Story endings

[NotWise]

I imagine we've all tied neat little bows on the end of our stories, just to have some reader demand MORE. I usually take that as a compliment, but it's an annoying compliment. I had a new twist on my most recent story. A reader said he'd withhold his 5* vote until he got the next part, and several other readers agreed. Fuck their conditional votes.

Sometimes I understand why they want more. Sometimes it's just frustrating. I googled about for guidance on how to end stories, and except for a cliff-hanger that I shouldn't have written, my stories have endings.

So far I've found that HEA endings and some tragic endings seem to satisfy readers to the point where they won't ask for more. I haven't found many other endings that work. Have you?

 

[KristinKailey]

I tend to have an idea of where I'm going when I write a story, so I get to the end, maybe in 1 part or maybe in 9 as is the case with my current story. Point is, there is an ending to it and just like your favorite TV series, you may want more which as you say is a great compliment, but that doesn't mean they're getting more.

If the story has been told and I don't have a viable compelling place to take the story after what I've done, then its done. I've said to people who wanted more, well go read my other stories. This story has been told. Most of my stories the ending is pretty well defined and as far as I'm concerned, there's no place to go.

I have had a couple exceptions in which I did a couple follow on stories that picked up with some of the same characters further down the timeline, but those were both stand alone stories that lightly referenced some of what happened before but didn't rely upon any of that. And I did those simply because I did think of a story I wanted to tell and I was able to recycle those characters in order to do it. Otherwise no, I don't write more just because I'm asked if the story has run its course.

 

[PennameWombat]

I imagine we've all tied neat little bows on the end of our stories, just to have some reader demand MORE. I usually take that as a compliment, but it's an annoying compliment. I had a new twist on my most recent story. A reader said he'd withhold his 5* vote until he got the next part, and several other readers agreed. Fuck their conditional votes.

That's a new one on me. I had a comment recently tell me I was getting a 4 and not a 5 because of my typo ('prostrate' instead of 'prostate') and the fact my male MC masturbated using the female MC's panties after he'd taken her back to her place and was getting ready to dress to get back with her for dinner. That comment did also grump a bit about 'loose ends,' but that's weird, since they'd have had to scroll past the comment I'd added saying "The sequel is posted here at ..."

So far I've found that HEA endings and some tragic endings seem to satisfy readers to the point where they won't ask for more. I haven't found many other endings that work. Have you?

I think there might be some difference between attitudes at work. Again, I've never been threatened, but except for the story I know I screwed up and left a cliff-hanger, mostly I just let these comments stand.

I've no formula beyond trying for a thematic wrap. In "Saturday in Paris" I took the couple over the course of the titular day from their meeting through a series of increasingly erotic interactions until it climaxed with, uh, climaxes. Yes, a couple of comments indicate a sequel would be appreciated. But this story was one day in the lives of these characters, it didn't promise their lifetimes. I guess you could call this HFN (Happily For Now). Did they couple wake up Sunday morning? Did they go to Pere Lachaise as they'd discussed? The title promised Saturday in Paris, the readers got... Saturday in Paris.

I do try to avoid cliff-hangers (I've left one horrible cliffhanger, unless the sequel is ready to go) but I can't say many of my stories strictly 'end.' My most recent stories all finished with thematic completion, but in all cases it was clear the world continued on But, all also could've continued from that point, sequel possibilities abound, just like, uh, real life. Whether I pursue them or not, well, up to me. Also, I write many stories in shared universes, so threads weave in and out. But each individual story I post I try to, as I said, wrap up thematically.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I imagine we've all tied neat little bows on the end of our stories, just to have some reader demand MORE. I usually take that as a compliment, but it's an annoying compliment. I had a new twist on my most recent story. A reader said he'd withhold his 5* vote until he got the next part, and several other readers agreed. Fuck their conditional votes.

Sometimes I understand why they want more. Sometimes it's just frustrating. I googled about for guidance on how to end stories, and except for a cliff-hanger that I shouldn't have written, my stories have endings.

So far I've found that HEA endings and some tragic endings seem to satisfy readers to the point where they won't ask for more. I haven't found many other endings that work. Have you?

Nope. Even killing off the protagonist and showing the body wasn't 100% effective. Next story I'm killing the love interest and her little dog at the start of the story just to get that out of the way.

My usual response is to interpret those comments as "I loved that story and would like to read more stories that make me feel like that one felt, and a sequel is the only thing I've imagined for how that could happen".

Conditional votes, though, can GTFO.

 

[Agiel]

I’ve submitted twenty stories so far and all but two have definite endings. One of those I did finish with ‘to be continued’ which hasn’t happened yet because I still have only a vague outline of what I want it to be. At the end of the other one I did put it was the end but several comments asked for a sequel. Because of the nature of the story a sequel would be easy to write but I never intended writing a sequel and I’ve wondered whether, as it’s on 4.81, to not bother and finish on a high rather than submit a story which doesn’t come up to expectations. It would be different, of course, if I had intended to write a sequel originally.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

I tend to find this feedback on my highly rated stories. Not on the stories I actually want to continue *sigh*

 

[jsmiam]

I had made a post in the feedback forum about that phenomenon, about one commenter giving others ideas. (My comments were on a totally different topic though. )

Your commenters thoughts are worse than mine were. (my scenario wasn’t even bad, actually.) I would propose feeling zero guilt at deleting it.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've never heard of reader/commenter blackmail before. That sucks. How obnoxious.

I don't concern myself with whether readers will want a continuation of the story. I've found that many of those that leave nice comments do, and I ignore them. I write mostly standalone stories, with no intent to continue them, or I write chaptered stories with a very clear idea of the entire story arc and conclusion from the beginning.

I see my endings as being complete endings, but not of the HEA or tragic type. They don't settle things for all time. Instead, I see the purpose of the ending -- especially the final paragraph -- as to wrap up the story that just happened in a neat bow, and with luck a clever phrase or snippet of dialogue, but also to suggest, maybe coyly, that there's more to come. Some readers may see that as a tease. I see it as the way life is and as a more satisfactory way to finish a sexy story than saying they lived happily ever after. I leave it to the reader to fill in the rest.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I have killed everyone in stories and still have that odd comment "More!" from someone who evidently didn't read the entire story.

 

[TadOverdon]

By the time I start posting a book here I'm several chapters into another one, so it's moot.

Sometimes I wonder on my own about characters after The End, but it's never resulted in another story. Last evening it occurred to me that Sharon Thompson might finally try to get sober after Luke Gable tries to assault her.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I've had a couple of comments saying 'just a 4 because no ending' or words to that effect, which generally puzzle me because they're on stories which have what to me was a solid HEA ending.

But conditional voting? They can fold their pointy little five until it's even pointier and...

 

[NotWise]

I've been thinking about cyclic endings, where the story ends about where it starts. They're kind of a gimmick, and I wonder how many readers would even notice.

 

[MillieDynamite]

If a story is written well, often, the reader becomes immersed in story, like a swimmer in the water. The difference is, eventually the swimmer gets out of the pool and dries off; whereas, the reader wants to more.

Stories, unlike the real word, come to an end. But but to the reader, the reality that is created by the story, must go on. Our real life doesn't end after a successful business deal. Moms have new issues after the kid gets a cast on his arm. Dad's have to get and go to work the next morning. The life you created must go on, because it became real to the person.

After a story you and I are often done with those people, had enough of them and their issues, but the reader wants to know more.

It is a compliment, but all things come to end, maybe the all the characters died in a car accident the next day!

 

[desecration]

So far I've found that HEA endings and some tragic endings seem to satisfy readers to the point where they won't ask for more. I haven't found many other endings that work.

People want an all-powerful judgment, so that's a Happy Ever After (HEA) or some kind of "everyone dies" type ending.

If literature has gotten anywhere over the past thirty years, it is in recognizing that such things are rarely true.

Usually, the good people emerge battered from an experience and get on with life. They rarely get rich, become famous, and solve all their problems.

The sad truth is that the bad do the same; they just miss out on what they could have had if they were good.

For your average erotica story, you kind of want a non-ending, like a funny line. You're writing about a fantasy that exists outside of time and space, so there really can't be any kind of real ending.

Some of the HEA stories are quite imaginative though, but it can cross a line. I get that a brother and sister are deeply in love, and I get that some of them change their names and move across the country and have families. But in my view, there are too many stories that try to have an ending on what will basically be a few months of wholly enjoyable lust and not much else.

 

[KeithD]

I've been thinking about cyclic endings, where the story ends about where it starts. They're kind of a gimmick, and I wonder how many readers would even notice.

This is where I part the ways with the classic dilemma/conflict/change/resolution definition writing programs give for story arcs. Sometimes (quite often, I think) the result is "no change," going back to square one. So I include that as a possibility in my story arcs.

 

[Qubiquitous]

I have killed everyone in stories and still have that odd comment "More!" from someone who evidently didn't read the entire story.

Psss, easy, post the sequel in "Supernatural..."

 

[rjordan]

I have killed everyone in stories and still have that odd comment "More!" from someone who evidently didn't read the entire story.

Yeah, same thing in my story Lake Powell. I didn't kill anyone to end the story. It was entirely unplanned. I just started killing off characters and couldn't stop.

No more comments about not ending the story, but killing off a popular character was not appreciated. One commenter says he almost puked. Wasn't going for that, but Lauren should come up with a badge.

rj

 

[gunhilltrain]

I imagine we've all tied neat little bows on the end of our stories, just to have some reader demand MORE. I usually take that as a compliment, but it's an annoying compliment. I had a new twist on my most recent story. A reader said he'd withhold his 5* vote until he got the next part, and several other readers agreed. Fuck their conditional votes.

Sometimes I understand why they want more. Sometimes it's just frustrating. I googled about for guidance on how to end stories, and except for a cliff-hanger that I shouldn't have written, my stories have endings.

So far I've found that HEA endings and some tragic endings seem to satisfy readers to the point where they won't ask for more. I haven't found many other endings that work. Have you?

It's usually a bigger problem with series as opposed to stand-alone stories, but yeah, ambiguity doesn't go over well. If you have a series, often a couple will meet each other at the beginning. Then the ending will have these options: they break-up, there is a HEA, or life just goes on, as it usually does. (Well, there could be a murder, but let's not go there!)

If someone asks for more, I will respond with something like, "If I ever think of something more, then I'll do it." It happened recently, but it took a year before I had an inspiration. But it was on my timetable, not theirs.

 

[SamScribble]

I've been thinking about cyclic endings, where the story ends about where it starts. They're kind of a gimmick, and I wonder how many readers would even notice.

I began and ended a recent novella (not a Lit story) with the same paragraph. My editor thought that it 'worked perfectly'. It will be interesting to see what happens when it hits the bookshelves. Will anyone notice?

 

[NotWise]

I began and ended a recent novella (not a Lit story) with the same paragraph. My editor thought that it 'worked perfectly'. It will be interesting to see what happens when it hits the bookshelves. Will anyone notice?

Finnegan's Wake ends with a sentence fragment that completes the first sentence of the novel. I wonder how many readers noticed that? It's hard to guess what people will notice.

 

[KeithD]

I began and ended a recent novella (not a Lit story) with the same paragraph. My editor thought that it 'worked perfectly'. It will be interesting to see what happens when it hits the bookshelves. Will anyone notice?

I do that occasionally while also, as the same time, bringing the story title into play. No one has specifically remarked on that from one of my stories so far that I can recall.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Finnegan's Wake ends with a sentence fragment that completes the first sentence of the novel. I wonder how many readers noticed that? It's hard to guess what people will notice.

Brett Easton Ellis did exactly the same thing with at least one of his books.

 

[Bramblethorn]

This is where I part the ways with the classic dilemma/conflict/change/resolution definition writing programs give for story arcs. Sometimes (quite often, I think) the result is "no change," going back to square one. So I include that as a possibility in my story arcs.

Yeah, and it's a very common structure in TV writing - there are shows where one can watch the episodes in pretty much any sequence, because the standard structure is "a new thing happened, and it changed things for a while, and then the new thing went away and life went back to how it used to be". Some of the most successful TV shows in history use this structure so extensively that they even end up poking fun at themselves for doing so.

 

[NotWise]

Yeah, and it's a very common structure in TV writing - there are shows where one can watch the episodes in pretty much any sequence, because the standard structure is "a new thing happened, and it changed things for a while, and then the new thing went away and life went back to how it used to be". Some of the most successful TV shows in history use this structure so extensively that they even end up poking fun at themselves for doing so.

One of my problems with cyclic stories is that, unless they're particularly satisfying for the readers, they may encourage the "More!" comments almost as much as a cliffhanger. If you can cycle once, then you can cycle again, right? Just like a TV show.

 

[LAHomedog]

Well, i typically start with a cold opening and more often than not, it is part of the ending that I then weave it into the actual ending of the story. I don't know if that makes them cyclic or not.

I like to end a story, but leave the door open a crack so I can write a follow up if I want to later.

I always think of the original TV series of "The Fugitive" where he spent the entire series searching for the one-armed man and then finds him in the final episode totally completing the story. That killed it for syndication because viewers knew the end of the story and killed any sequel possibilities.

So I like to end the story, but keep possibilities open.