Does anybody else find themselves writing the ending of a story before finishing the middle?

[WCSGarland]

I got about 6000 words into the story I'm currently working on and suddenly I'm feeling compelled to write the ending. I'd had a general idea for how I wanted to end the story, but now it looks like I'm going to be filling in the middle after I get the rest done.

 

[SimonDoom]

I do this quite often. Shortly after starting the story I figure out how I want it to end and write the ending.

 

[Rob_Royale]

The ending? Not necessarily. But oftentimes scenes further into the story are more fleshed out in my mind than the one I'm working on and I'll often start on them while I'm puzzling out the earlier scenes.

 

[mildlyaroused]

I'll never actually write the ending early, but I definitely have a general idea as to where each story is heading. If I tried to write the ending before finishing the middle, though, I wouldn't be able to include all the continuity and depth that should flow directly on from the previous scene/portion of the story. The current moment in each story I'm writing informs the rest of the narrative. If I ever do skip forward, which I am sometimes tempted to, what I end up writing won't make it into the final draft without a thorough rewrite.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I got about 6000 words into the story I'm currently working on and suddenly I'm feeling compelled to write the ending. I'd had a general idea for how I wanted to end the story, but now it looks like I'm going to be filling in the middle after I get the rest done.

Do it all the time.

 

[XerXesXu]

A story has to have a good ending. I start with a whole story arc in my mind, especially the most important parts, the beginning and end, and write them out. I can change anything, at any time, to make it better.

 

[Britva415]

I got about 6000 words into the story I'm currently working on and suddenly I'm feeling compelled to write the ending. I'd had a general idea for how I wanted to end the story, but now it looks like I'm going to be filling in the middle after I get the rest done.

I've done this. I consider it a form of "outlining." I'll complete the draft of the last third of the story and skip past placeholders in the middle where I'll just drop short notes indicating what to fill it in with later.

 

[Cagivagurl]

How the hell can you write an ending when you don't know how it ends?

Cagivagurl

 

[WCSGarland]

How the hell can you write an ending when you don't know how it ends?

Cagivagurl

Well, it just came to me.... sort of like Bam! That's got to be the ending!

 

[Cagivagurl]

Well, it just came to me.... sort of like Bam! That's got to be the ending!

Sorry, it was meant as a joke...
Making fun of myself.
I never know where a story is going...

I am hopeless at endings and usually stop when I'm sick of one of the characters.

Cagivagurl

 

[WCSGarland]

Sorry, it was meant as a joke...
Making fun of myself.
I never know where a story is going...

I am hopeless at endings and usually stop when I'm sick of one of the characters.

Cagivagurl

LOL, I get it now! I'm slow on the uptake sometimes.

 

[ronde]

I usually don't write the ending before the end, but I have a good plan for the ending. It's just a matter of steering my characters to end up there.

 

[Britva415]

You’ve got to write what you’re inspired to write when you’re inspired to write it. Putting it off because “it’s not time” or “I’m not there yet” means the opportunity will most likely be lost.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Never. If I knew the ending of a story there'd be no point in writing it.

 

[WCSGarland]

You’ve got to write what you’re inspired to write when you’re inspired to write it. Putting it off because “it’s not time” or “I’m not there yet” means the opportunity will most likely be lost.

That's what I was thinking kind of... if I didn't write what suddenly struck me as the perfect ending then I was taking a chance of forgetting the ending and if I forgot the ending, then what would be the point of writing the rest of the story?

 

[MiaBabe23]

I do sometimes, yeah. Where I know I have a strong sense of where it’s going, it can help free me to then focus on how I get there
I’m not inflexible about it, I do then adjust it when needed, depending on what then happens in the rest of the story
I think Aaron Sorkin had said he’s done this too, so you’re in good company lol

 

[THBGato]

I do sometimes jump ahead in a story and write a later scene.

It's usually a sign I'm struggling with it.

 

[WCSGarland]

I do sometimes jump ahead in a story and write a later scene.

It's usually a sign I'm struggling with it.

But now that I've finished writing the ending, everything else seems to be flowing like butter on a hot skillet.

 

[shelleycat1]

I’ve done it by accident. In my latest (In the cafe of the demon king) I was helped by a beta reader who suggested the story would be improved by changing the scene order.

 

[WCSGarland]

I do. In fact, I don't even begin writing a story until I've fully polished the closing passage.

Interesting.

 

[TheLobster]

I’m in the crowd that skips ahead and leaves notes in their wake, though not necessarily all the way to the ending. Since I’m pantsing more than plotting most of the time, I don’t really know what the ending is going to be until halfway through the story at least.

 

[WCSGarland]

I’m in the crowd that skips ahead and leaves notes in their wake, though not necessarily all the way to the ending. Since I’m pantsing more than plotting most of the time, I don’t really know what the ending is going to be until halfway through the story at least.

I started with a really, really vague idea about the ending, and the more I wrote, the more I liked the MC and started thinking she deserves a better ending.

 

[StillStunned]

If I had to skip the middle of the story when writing, why would I expect the reader not to do the same? If what I'm writing isn't compelling enough to hold my attention, I'd better just abandon what I'm writing and begin a new story at the ending.

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

Being a total pantser I write scenes as they come to me, sometimes without any clear idea of where they’re ultimately headed. One of these days I’d like to write something that doesn’t have an HEA - as that’s usually the logical endpoint of the story - but it’s starting to feel a bit trite.

 

[LisaMayTurner]

It's the digital online curse to the human imagination; it becomes more and more difficult to focus on anything longer than a pencil. So writing either the start or the ending is easy but the detailed stuff in between is really difficult.