Help! I don't know how to end my novel! - Writers Forum

Xenophile · 03-21-2008, 04:09 PM

I have about 75K words of a novel written. It's a third-person literary realism story with two point of view characters. Here is the plot so far in as small of a nutshell as I can manage:

Emily and Ian are both small-town Midwesterners in their mid-20s and each has a specific problem when they meet early in the novel. Emily has a case of thwarted creativity. She always wanted to be a singer/songwriter, but her family discouraged it. Although she's a writer, and good at lyrics, she's not much of a musician, having spent her life dabbling in guitar and singing but not focusing on it. She is also suffering from unresolved grief at the death of her dad when she was 12. The grief is part of her creative block.

Ian is an accomplished guitarist. However, he has trouble with lyric-writing and doesn't sing well. But that's a small problem compared to the heroin addiction he's been battling for three years, and the subsequent estrangement from his mom and stepdad. He manages to hold it together enough to work part time for his stepdad, but he's been living in his car and has sold all his stuff. When he and Emily meet, they bond over music and soon begin a relationship, with him hiding his condition from her. By the time she finds out, they're in love. Emily tells Ian that for them to be together, he has to get clean and stay clean.

While Ian is struggling with addiction, Emily is struggling with her creativity and family issues. Ian, though strung out, is still strong enough to be supportive to Emily's blossoming as a musician. However, the ongoing lack of support for her music from her mom is a challenge for Emily. There's a family secret involved. Her mom, apparently, had an affair with a musician before Emily was born.

Ian tries to get clean, going through withdrawal, relapsing, losing hope, and alienating his parents more and more, to the point where they give up on him. Emily does not give up on him. She knows eventually she will have to, if he can't get clean, but she sees that he wants to do so. He talks openly with her about his addiction and struggle. The fact that he can be honest with her helps him become honest with himself, and his love for her motivates him to try a last resort to give up heroin: he gets on methadone.

Things begin to turn around for Ian when he takes methadone. Slowly, he tapers off heroin and begins to feel more like himself. His parents are still angry with him, and unsympathetic. He feels like he has no one except Emily. Eventually he quits working for his stepdad because there is so much bad blood between them.

Ian and Emily begin to forge a healthier relationship as Ian puts his life back together. During this time, Emily finds out the guy her mom had the affair with is her dad's brother, an uncle she never knew she had. It turns out that Emily being a musician freaked her mom out because her mom was afraid the true nature of Emily's biological father would be discovered. Also, her mom loved the man, and it hurts her to be reminded of him because he ended up going crazy and is now living in subsidized housing on disability.

Emily insists on going to see her biological father, and she goes to meet him with her older brother. Ian's character kind of stagnates at this point -- it's like "and he lived happily ever after...because of methadone." As for Emily, I don't know what kind of epiphany her visit to her father brings. The scene where they meet is so weak! I ended up leaving it hanging. Then, I wrote an ending where Ian and Emily decide to leave town and move to where there is more of a music scene. Ian tries to say goodbye to his parents, but they refuse to forgive him for having been on heroin. The book ends with them driving off together, bittersweetly leaving his parents behind. I don't know if this is a good ending or not.

I really don't want this to be just another "musician on heroin ruins his life or dies" type novel. I want it to have, if not a fully happy ending, a realistically partly happy one. No Hollywood cliches or melodrama.

I'm open to any and all suggestions for creating a stronger ending, or for other plot points. Thanks in advance!

winkash · 03-21-2008, 05:31 PM

From my modest point of view (I'm not any close to be a consacrated writer), I think you need a twist in the story. I don't know whether you wanted to convey the idea of a vicious circle but according to your synopis, it is what it seems. On the other hand, there must be other people involved, such as friends, drug dealers, people from the music industry etc. that maybe you have already created.
I don't know where you could lead Emily's encounter with her biological father. Perhaps here you have the chance to introduce a twist.

Quote:

I really don't want this to be just another "musician on heroin ruins his life or dies" type novel. I want it to have, if not a fully happy ending, a realistically partly happy one. No Hollywood cliches or melodrama.

I don't know anything concerning these heavy addictions but, in case you didn't do it yet, I strongly recommend that you gather as much information as possible in order to give a realistic view of a heroin addict. Personally, I would give a detailed account of the withdrawal symptoms maybe in the form of a diary he secretely keeps and Emily eventually finds, and perhaps, at the end of the novel I would convey the idea that he didn't die but he had been virtually dead for a long time and here I would imply his view about his relationships, Emily included.
Happy editing!

littlegreenbob · 03-21-2008, 05:45 PM

Im going to add a different view which some (or many) may not agree with

I think you should have an idea where the story is going before you begin to write it. And the fact that you have gone 75,000 words in the story without knowing how it should end, for me, is worrying.

Many great authors claim they can freestyle writing, and prefer to do so, and the ending is even a suprise for them.

Although the characters grow during writing and present possibilities that even you may never have thought of, ultimately you need to control the story and have a fair idea how it is going to end.

Would you freestyle a joke? Would you freestyle a movie?

So why freestlye a book?

It might be challenging for the writer and authors may appreciate it. But I think most readers will prefer a well thought out novel.

You dont want to get 75,000 words into a story and realise you have nothing.

But thats my opinion.

Sam Winchester · 03-21-2008, 06:21 PM

I don't agree with you, Bob. I wrote over 90,000 words in a novel without knowing where it would end, and it worked out perfectly - in fact, it's my best novel.

Sam.

JohnnyBones · 03-21-2008, 06:35 PM

Maybe Ian breaks his hand or something which ultimately seperates him from the music, thus seperating him from the drugs--we all know how they go hand in hand, well maybe not ALL. It will be one tragic loss for him, that leads to a rediscovery of his love and dedication to Emily.

Maybe, Emily's visit with her father brings her closer to him, and he eventually succumbs to death, freeing her from her "creative block."

In the end, both characters endure ultimate losses, which in turn set them free.

winkash · 03-21-2008, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by littlegreenbob

Although the characters grow during writing and present possibilities that even you may never have thought of, ultimately you need to control the story and have a fair idea how it is going to end.

I agree, but maybe her/ his aim is to show the struggles of certain group of people, while there is a margin of possibilities to ending, like a passage in real life's time. Besides, I think that having an almost deifinitive idea of an ending is not as relevant as having a neat idea of what for you write it and what you want to convey to your readers. And this message we cannot get unless we read the whole thing.

On the other hand, he/she is sure he/she wants both a happy and realistic ending, so there is something solved here, since, for instance, one must discard Ian's death from the start. Otherwise, It would be much more difficult to concot a happy ending with a grieving Emily (who, on the other hand, has a harsh background in this sense), a grieving Ian's family, even more affected by the conflictive relationship between them and Ian, not to mention the terrible fact of a halted young musician's life.
He/ she also wants to avoid Hollywood cliches and melodrama, so it is ulikely that, for instance, a comedy of errors or a web of intrigue fit her/ his plot. Maybe he/should avail her/himself of secrets in case he/she is interested in adding a pinch of thrill. Just an idea, since, again, Xeno, we should read the novel to give you a more accurate opinion.

Xenophile · 03-21-2008, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by littlegreenbob

Im going to add a different view which some (or many) may not agree with

I think you should have an idea where the story is going before you begin to write it. And the fact that you have gone 75,000 words in the story without knowing how it should end, for me, is worrying.

Many great authors claim they can freestyle writing, and prefer to do so, and the ending is even a suprise for them.

Although the characters grow during writing and present possibilities that even you may never have thought of, ultimately you need to control the story and have a fair idea how it is going to end.

It's worrying for me too! However, I did have an idea of how the book would end: Ian would be off heroin, Emily would be more confident as a musician, and their relationship would be strong. The subplot about Emily's dad was one of those possibilities I had not thought of before. I guess what I'm asking is, how do I show the ending I had conceived of vaguely from the beginning in a concrete way that leaves the reader satisfied?

Xenophile · 03-21-2008, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by winkash

. Maybe he/should avail her/himself of secrets in case he/she is interested in adding a pinch of thrill. Just an idea, since, again, Xeno, we should read the novel to give you a more accurate opinion.

I plan to start posting the chapters, so I'll look forward to your critique.

Judith Tramayne · 03-31-2008, 04:31 PM

This is where the phrase "what if" works really way to get you thinking outside the box or to be more exact your planned ending.

What if Ian relaspes and dies of an overdose.

What if Ian gets hit by a truck and dies. Emily grows up and tells her mother to take a flying leap.

What if the affinity Ian and Emily have for each other comes out when she meets her Dad. He's actually her brother.

There are tons of possibilities if you use "What If" when you're stuck.

Judith

bryndavis · 04-05-2008, 09:07 AM

Perhaps go for an almost Shakespeareane ending (but then subvert it at the end.)

Maybe have Ian think Emily is going to leave with her biological father, and so suffers a drug relapse. Emily is somehow lead to believe that Ian has died, and therefore then does leave.

Then Emily's mother sorts out her act and works to bring them back together, and in the process demonstrates how important the two are to each other.

Whatever you decide, considering you've written 75K, will be fitting I'm sure. You know your characters better than anyone. You know, deep down, where they should be taken I'm sure.