Kanood

Lately I've been getting all these great ideas to write stories about, but I

can't finish them. Creativity will flow until I have to wrap the story up, and I

suffer from indecision or I just get stuck. It gets worse the longer or more

complex my story is, too. Why does this happen?

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Kanood

Dookie

Some say that a writer gets attached to their characters. That thats what makes them seem real, in a good book anyway. You're just going to have to force your self to finish the story. Johnny Depp recently said in an interview that he hates filming the last scenes of a film because he knows its the last time he'll play that character. A perfect example of what may be happening to you. You may not think you'll ever write about them again.

Syren

I think it's because we're involved in a labor of love, and it's never easy to say goodbye.

My best advice is to make sure you start the story off with a clean outline. It always helps me to connect the dots and complete the work if I have a solid outline to go by... also, if there are areas where things are slowing up, where the inspiration is beginning to dry out... then skip ahead to a part you're interested in, write a few sentences, maybe a scene, and then try to come back and tie things together.

It may help you if you take the complex parts and break them down, simply as a study, or a guide. (Not for print)

By that I mean, you are stuck on the ending, there are six characters, and you are looking at them all and wondering what they are to do, for closure. Sometimes it helps me if I take each individual character/plotline and write for it seperately, away from the others. I do that for each one and then with those notes in mind, it is usually easier to tie them all off as a unit/together.

But yeah, I know what you mean... that's one of the many trials of being a writer I think... endings are never (or at least rarely) an easy thing to buckle down.

Hope this helps, good luck with yours Kanood.

//Sy

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Dookie

Maybe you should kill your characters for ultimate closure. I've just finished a story (editing it now) and 4 out of 6 characters die.

One, gets shot out of a window.
Three, have a chandelier fall on them.
A fourth, jumps out of a window and escapes.
The last is left confused.

It is a comedy.

Syren

- laughing -

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aspiring

Unfortunately that's the donkey work involved in writing. In my case, it's not at all because I don't want to say goodbye to the characters - it's simply that the further into the book you get, the harder it is to keep track of all the plotlines. Writing a book is a bit like climbing a mountain. You start off all enthusiastic, leaping from rock to rock, but the higher you get, the thinner the air and the more effort it takes.

Force yourself to get to the end. I promise you the sense of achievement is worth it.

Kanood

Thanks, everybody. It's already helping a lot. I appreciate it.

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Kanood

Banzai

Yeah, that's the kind of thing I'm gonna do, except only the main character survives. I've realised its kind of dangerous to be a character in my stories, especially the good characters. I usually do it to be a reflection of life; those who deserve to live die, and those who deserve to die live- life is unfair.

But, back to the original topic, I too find it very hard to finish stories. Perhaps it would be easier if I wrote short stories but i can never manage that. I have a problem!! Seriously, my original writing piece was 50 pages long (the genesis for my current story) and even that was just an extract.

So in conclusion, yes finishing stories is a real dilemma. The ideal solution would be to emotionally detach yopurself from your characters, but if they don't mean anything to you, then how can they mean anything to readers? A catch 22. But anyway, I'd say that if it means enough to you, and you put enough effort in, then eventually you should be able to finish it. That's the best I can offer; just keep trying.

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"Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you"
-"The Wasteland" by T.S. Elliot