Writing the ending of a story first is something that I do on a very regular basis. I think it stems partially from the fact that getting to an unknown ending is what I love about books. Sometimes the perfect ending is the predictable one, sometimes it’s better with a twist, sometimes even with a twist and a cherry. But the not knowing until you actually get there what it is going to be, is what I love. Which is why I abhor the people who read the ending of a book first to see if they actually want to read the book. If you’re one of those people, don’t eeeven try to defend yourself to me. I’ve heard every argument out there and I will never agree with it. It destroys all the hard work that the writers put in to get to that ending. It is my ultimate pet peeve.
So for me, dreaming up what I would love to get to at the end of a book, is the best feeling in the world. I have lists of crazy, twisted, unexpected and even simple endings that I would love to be able to write the stories to. Of course it makes it complicated because then before you even know who the characters really are you have to set them down a certain path to arrive there. Figuring out the plot that will get you to that ending is not always easy. Believe me.
Now something I have always wanted to do is write a tragedy. Simply because it goes against everything that I am. I like reading happy endings, getting to and thinking, whew, that’s good. I’m glad it turned out that way. But I have always acknowledged the potency of a tragedy.
Any way my dilemma is thus; I am working on a story, the ending to which I wrote quite some time ago, and I’ve been working very hard to get to this ending that I wanted very much. I’m about 1/4 the way through the story, which is quite good progress for me, and suddenly today, I have written another ending for it. A sad tragic ending that I never thought I could actually create.
I want this story to end the way I had originally planned, but part of me wants to put in the alternate ending just to prove that I can.
It’s a real humdinger.Of course I probably won’t decide until the day I finish the rest of it…
What to do… what to do…