# How Many Endings Do You Have?



## Apple Ice (Aug 31, 2014)

I was wondering how many endings you typically have for a story before you decide on the final one? I'm also assuming most of you know a rough ending before you start, too? 

I would say the average number of endings I have is about 3 before I finally commit. I never ever stick with the original ending for something, though, as they are pretty much ALWAYS terrible. Makes me cringe just thinking about some of them. I sometimes get stuck between choosing one of two which is happening right to me right now. So if any of you have any general advice on how to pick the best one I would be appreciative because at the moment it's pretty much a coin-toss.


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## Gavrushka (Aug 31, 2014)

I often think I know the ending as I approach it, but something unexpected happens, and it ends up as something I'd never predicted.

So I guess the answer is one... The one I don't tell myself until I write it, which means I get to be just as surprised as the next reader.


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## Terry D (Aug 31, 2014)

I might have a rough idea of an ending, but it never turns out the way I thought, so my answer would be, one.


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## aj47 (Aug 31, 2014)

Sometimes I know the ending, sometimes i find it.  Sometimes I recognize that there are several possibilities and I let the characters find the right one.  

There is no right number for how many possibilities are ... well ... possible.


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## tabasco5 (Aug 31, 2014)

I know the ending before I start. 

 And I can only think of one story I've ever written that I started without knowing the ending.


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## Plasticweld (Aug 31, 2014)

Only one, I craft everything around what the ending will be, like of like the punch line to a joke.  You can change all the stuff leading up to the punch line depending on who is listening or reading, the ending is the one on puts it all together


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## shadowwalker (Aug 31, 2014)

I only have one - whatever it is when I get there.


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## h'aulian scribe (Aug 31, 2014)

My family is convinced that I live in my head and visit the real world from time to time because of how I relate to my characters. Whether I have brought them to life through written word or if they are still in their infant stage in my head in my head, I often find myself having conversations with them (silently in my thoughts of course). I listen to how they talk and how they respond to the way things are happening in the story that I am creating for them and more often than not end up finding a whole new avenue for their story to take. I've recreated an entire world because my character did not respond well in the one he was in. I believe in infinite endings. There can always be another point of view or perspective if the character is not ready for things to be finished.


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## popsprocket (Aug 31, 2014)

One, nominally. Knowing the destination makes the path more concrete.

Of course, the end rarely plays out exactly as I envisioned, but it's close enough.


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## voltigeur (Aug 31, 2014)

h'aulian scribe said:


> I often find myself having conversations with them (silently in my thoughts of course). I listen to how they talk and how they respond to the way things are happening in the story.



That sounds like me when I have gerbil brain and can't sleep.:eagerness:

What is intersting for my current novel is the Epilog was one of the first things I wrote. I know where my characters are 10 to 15 years after the end of the story. I know who will die, I know who will carry the scares of the story with them, who comes out all right. I have some flexibility on story ending but for my characters to head in that direction my endings are pretty well defined.


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## bookmasta (Aug 31, 2014)

Myself, personally, one. Its always been one. No more. No less. But others, like Langston Hughs, are perfectionists. There's one book in particular he wrote the ending to thirty-one times before he was satisfied with it.


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## Lost Chord (Aug 31, 2014)

I would love to tell you it's, flat out, one ending for me. It usually is when I'm in the process of writing, but I had this one ending that I simply loved and it was brief and powerful. But right before I came to it I saw had a 'what if it ended here' thought during one section so I've a bit of a dilemma now.

But generally one. I find I can bring the story itself into focus if I give the greatest consideration to the beginning and the end.


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## InstituteMan (Aug 31, 2014)

I usually have the ending come to me and then have to figure out how to get there. That isn't how it always is with me, but most of the time, like Plasticweld said, the ending is what drives everything else for me.


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## Poet of Gore (Aug 31, 2014)

one.

everyone dies


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## Sc0pe (Sep 1, 2014)

I tend to want to wright to reach the ending i have in mine. What happens in the end as changed but now i think it's in a plane im happy with and now i just need to get there.


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## Apple Ice (Sep 1, 2014)

I am genuinely quite surprised. I was sure you would all have wildly varying numbers. One seems to be the consensus, though. Maybe it just means I'm indecisive or something. Thanks for the replies, people


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## InstituteMan (Sep 1, 2014)

Apple Ice said:


> I am genuinely quite surprised. I was sure you would all have wildly varying numbers. One seems to be the consensus, though. Maybe it just means I'm indecisive or something. Thanks for the replies, people



I don't think you are indecisive, so much as working from the opposite end as me. For one WIP, I have written the ending only once, but I have rewritten the beginning about 5 times.


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## popsprocket (Sep 1, 2014)

Apple Ice said:


> I am genuinely quite surprised. I was sure you would all have wildly varying numbers. One seems to be the consensus, though. Maybe it just means I'm indecisive or something. Thanks for the replies, people



It probably doesn't make you indecisive so much as it's just how your story building process works.

One of the main reasons I nominally only have one ending in mind is because my ideas often come from an ending idea. The endings are the best bits, so working backward from there is just what's easiest for me.


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## Sam (Sep 2, 2014)

Always one. 

Sometimes I get an idea for the ending halfway through, but by the time I get to the denouement of the story, it has metamorphosed into something else. I always write the ending the story asks for.


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## Apple Ice (Sep 2, 2014)

Funny you should say that popsrocket because when the ending is the first think I think of I 99% stick with that ending, but when I start with a premise then the ending changes all the time. So, I'm probably the same but just work the other way round most of the time. 

Beginnings are easiest for me funnily enough, Institute Man.

Well hopefully I will end up writing the ending the story asks for too. it's not even a massive difference, it's just a case of which of the two main character's commit the act. Changing just that slight detail makes it so much different and if I choose the unexpected one, shocking. So I think I may do that


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## Bloggsworth (Sep 2, 2014)

Just the one, and I haven't got there yet...


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## Morkonan (Sep 2, 2014)

Apple Ice said:


> ...So if any of you have any general advice on how to pick the best one I would be appreciative because at the moment it's pretty much a coin-toss.



I start out with picking the best one. Then, if another best one comes along, I pick that one, instead....

Usually, I already know where I am going, so I have an "Ending" in my sights. But, if a better one makes itself known, then I'll always write towards that one. 


Now, as far as picking "The Best One", pick the "Blockbuster Ending." Imagine yourself watching the best Summer Blockbuster Movie Release in the past fifty years. What happens at the end of that? OK, then pick that ending. What about the most wonderful book you've ever read? What happens at the end? Pick that one.

And ending should bring into light most, if not all, of the conflicts in your story and resolve them. It should also give the characters in the story some sort of internal resolution as well. No need to murk up the waters by having a great plot ending, but with a bunch of empathetic characters left in dire emotional straights, is there? You don't have to resolve everything, but resolve those things that bring the most satisfaction to the Reader's experience. Don't leave that happy, plucky, lovable character hanging in limbo because you're too lazy to figure out a satisfactory curve for that character that the Reader will enjoy.

Does your story have a theme? Review your story, if not. Likely, there's some sort of "theme" there. "Redemption" is a common one. One of your characters will often be under the doom of some sort of Redemption story. Somewhere in the book, they'll have to redeem themselves or help someone else to be redeemed. There are all sorts of other types of general themes, though. So, look over your story and if you find a theme, make sure you revisit that theme in your ending, or denouement, and "solve for it." Like any equation, you solve for the theme by reintroducing it and completing it, such as a character experiencing redemption at the end or by emphasizing it, by the character re-experiencing redemption, once again. If your theme is family, let the character find a new family to belong too after losing theirs or return to their own family after their adventure. If it's injustice, demonstrate "justice" or re-visit injustice by demonstrating a quick and petty injustice in your ending. Whatever it is, if you have a theme in your story, make sure it's present, somewhere, in your ending.

Write to the Ending...

I "Write to the Ending", I mean that it's often, for me, most helpful to visualize what I would think a Blockbuster Ending for my story would read like. What would I, as a Reader/Writer, wish to experience as far as an "Ending" in this sort of story? Is it a big battle scene? OK, if so, what components of that would I want to be most concerned with? Where's the "Drama?" What sorts of themes play well into that sort of ending? When reading that sort of ending, what sort of viewpoints would I like to see? Do I want the final battle to be told from multiple points of view? How much investment, as a Reader, would I want with each of those characters telling their point of view? How can I make those different experiences of the same battle "different" in regards to the experience that the Reader has from each of them? And, once I figure all this junk out about my "Ending", it's time to fill in the cracks of the story with the bits and pieces that are necessary for me to craft that ending. I may, for instance, have to invent a new character and have reasons for them to tag along, just so they can be in that Blockbuster Ending so they can give a particular experience to the Reader at the right time.  In fact, I did just that in a story I'm working on. It has a blockbuster ending scene, but it needed a special sort of character so I could relate a particular sort of experience and use that to carry on the story in the next book. That character wasn't originally in the story, but if I wanted the full effect of what I imagined for the ending, I had to invent that character and put together a meaningful existence for them in the story. So far, it's working out fine and I didn't have to do a lot of rewriting, thanks to having already imagined the need for something like that.


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## Apple Ice (Sep 3, 2014)

A well-thought out and very helpful post as always Morkonan. Thank you, you have helped me a lot there and given me plenty to consider


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## farahnaazz (Sep 3, 2014)

ending should be one and a happy one


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## Kyle R (Sep 3, 2014)

I like to begin my stories with a character moving through their days afflicted by some incorrect mindset, belief, or lifestyle that has prevented them from fulfilling their true potential.

So, my endings act as a reversal of the opening conditions—showing the character has resolved the conflict and has now become a self-actualized individual as a result. The character arc fulfilled. 

Example:

Lonely nobody Peter Parker (opening) -----> confident hero with MaryJane at his side (closing). :encouragement:


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## Sc0pe (Sep 3, 2014)

farahnaazz said:


> ending should be one and a happy one



Well... An ending should be one where the reader can put the book down feeling that they have reached the conclusion of these sets of charters story. But I wont agree on an ending being all around happy. en ending can just simply be that they are better off or life goes on, sure those can be happy ones too but not by default.

Maybe we are both on the same page here and it's just me since when I read "should be a happy one" I'm imagining them cheesy kiddy ending where things are oh so perfect and the narrator says. "And they lived happily ever after." I find them kind of ending to be plastic and a cop out. For a kids story sure it's good but I cant really see a picture perfect ending making very good story for me.

now again I do agree on a story that needs an ending that leaves a sense of stratification to seeing it though to it's end but that dose not need a picture perfect ending filled with sunshine and rainbows. And ending can be anything from a less happy but satisfying one like the main character had to lose his life to save his people, the world ect...

It can be though provoking, bitter sweet, sad, maybe even open ended enough to show that the hero is still traveling the world very much the same why he did on his adventure to find more truths, stay his sword hand or what ever. The ending can be anything so long as it raps up what took place in the evens that led to it leaving a feel of satisfaction with the reader. Ending can damn well suck too and fail at... well ending in that fashion but i thing that is what all writers aim for and this comes down to bad writing on there behalf.

I personally like my ending not too sweet but overall positive outlook on the evenrs that lead to it.


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## count58 (Sep 3, 2014)

There has to be only one ending.
Let your story flow as if it were running towards the finish line.
Be it good or bad ... the story has to end.
but make it something appealing so it perks up more interest.
People like to read good stories.:eagerness:


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## Threak 17 (Sep 5, 2014)

I always seem to come up with my endings first, the journey on how I arrive there, well, that's where the fun is, at least for me.


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## gokedik (Sep 5, 2014)

I don't know the next page, paragraph or word until my fingers hit the keys. I've, literally, wept as I wrote the ending to a story, not seeing it coming, at all. I just sit down, do a breathing exercise and start. Writing, by the seat of my pants, I tell my friends. I think it starts with an emotion deep inside me that manifests as story. Grateful, Thankful, Happy and Thrilled to have the ability.


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## kyl (Sep 5, 2014)

My WIP only has one ending alone. Is it happy? It depends of how you see it. Is it depressing? No, not depressing. Nostalgic perhaps, well atleast for me. Funny thing is, I already knew how my story was going to end before and started writing it. I find writing much easier that way.


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## gokedik (Sep 5, 2014)

kyl said:


> My WIP only has one ending alone. Is it happy? It depends of how you see it. Is it depressing? No, not depressing. Nostalgic perhaps, well atleast for me. Funny thing is, I already knew how my story was going to end before and started writing it. I find writing much easier that way.


I'm sure your WIP is beautiful, we all have our own ways. I just get too invested in the moment to think of the end of anything. Writing styles are subjective, I've taken classes but found that what they did was dissect talent so others could replicate it. Making signposts and outlines and that's not truly inspired writing. I highly respect inspiration and am always here if she wants to play. ALL of my time is hers if she will bless me with her presence. I'm only as good as she makes me. May you find your unique style, not that you haven't already, and may it reach whom you intend it for. If your writing does nothing for you, it will react with your reader the same. Best wishes. I feel like I might have said a little too much, but I'm in good company, right?...MK


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## T.S.Bowman (Sep 6, 2014)

I really have only one ending in mind for my novel. 

However, as has been made clear to me many times, my characters don't always do what I have in mind.


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## T.S.Bowman (Sep 6, 2014)

gokedik said:


> I don't know the next page, paragraph or word until my fingers hit the keys. I've, literally, wept as I wrote the ending to a story, not seeing it coming, at all. I just sit down, do a breathing exercise and start. Writing, by the seat of my pants, I tell my friends. I think it starts with an emotion deep inside me that manifests as story. Grateful, Thankful, Happy and Thrilled to have the ability.



You should join the Pantsers United group.


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## gokedik (Sep 6, 2014)

T.S.Bowman said:


> I really have only one ending in mind for my novel.
> 
> However, as has been made clear to me many times, my characters don't always do what I have in mind.


Now, there's an example of truly inspired writing, when your characters  begin to direct you and develop lives that make you feel that you are not writing, so much as, looking in. Congrats T.S. cannot wait to see what your characters have decided to do...MK


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## gokedik (Sep 6, 2014)

T.S.Bowman said:


> You should join the Pantsers United group.


 After looking at Goodreads.com for a definition, I agree. To be honest, I think you must have a working relationship with the "Muse" whom I've made female because I do not like taking orders from another man. The Muse responds someday's and not others. When we got in deep with each other when she responded to a flippant comment I made to God while talking with my therapist. I was begging for a good year, giving up, saying, "I'll even take a good month." She coerced me to write for three straight days, setting it off, giving me my first short story. (The one that made me cry over the ending, AS I was writing it).Then I was pumping them out, one every few days, for the entire month. This has been my way ever since. No format, just making yourself available to the creative force in the universe (and there's plenty to go around) and not letting an idea pass by even when nearly asleep. This is the one stipulation I've given her, I will ALWAYS respond unless physically unable to, at which time I will repeat the idea over and over hoping to remember until I get behind a keyboard, but usually fail. Oh, well, I just chalk it up to a better idea next time. Thanks T.S. for your apt comment and, way to pay attention!


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## T.S.Bowman (Sep 6, 2014)

I started the Pantsers group here for people like us. 

I have tried plotting and outlining and stuff like that but it rarely, if ever, really works for me. 

I truly enjoy the feeling of having my characters just go about their way and allowing me to chronicle their adventures.


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## gokedik (Sep 6, 2014)

T.S.Bowman said:


> I started the Pantsers group here for people like us.
> 
> I have tried plotting and outlining and stuff like that but it rarely, if ever, really works for me.
> 
> I truly enjoy the feeling of having my characters just go about their way and allowing me to chronicle their adventures.


 So, you must know that feeling of words running through your body, the flow, the Muse and genuinely inspired writing. A Pantster I am...MK.


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## bazz cargo (Sep 6, 2014)

Back on track: Even before I am within sight of the light at the end of the tunnel I can see hints of a sequel, yep there is no end, just a pause before the story continues...


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## T.S.Bowman (Sep 6, 2014)

bazz cargo said:


> Back on track: Even before I am within sight of the light at the end of the tunnel I can see hints of a sequel, yep there is no end, just a pause before the story continues...



I have just recently had that happen. I was watching tv or something and a phrase I heard, just on the edge of my attention, actually caused an idea for a second Side Worlds novel to come up. There isn't a whole lot to it at the moment, but the seed is there.


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## Apple Ice (Sep 7, 2014)

Whenever I have character's I love I've always got the sequel on the ready. I always know how the character is going to ultimately end, roughly. Very upsetting business, knowing you can't write that character again


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## Sc0pe (Sep 7, 2014)

I have had the ending in sight from the start since it was the ending that draws me forward to wright out how they get there. But have any of you ever sat there and found out that this ending is far further ahead than you first predicted?

What i imagined would take one book turned into six when the path between the ending and where i was settled.


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