Whenever I write a novel, I struggle with the end, should I make it open? Should the good win or the bad win? Sometime I don't even have an ending, what should I do?
07.06.2025 03:45
People usually walk away from Poe because they get more sophisticated in expectations. Poe , like all ficion is just like a non ficition essay. It is a thesis followed by supporting evidence that go into a conlcusion. Just like an essay you start with your thesis and conclusion done, then work out the big steps to get from the thesis to the conclusion, then you go in and put the small steps.
What everyone does is read Poe as the fist introduction to Literature, what no one explicitely tells you is why. You read Poe because that is how you write fiction, its how fiction is written and its how to understand what fiction is.
Think of it, (as we introduce a new analogy) a trip. You do not get in the car and drive, or just go the airport and look for an airplane you can get on. You pick a desitnation, in this case you already have your starting point, its where you are, then you put a dot on a map where you are and where yo uwant to go and figure out how to get there by going through a series of questions
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It is because you are writing backwards, every wonder how can Mystery writers build a mystery, You start with the solution and work backwards, same with any story you start with the end.
The actual plot of it is straight forward a guy from a small town knows the story behind a rich lady hitting a poor person with a car. The rest of the story tells you who this guy is, how he came to know about the accident, and what was happening behind the event.
NOW LET ME GIVE YOU THE BEST HACK (PUN INTENDED) Take something and just change the names and places. Like the ironically point out in West Wing “good writers borrow, great writers right out steal” Do not worry once you start to change the details , you will have to change the characters for them to fit. It is the same logic as there are only seven plots in the universe and they are all in the Bible /Shakespeare.
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So in a mystery you take the end, you then have to introduce x and y and the dog. Give people a reason to care about x and y and the dog. Then you need to have some one who has a reason to care who owns the dog and a reason to care about that person. You have a mystery.
Mystery is done the same way, you start with the solution. X killd Y for ownership of the Dog. It is a shame Perry Mason is still not on the air. That show did it great, the entire “mystery” was presented basically in the opening scene, then about 20 minutes of all the stuff that does not matter followed by Perry pointing out it was all because the rude hot girl hit the farmer’s dog with a car.
Writing, like any art, like any science has techniques to it, the talent is not in learning the techniques , the artistry is in combining those techniques into a way that captivates the audience for as long as you have their attention ( I stole that from West Wing too)
Want a none mystery same formula.
Probably not starting with the ending like you should. This does not mean the ending you start with, will be the ending you actually end with. But you have to know where you are going to plot a trip.
Am I driving , if not , why not? How am I getting there? how much will it cost? how much does that leave me for a hotel? What am I going to do once I am there?
Read Poe or a book on essay writing. All fiction is , is an essay where you control all the facts. All you need is a thesis and an end. The rest is just like mapping a road trip, all the places you might want to stop and do something, Going Nebraska to LA, this takes us past a big ball of yarn, lets stop there eat and have a gander. We will spend the night in Alberque because need to sleep. etc. All a story is taking the audience from point A to point B. But you have to know what Point B is first.
So you are going to write a story, So the first thing is to decide a thesis and how it ends, in some conclusion that proves your thesis. Whether you make it explicite like Poe or bury it . It does matter. Keep in mind even The Great Gatsby follows this formula. What hides it is Firzgerald is writing a couple thesis at the same time. Life is better on the island, Rich people are assholes, Rich people do whatever they want. No one is happy.
It is no different then saying “Hey I like Star Wars, just if I wrote this and this and this instead” If that all still seems cringy then just take a story from the newspaper and imagine the details about the people involved. That is more or less where Fitzgerald got the Great Gatsby. A traffic accident and his “friends” comments upon it.
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It is why I love Glass Onion, it tells you at the very beginning the entire mystery. I was so happy to find out I was write, and it is why I truly enjoy the satire it is.