Thanks to http://cocoafly.com.
Pitch black dominates the room. Five thirty in the morning. You have one more chapter to write.
“I thought you were getting back into your schedule,” someone says.
In a teenager’s groan of just ten more minutes, you roll over. The early mornings and the last chapter of your manuscript present a challenge whether you’re nervous about editing, or you believe you are saying goodbye.
Excitement races when we write the first chapter or the first scene of our stories. We are ready to escape with our characters. What about when you reach the end?
Remember when you began writing. Maybe you were in the third grade like me, or perhaps you began more recently. You imagined you’d write an ending to your manuscript, but you did not think it would come so soon.
Earlier this year, I met author, Joshilyn Jackson. As I wrote in a previous post, Jackson says, “Each book is like a boyfriend or girlfriend. When you are finished, you break up with them.” The break is clean and you feel good about the work you’ve done.
I find myself dragging my feet. Right now, I am writing two endings for different projects. Do you find yourself dragging your feet?
It is natural to feel scared or nervous when you approach the next stage of anything. The fun has not ended. Think of editing as getting to know your characters, plot, and words again. You dig deeper.
You research the best ways to edit.
If the prospect of editing is not the problem, maybe you do not want to say goodbye.
A great manuscript will go a long way if you put the faith, work and research into it. Seminsonic’s song lyric says, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”
What is the beginning at your book’s ending?
By Rebecca T. Dickinson
Tagged: before editing, best ways to approach last chapter, fear of last chapter, how to write last chapter, last chapter thoughts, writing the last chapter
I am absolutely rubbish at endings lol
Good luck honey xx
I can handle them, but I become a college student again who has an entire 25 page paper due the next day and I’ve only written four pages.
Thank you, Vikki. I’ll be catching on reading blogs this weekend! You’ll see me back!
I put off writing the epilog to my novel for weeks. When I finally did, I sobbed for 20 minutes. I understand what you are saying and feeling.
It is tough, and I know other writers go through it. You know a thought occurs to you, and you think, “I’m not the only one who’s been through this.” Thanks, Robin!
When I was younger I was into screenwriting and wrote two or three things (which upon revisiting now, I may use some of them as novel / stories, with a bit more work). Anyway, one of them I liked a lot, and had a (to me) really well written ending. In fact I used to read it from time to time, because it always represented something emotional to me. It was not an ending or divorce, or breakup, but some friend I could revisit from time to time.
Some others, are like meeting people on a trip. You can remember, but only after looking at the pictures