When to end a story series.

[Azshade]

Hi guys, pretty new to the site so hopefully this is the right area for a question.

I'm writing a story series (first 3 chapters online, 4th pending submission atm, and 2 more written offline). The problem I'm having is knowing how/when to 'finish' the characters and story line. I can't think of a 'grand finale' for the story to finish on.

Has anyone had this before? Is it just a writers block or attachment to my characters (they really are growing on me). Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.
Az.

 

[LOAnnie2]

Who says that you really need a grand finale?

Take TV for example. Yes, many shows like to go out with a bang, but in the end, there are the few who purposefully end as if the story was still going on, just without the viewer.

Why can't that be the case for your story... life can just continue?

 

[amber03]

Hi guys, pretty new to the site so hopefully this is the right area for a question.

I'm writing a story series (first 3 chapters online, 4th pending submission atm, and 2 more written offline). The problem I'm having is knowing how/when to 'finish' the characters and story line. I can't think of a 'grand finale' for the story to finish on.

Has anyone had this before? Is it just a writers block or attachment to my characters (they really are growing on me). Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.
Az.

I agree, you don't need to "end" a story if you can't yet bring it to a natural close. I have written something similar, but after many edits and re-reads, I had to admit to myself that I was actually too attached to the characters and I found a natural ending that I was comfortable with.

You are the writer, so do what you feel in your heart and you will find the ending that you want for your characters. I've had a pretty hard time from some readers as my 3-parter didn't close with a "happily ever after" ending, but honestly, what does it matter if you as the writer feel it is the right thing to do.

Isn't it funny that we get attached to characters that only exist in our minds? Maybe it all comes down to occupational hazard.

A
x

 

[psyche_b_mused]

What story did you set out to tell Azshade?

I just finished a 22 part story and i used a life transition as my ending (the birth of a baby). Of course it could go on from there, but since i wanted to write about the relationship between the two main characters, the addition of the child would change their relationship so significantly that it wasn't really the same story anymore.

I admit though, when i finished it i cried for a good two hours because i was so attached to the characters. I still get lonely every time i think of the story being over. Silly huh?

psyche b

 

[sr71plt]

If you don't put a finish on the story, be prepared for some disappointed and/or nasty comments. Readers read in anticipation of a finished story. Of course if they're really into the story many will ask for a continuation--to a happy ending.

It's up to you, though. It's your story.

That said, I don't post a story, even in a series, until/unless I have finished writing it. It isn't really a story otherwise. I do occasionally reopen it or recast it into another, longer story.

 

[sr71plt]

Duplicate posting

 

[CWatson]

I don't think you necessarily need to come to a grand finale, but you do need to come up with some sort of natural conclusion. What's the story about? What goal or objective or destination are the characters journeying towards? End the story when they arrive there. It doesn't have to be a loud conclusion; it only has to exist.

 

[CWatson]

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[starscape]

Originally Posted by Azshade
The problem I'm having is knowing how/when to 'finish' the characters and story line. I can't think of a 'grand finale' for the story to finish on.

Has anyone had this before? Is it just a writers block or attachment to my characters (they really are growing on me).

It can be for either or both reasons, but only you can know for sure.

Yes, this has happened to me before as well. Mostly I had writer's block, but I also became very attached to my characters. I believe my affection for them contributed a great deal to my block. In my case, I knew where I wanted the story to go, it was the getting there that gave me trouble.

The main danger to writing on and on without some sort of plan is a lack of cohesion, something that binds the story together as a whole. I have read stories where the author just kept going on and on, and it was a bit frustrating as a reader, feeling as though I was being strung along. I don't mind being taken for a ride, mind you, I just want it to go somewhere.

One of the main things that makes a story interesting is conflict, a problem (or problems) to be resolved. Doesn't mean it has to be a "grand quest", but the plot should be working toward something, especially in a longer work (as well as short stories, but a lot of the "short stories" here are actually long sex scenes and aren't really "stories"). It could be as simple as getting married or reaching the end of a journey or defeating the bad guy or finally finding Grandma's recipe for coconut cream pie, but it's a thread that runs through the entire narrative.

I agree it's your story and ultimately you get to decide where you want it to go. At the same time, I think it may be helpful to step back from it and think about what your original intentions were when you first started writing. Why did you create these particular characters, put them in this particular situation? How have they changed since the first chapter? Where would you like them to be? Answering these questions may help you sort out how/when to end it, or at least get you on the path.

 

[CWatson]

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[CWatson]

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[MMisterEE]

I wrestled with this recently, and my story continued a bit farther than I first thought it would. Mostly it was the desire/need to flesh out certain characters, making them more real — which I suppose is a kind of attachment.

I don't regret it, but needed to regroup, and find the new "appropriate" ending. The way I looked at it: There aren't definitive endings, in the sense of life closure. But there are more or less poetic ways to bring a sense of closure to a narrative, even when we know that events and relationships continue. Think about a completed voyage, which often involves coming back to the same place one started, but changed inside from the experience.

 

[driphoney]

Mm. I'm very new at this, and creating a story arc was something I hadn't even heard of when I started. Don't get me wrong, I've read plenty, so had this idea of beginning, middle and end. Doing it, I learned, is a different matter. So, anyhoo, I wrote my story, such as it was, got it edited, started posting it. I never really felt like I did an appropriate job of raising the action, then having a conflict, and just felt exhausted and ended the story, in what I thought was a nice little ending.

Then I got some feedback. Nice feedback. Interesting feedback. And a couple of them got me thinking that I really did need to do things differently with my story, and I hacked up the ending, and sent it out there for one and all to read. And now I don't have an ending to my story!

I've floundered around for months and months and think I might, just now, be getting somewhere believable for wrap it up. (Then I think I might retire my quill, become a reader again!)

Man, I guess I'm too sleepy and shouldn't be trying to write this. How self-absorbed the previous paragraphs sound. I think my point is that, and I'm not saying it is or isn't, because there is no reason to end a story if you don't want, if it seems like it should wander on, let it, but, ahem! my point is that you might have a technical problem that is making it difficult to put a conclusion on your story. It took me months to realize that was my real problem. It wasn't that my muse had run off to occupy another body, it wasn't even my overwhelming lack of confidence. I screwed with the accepted pattern.

Anyway, it's a thought. (If you could make out heads-or-tails of it!)

Night-night.

 

[pareimi]

Typically when writing there is a series of problems your character encounters, which s/he overcomes.

There is an underlying goal which s/he strives towards.

Really good stories tend to put big obstacles in the way. But in erotica it's more about wish fulfillment and pleasurable reading so you don't have to up the stakes quite so much like you would in mainstream fiction. But still, a little conflict can be exciting.

I'd say--hold off on the final conflict until you feel ready to handle it. Show your character reacting to it, solving her/his problems, whatever--then end the story quickly. Don't hang around too long.

That being said, you can stretch out the middle for quite some time as you want to explore your characters. But once you handle the final showdown, wrap things up.

Basically it comes down to: what does your character want most and what is preventing him/her from getting it? This is the heart of your story.

I am not new to writing but very new to writing erotica so feel free to correct me!

 

[CWatson]

(Also, my apologies on the horrendous multi-posting. The forum was not responding to my browser at all, so I wasn't sure if it had gone through or not.)

 

[Azshade]

AHA! Drama averted, got to love dreams.

I've been thinking about my characters and story and how to 'wrap them up' (not wanting to rush, just wanting to know where I was heading) all week.

Last night I was laying in bed thinking about it all, and than I managed to dream about them (purely functional dream that is, nothing kinky). I woke up this morning and jotted it down. I know how it'll all fall into place.

Thanks to all the replies as well.

 

[driphoney]

Haha! Good! Happy writing!

 

[TETOCAB]

I don't think it's necessary to have a "Grand Finale".

For instance, I've written a series that has been submitted to Literotica. 5 of the installments have been approved, 6 are still pending. The 11th and final installment wasn't some major wrap-up of their relationship or anything.... it was just the last encounter I chose to write about.

I'm moving on to write other things now.

 

[JackLuis]

I have been writing a Novel,"Spreading Seeds", it didn't start that way but it is ending up that way because I can't seem to force the characters into an end.

I have decided to write an ending and then pick up the characters in a new series, but only after posting another series "The Interrupted Tale" that I started for NoWiMo last year.

In fact now that I think of it, NoWiMo might just be the place to write the second half of "Spreading Seeds".

In a way doing 35 Chapters of "Spreading Seeds" taught me a lot about writing. The hard thing is that when you work on a long story of Global Scope, you end up locked into a world and if you write another story it is so much like the big one.

If I could get an Editor who will work with me, on arch and climax type stuff maybe I could have ended "Spreading Seeds" in 30 chapters.

 

[lance gt]

Hey, I know the problem you're having. My first story started out as a 2-3 chapter story, but Ii enjoyed my characters so much it ended up as a 12 chapter story. I kept coming up with new twists and charcters, it was hard to stop. So, I did what any novice writer wouyld do and I wrote it into the ground. If you are attached to your character(s), chances are your readers are as well. If you don't end it with a seriously good finish, it will remain a hanging victim in the town square for ever for you to see when you pass by it. Write it well, write it long and write it to the finish. Just keep the same level of quality throughout. If you get bored, you're done.

 

[lance gt]

Note to CWatson, Sweetie, post as much as you like. I certainly can't get tired of seeing such a beauty as you. Lance

 

[Azshade]

Hey, I know the problem you're having. My first story started out as a 2-3 chapter story, but Ii enjoyed my characters so much it ended up as a 12 chapter story. I kept coming up with new twists and charcters, it was hard to stop. So, I did what any novice writer wouyld do and I wrote it into the ground. If you are attached to your character(s), chances are your readers are as well. If you don't end it with a seriously good finish, it will remain a hanging victim in the town square for ever for you to see when you pass by it. Write it well, write it long and write it to the finish. Just keep the same level of quality throughout. If you get bored, you're done.

Actually I'm having a great problem from the 'readers'. Every day or so I get another anon feedback email that basically says:

"Hey love the story is there more please finish it."

I need to make a template email.
Dear Anon.
Thank you for your interest. It is a work in progress. Please be patient.

 

[lance gt]

Actually I'm having a great problem from the 'readers'. Every day or so I get another anon feedback email that basically says:

"Hey love the story is there more please finish it."

I need to make a template email.
Dear Anon.
Thank you for your interest. It is a work in progress. Please be patient.

So just keep the plot interesting and your characters alive with intrigue and go as long as you can. Might end up a novelette.

 

[CWatson]

Okay, wow. This question is so deeply embedded in the craft that... Wow. To a certain extent I'm just re-iterating what I said before (several times, due to that multi-posting snafu), but it's the only answer I've got, and I hope it can help you.

I've had the same thing happen to me and my stories. People still bug me about "Across The Way" sometimes (no complaints there--I didn't do a great job on it), but also a story I posted on SOL called "A Love for the Ages", which (as the title implies) was a straight-up Girl Meets Boy, And They Lived Happily Ever After story. But whenever people bug me about these two stories--"Oh, I love these characters, why don't you write more about them?"--I always have a simple answer.

"Thanks, but there's no more to write."

"...for the Ages" was, as I said, a straight-up love story, about two people meeting each other, getting over their differences, and finding happiness together. "Across The Way", on the other hand, is about unrequited love, about pining away for someone in silence--particularly, someone who's already involved with someone else. (And, of course, that someone else is a Jerk Ass who beats her.) Under those circumstances, you have three basic options: 1) try to get between them and force them apart, which tends to backfire spectacularly; 2) go insane with longing, which tends to backfire spectacularly; or 3) give up and learn to live with the fact that you will never get a chance at her. As such, my hero, after much angsting, eventually made the necessary adjustments in his soul so that he could live without this girl he loved--so that he could, in fact, no longer love her. And that was where the story ended, because that's what the story's about. And the people who ask me to finish my story about how Jake and Amy fall in love are completely missing the point. The story isn't about how they fall in love. It is, in fact, about how they don't. (Again, that's partially my fault--I didn't communicate the point correctly. But I know some of it got through.)

What does this have to do with you? Well, simple. Azshade: what is your story about?

Not, Who are your characters. Not, What sex are you trying to write. Not, what's the plot progression. No; this question is deeper and, to a certain extent, is the foundation for all of those other aspects. In his book On Writing, Stephen King calls this thing "theme"; you could also call it "the moral of the story"; but, whatever you want to call it: what is it? What is the central idea your story is attempting to convey? Because, once you've conveyed it, you can put "The End" on and go home. The story is over, and you don't have to write anything more because nothing else matters. What a relief!

To go in the opposite direction, it's totally possible to write a story that's not "about" anything. Having a "theme" or a "moral" is seen as kind of pretentious by some writers, and perhaps it is. My first story published here was themeless--just a rumination on what it would be like for a virgin male (who may or may not be me) to be plunged into a sex life with no warning. The problem is that themeless stories can have a tendency to meander, and not come to any useful conclusion. Under those circumstances, there is no end-point; to be frank, you can just slap one on anywhere, one spot being as good as another. As such, I would seriously recommend having a theme. It makes things so much simpler.

Hope some of this helps.

 

[PacoFear]

Hi guys, pretty new to the site so hopefully this is the right area for a question.

I'm writing a story series (first 3 chapters online, 4th pending submission atm, and 2 more written offline). The problem I'm having is knowing how/when to 'finish' the characters and story line. I can't think of a 'grand finale' for the story to finish on.

Has anyone had this before? Is it just a writers block or attachment to my characters (they really are growing on me). Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.
Az.

Whoa, I wish I saw this thread earlier. I just eked out my overdue finale to a series this week and it nearly killed me to do it. I tried to set the readers up by tossing the ending (of sorts) out there in the beginning. But dammit I still struggled at the end! I tried to tie up loose ends, did a bit of self-referencing, loaded in a ton of sex, and exited with what I hoped was a warm and fuzzy "we're all home" kind of thing.

I'll probably get massacred in the ratings. Meh, I did the best I could.

When I put on my reader hat, I remember being bummed to see a good series end. But I remember being more bummed when I was forced to watch a good series jump the shark and go crummy.

AZ, I feel your pain on the character- attachment thing and I never saw it coming either. It's funny but I just posted something like this in my bio earlier this week. It's amazing how attached you can get to people you yanked out of thin air.

I've read your stories, AZ, and I like them. In fact, you're actually on my favorites. We've got one thing in common - we're both favoring 1st person POV. I'm learning that that's when I get the most attached to a character. I get too darn close. You almost have to in order to make it feel real, I think.

(BTW - Want to suffer? Switch genders for your POV. The mental/emotional gyrations I have to go through to put myself in a feminine frame of mind are insane and I'll never look at women the same way again.)

If it helps, I'll tell you what I'm doing right now. I'm consciously forcing myself to wrap up my 1st person stories and I'm writing from 3rd person for awhile. My psyche feels, I dunno, mangled. I think I still have stories to tell but I need a little distance. It feels safer.

Don't drive yourself too nutty. Try to remember how fun it was to write your first story and get back to that place.

G'luck,

-PF