Writing endings

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Writing endings

Postby Lamebrain » Tue Feb 14, 2017 10:11 pm

I always have trouble writing endings to stories. I usually start out really strong and get really excited to write the transformation but then just hastily end a story.

How do people normally write endings? Do you like bleak endings or do you prefer more optimistic ones?
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Postby Tetora » Wed Feb 15, 2017 8:46 am

Last edited by Tetora on Fri Jul 26, 2019 2:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Writing endings

Postby Matt L. » Wed Feb 15, 2017 1:08 pm

Greetings,
I have majority of the story written in my mind before I commit myself to the keyboard, thus I know very well the conclusion. I would say for darker stories the ending should be an uncomfortable payoff for the character, lighter stories the optimistic route would be natural.

Cheers, Matt
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Re: Writing endings

Postby Lamebrain » Wed Feb 15, 2017 1:11 pm

Matt L. wrote:Greetings,
I have majority of the story written in my mind before I commit myself to the keyboard, thus I know very well the conclusion. I would say for darker stories the ending should be an uncomfortable payoff for the character, lighter stories the optimistic route would be natural.

Cheers, Matt

It's not so much that I don't know where to take the story. It's more so that I feel like I rush the story or lose motivation towards the end.
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Re: Writing endings

Postby DrZaaijer » Sat Feb 18, 2017 1:16 pm

The ending of a transformation story is the steady state after 'all' the ramifications of the transformation has happened. This is what I mean, in the beginning, everyone is in a steady state of normal life. You introduce the characters, and the location. Then the transformation happens, fast or slow and things are in a turmult. Now people adjust to the change and the story moves on. The ending is that place where there is a new normal and everyone has adjusted to whatever has happened. This is your ending. It should logically flow from what has happened and it should flow from the characters motivations and the societal conditions given the phenomenom.

But if you are writing a story that is devoted to the transformation and not the ramifications of the transformation on the character and everyone else, then you have a problem. You aren't writing a story to begin with you are writing a story fragment where you are just trying to describe the transformation and thus you don't have an ending because once the transformation happens that is the end of your tale for you and now you have to slap on an ending and it seems rushed (b/c it is).

Simple case, man becomes a woman. It you concentrate on the physical aspects of how it happens when once the man is a woman the story is over and you have no end. That is the story fragment. But if story is about how the change effects him in the universe, the ending is when everyone (in your universe) has adjusted to the change and that is a real ending to a story Not that there can't be an epilogue or more adventures later. But once he is in some sort of sustainable condition (dead after suicide is a sustainable condition if you like, but so is happily ever after or stuck as a maid, whatever) that is where you can end your story.

In general, I don't start my story until I have some sort of ending in mind. This isn't always the case. In my last story, I didn't know how it would end until I wrote it. But I pretty much always knew that it had to have one of two endings, 1) Jay wins the final bet and goes home feeling very lucky. 2) Jay had to stop because the risk of losing was too great to continue. Both endings were completely rational and thus easy to finish. Then I looked years down the road and thought what must have happened to the characters and there you have an epilogue.

As far as bgleak endings. These transformation stories are sex stories. When it's a sex story its hard to slap on a 'happy' ending. A man that becomes a bimbo, the usual story of this type, is it a happy ending for her to have as much sex as she wants? No it's not, but when you think about it, yeah that is a happy ending. You just don't consider it as one since either the victim is resisting or doesn't know he was changed in the end. Regardless don't worry about making it a happy ending.
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Re: Writing endings

Postby brucejedi » Wed Mar 08, 2017 9:34 am

I'd like to echo itsme's comments and also emphasize the idea of struggle. Even if it's a mental torment that doesn't lead to actual physical resistance, the original personality dealing with the change is what makes a story memorable (at least for me). It's what makes the plot relatable and more than just a series of physical transformations. If you find yourself losing interest after the transformation itself, maybe ask, how would former-person-A react to this new reality? How would others react? To me, that is as interesting as the change itself and a motivation to keep writing. (Although, as the author of several never-finished stories myself, maybe you shouldn't be taking my advice!)
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Re: Writing endings

Postby AndyEngines » Sat Mar 11, 2017 6:43 pm

I don't consider myself a good writer, I feel that is an important point that may help you understand what I do. I have a plot line in my head and I diarize the major, key points making up days and dates, starting with day 1 and obviously leading to the end. This can be done for short plots in hourly segments, and these give me the guideline to build on. I can change these as the story evolves but I will project the change down the timeline to the end to ensure the end works. In some cases I have wandered way off track but the timeline has anchored me back to the plot. I do this because I need the discipline of the timeline to stop the story running off the rails and also it allows me to keep a track of time which adds to realism and the strength of the ending, after all the ending is only the cumulation of the story and so it must logically work. Another thing I do on transformation stories and find it a must with the type of stories I write, is to compress time, i.e. tattoos heal that bit faster, no one wants to read of healing tattoos, its about the tattoo in most cases. All these build and add to the ending, an ending is useless if it doesn't have a story logically taking us to it and a story without its ending is frustrating to all.
I hope this makes some sense.
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Re: Writing endings

Postby Aemor » Sun Aug 06, 2017 2:24 pm

If it's a shorter, more kink driven story you shouldn't necessarily feel obliged to create a conventional ending.

For a longer, character driven story, I find what works best for me is to identify the emotional arc of the main character. Ideally, the plot should wrap up and resolve at the same place where their emotional arc ends. Endings we define as "poorly written" tend to be a result of the plot continuing after all of the character arcs have concluded; they tend to be a result of overwriting rather than underwriting.

Personally I prefer bittersweet endings. Endings that are too upbeat feel like power fantasies and dark endings lose their charm after awhile.
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