the first time. I didn’t even have punctuation like periods after sentences because I was thinking “I’ll fix that later.” I’m just only getting back to it now and my head space is much different now. Especially because I finished the rest of the story and it feels complete in my head.

If your writing style is now like your second quote, and not the example in the first quote, you might be making more of a mountain out of rewriting than it really is.  I would suggest just doing the rewrite as if the text being rewritten was an outline, and just write it as you would.  At the least, the revised text should be better than what it’s replacing, or at least enough better that you can consider the story done.

Good luck.

[Deadman]

17 hours ago, Wilde_Guess said:

Hi, Deadman and all.

If your writing style is now like your second quote, and not the example in the first quote, you might be making more of a mountain out of rewriting than it really is.  I would suggest just doing the rewrite as if the text being rewritten was an outline, and just write it as you would.  At the least, the revised text should be better than what it’s replacing, or at least enough better that you can consider the story done.

Good luck.

For sure, I think it was partly that rewrite is a bad way to describe what I’m doing. I just worry about how to add stuff to it. In later chapters and later in the first chapter, I have paragraphs which are 5 sentences long or more. Whereas most of the stuff in the first 7 pages is literally one line in bullet point form to get the point across. So I’m worried about how much I should add.

[Desiderius Price]

28 minutes ago, Deadman said:

For sure, I think it was partly that rewrite is a bad way to describe what I’m doing. I just worry about how to add stuff to it. In later chapters and later in the first chapter, I have paragraphs which are 5 sentences long or more. Whereas most of the stuff in the first 7 pages is literally one line in bullet point form to get the point across. So I’m worried about how much I should add.

Don’t be afraid to split the chapters if necessary.  (Note, to insert a new chapter out-of-order on AFF, you’ll add it as usual, and nicely ask DG to reorder it for you, or do the more painful replace the text to each chapter, or a bunch of chapter deletes & adds.)

[Deadman]

1 hour ago, Desiderius Price said:

Don’t be afraid to split the chapters if necessary.  (Note, to insert a new chapter out-of-order on AFF, you’ll add it as usual, and nicely ask DG to reorder it for you, or do the more painful replace the text to each chapter, or a bunch of chapter deletes & adds.)

I haven’t posted the story yet, but it’s chapter 1 so I have to make sure it works because I want it to the best version, not necessarily perfect. Also worried about not being emotionally connected to the story.

[BronxWench]

Is it your emotional connection that worries you, or that of your readers?

[Desiderius Price]

1 hour ago, Deadman said:

I haven’t posted the story yet, but it’s chapter 1 so I have to make sure it works because I want it to the best version, not necessarily perfect. Also worried about not being emotionally connected to the story.

How about write a draft out and see where it gets you?  (ie, don’t worry about it until you’re done with that.)

[Deadman]

44 minutes ago, BronxWench said:

Is it your emotional connection that worries you, or that of your readers?

Well partly both. I feel like I more accurately portrayed emotions of the characters in later chapters.

Where this comes in is, the story involves a character getting some of her female friends involved in her relationship with a guy. When I finished the first chapter, I felt like I had properly given justification for the future chapters. She was in an emotional place where it made sense. However, I didn’t think about going back and making sure the first chapter made it work. I now worry that the first 7 pages of the first chapter doesn’t justify where the story ends by chapter 1. I was emotionally invested in the story at the time. Not so much anymore. So I worry that the adding to the first 7 pages that I just did, isn’t getting the emotions across.

[Deadman]

44 minutes ago, Desiderius Price said:

How about write a draft out and see where it gets you?  (ie, don’t worry about it until you’re done with that.)

The draft is already done. The problem is the draft was done in a different headspace.

For additional context, when I first started writing the draft, I only had access to a tablet to write. And because I couldn’t type traditionally, I focused on just getting the story going. So I wrote it in point form. Then I bought a laptop and could do more. So I transferred the file over to the laptop and started writing in more detail because I could.

As I mentioned elsewhere, it’s a 7 chapter story and I wrote all 7 chapters, with the first chapter being done like I just outlined. Now I’m looking at publishing and I’m somewhat frustrated that I didn’t think to go back earlier and fix chapter 1.

[BronxWench]

34 minutes ago, Deadman said:

Well partly both. I feel like I more accurately portrayed emotions of the characters in later chapters.

Where this comes in is, the story involves a character getting some of her female friends involved in her relationship with a guy. When I finished the first chapter, I felt like I had properly given justification for the future chapters. She was in an emotional place where it made sense. However, I didn’t think about going back and making sure the first chapter made it work. I now worry that the first 7 pages of the first chapter doesn’t justify where the story ends by chapter 1. I was emotionally invested in the story at the time. Not so much anymore. So I worry that the adding to the first 7 pages that I just did, isn’t getting the emotions across.

Revision and editing are probably the hardest parts of writing (aside from the dreaded marketing blurb). So, my advice is to get the initial revisions done to chapter one, and then re-read the whole thing. Make notes when something happens that you don’t think was properly introduced, or hinted at in earlier stages of the story. Read it aloud, if you can (and this is something I drive my family insane by doing). 

Here’s the thing. When you’re revising and editing, you hit a phrase, or a sentence, and you think, “Oh, that was great, I don’t want to lose that.” Experience has taught me those are the first bits I need to let go of, because they are going to hold me back. I copy and paste them to a separate document, and I leave them there. Most of the time, when I do that, I find myself writing something much clearer and stronger, because I’m not trying to bend the story to fit that pretty turn of phrase or that insanely seductive and often obscure word I’ve fallen for. When I’m done, there might be a place for that word or phrase, and I can copy it and bring it back into the chapter, but if not, I have a file of pretty phrases and words to serve as plot bunnies and inspiration for a new story.

[Deadman]

19 hours ago, BronxWench said:

Revision and editing are probably the hardest parts of writing (aside from the dreaded marketing blurb). So, my advice is to get the initial revisions done to chapter one, and then re-read the whole thing. Make notes when something happens that you don’t think was properly introduced, or hinted at in earlier stages of the story. Read it aloud, if you can (and this is something I drive my family insane by doing). 

Here’s the thing. When you’re revising and editing, you hit a phrase, or a sentence, and you think, “Oh, that was great, I don’t want to lose that.” Experience has taught me those are the first bits I need to let go of, because they are going to hold me back. I copy and paste them to a separate document, and I leave them there. Most of the time, when I do that, I find myself writing something much clearer and stronger, because I’m not trying to bend the story to fit that pretty turn of phrase or that insanely seductive and often obscure word I’ve fallen for. When I’m done, there might be a place for that word or phrase, and I can copy it and bring it back into the chapter, but if not, I have a file of pretty phrases and words to serve as plot bunnies and inspiration for a new story.

I appreciate it, although maybe I should be a little more clear. I just did a review of the first chapter a few days ago and added some stuff to it. But here’s where it becomes an issue.

Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 both have a scene where one character tackles another. In chapter 1 it’s more antagonistic, whereas in chapter 2 it’s more playful and fun.

However, in Chapter 1, the tackle/struggle is less than a quarter of a page long and the description of basically amounts to “Buffy tackles Harmony and they struggle. The struggle is broken up by Spike.” with some dialogue involved.

In Chapter 2, the tackle/struggle is over a page long and details what arm was used by which character to play with each other. It’s quite detailed about how they do what to each other.

So I look at the difference between the tackle/struggle in chapter 1 and the tackle/struggle in chapter 2 and I wonder if I should detail out the tackle in chapter 1 and how much more detail I should do. I get that it’s partly just a question of choice.

[Desiderius Price]

20 hours ago, Deadman said:

The draft is already done. The problem is the draft was done in a different headspace.

My potter fanfic… yeah, chapters 1-5 of the previous edition, are now at least chapters 1-174 (haven’t quite finished where the old chapter-5 ended).

[BronxWench]

31 minutes ago, Deadman said:

I appreciate it, although maybe I should be a little more clear. I just did a review of the first chapter a few days ago and added some stuff to it. But here’s where it becomes an issue.

Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 both have a scene where one character tackles another. In chapter 1 it’s more antagonistic, whereas in chapter 2 it’s more playful and fun.

However, in Chapter 1, the tackle/struggle is less than a quarter of a page long and the description of basically amounts to “Buffy tackles Harmony and they struggle. The struggle is broken up by Spike.” with some dialogue involved.

In Chapter 2, the tackle/struggle is over a page long and details what arm was used by which character to play with each other. It’s quite detailed about how they do what to each other.

So I look at the difference between the tackle/struggle in chapter 1 and the tackle/struggle in chapter 2 and I wonder if I should detail out the tackle in chapter 1 and how much more detail I should do. I get that it’s partly just a question of choice.

Given that the tackles in both chapters are done with different motivation/intent, you don’t necessarily need to make Chapter 1 more detailed to match Chapter 2. That’s my opinion, anyway. But if you want to add a bit more detail to indicate the mood, that might help set the stage for the next chapter by making the differences in the tackles clearer.

[Thundercloud]

If the first chapter does not match the rest of the story it might be a real challenge to fill in the blanks. Writing is writing no matter what you work on, but motivation matters a lot so if you don’t feel inspired by redoing chapter 1 it might be better to work on future chapters.

Perhaps you can write a new beginning that jumps directly into chapter 2. The ideas in the bullet points can be used for flash backs that you use in later chapters to explain what happened before your current chapter 2?

[Deadman]

33 minutes ago, BronxWench said:

Given that the tackles in both chapters are done with different motivation/intent, you don’t necessarily need to make Chapter 1 more detailed to match Chapter 2. That’s my opinion, anyway. But if you want to add a bit more detail to indicate the mood, that might help set the stage for the next chapter by making the differences in the tackles clearer.

Yeah, maybe that would be a better way to go about it. I do think there is some rather obvious reasons why it happens in Chapter 1. I probably want to add a few more sentences to Chapter 1’s tackle scene. It’s not the only point where this comes up but it is the most obvious way in which it could be a glaring difference. Give a few details on the circumstances but not do a whole page on what happens.

[Deadman]

2 hours ago, Thundercloud said:

If the first chapter does not match the rest of the story it might be a real challenge to fill in the blanks. Writing is writing no matter what you work on, but motivation matters a lot so if you don’t feel inspired by redoing chapter 1 it might be better to work on future chapters.

Perhaps you can write a new beginning that jumps directly into chapter 2. The ideas in the bullet points can be used for flash backs that you use in later chapters to explain what happened before your current chapter 2?

I definitely don’t think it would make sense to do that. What happens in Chapter 2 doesn’t make as much sense without Chapter 1. In fact, the end of Chapter 1 sets up Chapter 2 and the next ones. It’s just a question of how to fix my lack of work on the early part of Chapter 1.

Edited March 10, 2023 by Deadman