Is the story's ending the most difficult part of writing?

[rohit53]

Hey y'all,

So I'm currently working on a graphic novel about my experience in Venezuela. I know how the story is going to play out, I know who's going to live and die and so forth. Essentially, I have the outline of the story. But then it hit me while I was writing this...how am I going to end the story?

And then a thought came into my head of Ernest Hemingway. How he rewrote A Farewell to Arms' ending 37 freaking times! (By the way, if you haven't read this book, I do recommend it. It's really good) But returning to the topic, does anybody else have trouble with their endings as well? I would love to hear your thoughts and inputs.

[Casey Kowalewsky]

I think I've rewritten the ending to one of my stories at least that many times, or at least close to it. I find I change the ending over and over as my story evolves. I won't know how it's really going to end until it does.

[arthurnottheking]

I often rewrite the endings. But not in short stories.

[KS Crooks]

For me its deciding what gets the characters started on their journey is hardest. I typically know the main theme of the story, what the end result is going to be and what takes place afterwards. What becomes the emphasis for the characters to take action is what I change most often.

[Black Jewel]

For me, when I start a project, I already have the beginning and the ending in mind. It's easy for me to write them. It's the middle that I have a difficult time working my way through in order to connect that beginning to my ending.

[zayyyna]

when i write something ,a good beginning is what we all need to make a good impression and the start is when everybody read and want to read more so start should be good so for me writing a start is more difficult .

[usef nahg]

sometimes, in my most recent story i gave it two endings cause i couldnt decide.

sometimes the ending is the idea that you have and so it becomes harder to write the start and middle

[Kammeuchechukwu Mark Okereke]

It's not always the same. On some days, I struggle to find the perfect opening scene; How do I start, what perspective do I write from, do I start the story from the beginning, middle, or ending of the chronology. On some other days the problem is the middle; what catalyzes our protagonist to make the change that moves him from point A to point B, what do I do with the fillers, how do I gauge the flow of time, etc. but on more days than not, it is the endings that keep me still writing a book I scheduled tp finish in a week, 5 weeks after it is due. There are just so many factors to consider especially if you really connected with the book.

[SamanthaGarcia]

I think that an ending is supposed to change as the story changes. You can have an idea of it but all the scenes, the acts, the chapters, the things that are leading up to the finale, will take it somewhere different than you imagined. I have decided to let the ending go somewhat and construct an idea of what I am aiming to achieve. My goal now is to work towards it and do changes along the way to make sure it ends that way. If you think about it, it's one way to guarantee a happy ending, a sad ending, or any type of emotional ending because you have an idea of what you want the characters to feel or to end up feeling. The goal is now to see how to pave the road to take you where you know you want to go.

[Etini Willie]

I think ending a story is the major part of any fictional story telling. You have to end the story in a way that it isn't so superficial and that's hard to create.

[Nedim]

To start a story can be quite easy at times. But most times, how do we end it? Your story must end in such a way that the readers find enthralling else, the book will be a total waste of time. Hence, the end of a story is as very vital part of it.

[Nedim]

On a certain day, I was seeing a movie on Netflix. It was a series movie. The beginning was quite interesting to me, but towards the end one of my favorite characters got killed. I was immediately put off by that and asked myself why that happened. I stopped watching the movie at that time, as I was upset. I told you this story because when writing a book, it's very important to strategize how the book's ending would be. Would it be something that would get the readers upset and not want to read it again? Hence, you must pay close attention on how to conclude your book.

[Brittany Tatman]

Endings are a breeze compared to the beginning for me, so I wouldn't say they're the most difficult, but their tendency to change shape makes for a fluid story altogether. Most often, though, the ending is the most steadfast part of my draft, and conforming the rest of the book around it makes for quite the challenge.

[kipper_]

Definitely not. I've found that the hardest part to construct well is the meat between the bread slices. You can have a great concept in mind but poor execution, in which you'll end up with an interesting premise but lousy read. Consider that the majority of the time you spend reading a book occurs in the middle, not the beginning or end.

The ending is usually more memorable and significant to the overall message of the book, but it's not the most difficult.

[I Like Fiction Books]

The ending and beginning of a story is the hardest. Typically, I know where I want the story to go and the outcome, but I don’t know what events will work best with the organization and cause/effect relationships.