Begin with the End (cont.)

Really? But doesn’t the ending just come to you in a flash of inspiration as you are writing? Maybe. Maybe not. And if it doesn’t, what are you going to have in front of you for all your writing? A problem without a solution. In other words, a situation . . . and, once more, a situation is not a story.

I have heard some writers say, “If I knew the ending, I would never write the story. I write the story to find out how it will end.” And such a loose process may work for some writers. But when one of my writing students tells me that she is writing a story in order to discover the ending, I feel cautious. I may even feel a bit skeptical. Simply writing and writing and writing in order to find out what is in your head may be one way to go, but it strikes me as a journey fraught with peril. The chances of discovering that what you have in front of you isn’t a story at all are high. It’s a risk you may not want to take.

The solution doesn’t have to be neat. It certainly doesn’t need to be—and probably shouldn’t be—obvious. The best endings, in fact, are both inevitable and a complete surprise.

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