Unfinished stories

[SecretScribe]

CatEyes asked a question today that is close to my question. I wouldn't be surprised if it has been answered before but after a quick seach, I didn't find it.

MY question is how to finish a story. I am not a writer by background (I'm a computer geek fer chrissakes!), About the only thing I do write is erotic fiction, and that fitfully.

The trouble is, all I ever write is scenes, rather than the whole story. From perusing the stories here at Lit, it seems that many stories are just that; a scene. They can be awesomely erotic but leave me wondering about the before and after.

So what's a poor scribbler in the dark to do? Continue struggling to "complete" a story; or take one of the scenes he's written and fashion it into something that leaves the reader wondering what came before and what happened after.

If there are threads that already deal with subject, I'd appreciate a pointer to them if it is handy.

thanks for any guidance,
SS

 

[damppanties]

unfinished stories??

I am not sure what you mean by unfinished stories. According to me a story can just a scene and yet be complete. If a story needs a before and after, if its vital to your story, then add it on, otherwise simply don't. A story can be said to be complete when there is some sort of a conclusion. Mostly in erotica, that means the result or orgasm after the sexual activity. Read the storied here and find out what you like. Detailed ones or one-scene things? That'll help you decide on how to do yours.

Happy writing.

-DP.

 

[ronde]

SS, a one-scene story can be great, if there is purpose and conclusion. I suspicion that many if not most stories of any type are written with a particular scene or scenes in mind, and the rest of the story is manipulation of the characters to get them into the proper setting.

The old rule of the the 5 "W's" is good to follow when setting the stage.

Who are these people?
What are they doing (or what are they going to do)"
Where are they?
When does the scene take place (year, month, day, or time)?
Why are they there?

It is not always necessary to answer all these questions in a short story, but doing so grounds the reader for the rest of the story. For me, the key questions are who, where, and why. "When" is important for knowing seasons, or to determine day or night, for these times change the way people act. "What" can be explained later if necessary.

When you write your scene, ask the above questions and add a beginning that gives it a reason for being.

Endings need to answer the question, "what happens next". This may seem in opposition to the word "ending" but think about real life experiences. Each "scene" of our lives has an "ending", but the ending is really the reflection of how we feel about the experience, our perception of how others feel, and our plans for the future. Nothing ever truly ends, but there is closure in our thoughts of the happening.

I hope this helps. Happy writing.

 

[Weird Harold]

MY question is how to finish a story. I am not a writer by background (I'm a computer geek fer chrissakes!), About the only thing I do write is erotic fiction, and that fitfully.

The trouble is, all I ever write is scenes, rather than the whole story. From perusing the stories here at Lit, it seems that many stories are just that; a scene. They can be awesomely erotic but leave me wondering about the before and after.

Scenes, or vignettes, can be complete stories in themselves. there often isn't any need for a "backstory" or neatly wrapped up ending. At most, some vignettes need a paragraph or two to set the scene, and a one or two sentence summary to close the scene.

However, if a vignette leaves you, the author, wondering about "the before and after" then you probably should expand into a more complete story, because your readers are going to be unsatisfied and curious too.

Each story you post should be "complete" with a beginning, middle and end -- whether it's just a vignette or a full fledged novel.

One common story line here at Lit is "Two strangers meet in a bar, go to a motel room and screw."

There is a logical starting point for such a story -- one of the characters first sees the other in the bar.

The logical middle of the story is fairly obvious.

The logical END to such a scenario is NOT "I pumped her cunt full of cum." The logical end is "Completely sated, we fell asleep," or "She dressed and left and I never saw her again."

A scene should begin when the characters come "onstage" and end when they go "offstage" (Or the lights "fade to black.")

Only you, the author, can determine when your story or vignette is complete. When you've told the story you wanted to tell, it's complete. That's really the only answer that matters.

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

Well, it depends how the reader wants to know more at
the end of the (published) story.
A famous sculptor once said that making a statue was easy,
you take a block of marble and cut away everthing which
isn't the statue.
Similarly, a story is part (usually) of a life or parts of
several lives. You tell what happened, and cut out
everything that happened which isn't the story.
One hell of a lot of posted erotica includes meetings which
shouldn't have been described. Dulcinea was a famous and
quite good author of net erotica; she wrote about 50
stories, ONE of which included the couple's meeting.
If your reader wants to know what happened before and
after your story because he likes those characters and
cares for them, GOOD -- you've written an effective story.
OTOH, if he wants to know what happened before and after
story because the characters seem to him to have dropped
into that situation out of the blue, BAD -- you have only
written a part of the story.

 

[PetaTenna]

If a story has a conventional beginning, middle, and end, it's liable to be a conventional story. Here, as anywhere else, being creative is better than being conventional, provided you can do it well.

The story ends where it does, however you choose to do it, when you think you've written enough. The question is, does it work as a story? Does it say enough, convey enough images?

It doesn't have to answer all the reader's questions. When did they meet? - Well, what does that matter? -- What will happen tomorrow? - Well, who can ever answer that in real life? But it mustn't leave gaps: it mustn't have the reader saying "That doesn't make sense, how could they just get together like that out of the blue - or leave without saying anything?"

A good story should be complete, but of course also leave you wishing there was more, that you could read more of their story. You shouldn't close it off so that there's nothing more to think about.

 

[Weird Harold]

One hell of a lot of posted erotica includes meetings which
shouldn't have been described. Dulcinea was a famous and
quite good author of net erotica; she wrote about 50
stories, ONE of which included the couple's meeting.

Good point!

"Their eyes met across the room," is A logical beginning, but it is not the ONLY logical beginning or even the BEST logical beginning. There does, however, need to be some logic to how a story or vignette begins -- and how it ends.

Starting or stopping a vignette in the middle of the action is (generally) a sign of a badly written vignette.

If your reader wants to know what happened before and
after your story because he likes those characters and
cares for them, GOOD -- you've written an effective story.
OTOH, if he wants to know what happened before and after
story because the characters seem to him to have dropped
into that situation out of the blue, BAD -- you have only
written a part of the story.

This statement pretty much sums things up nicely.

 

[Weird Harold]

If a story has a conventional beginning, middle, and end, it's liable to be a conventional story. Here, as anywhere else, being creative is better than being conventional, provided you can do it well.

Nothing says the beginning, middle, and end, have to be "conventional" but they do have to be there in some form.

Unconventional beginnings and ending don't even, necessarily, have to be immediately recognizable as such, but a story that all "middle" is only a story fragment (or fragment of a vignette.) If they aren't there, the reader is left wanting "to know what happened before and after story because the characters seem to him to have dropped into that situation out of the blue..." -- UP's statement of BAD story-telling.

 

[ronde]

Conventional beginnings and endings

Probably the worst way to answer the "beginning" questions in my earlier post is to just write the answers. Some stories start this way, but the beginning seems not to belong with the rest of the story. It is better to write the beginning such that the reader answers those questions with their own interpretation.

As UP pointed out, one need only provide the reader with information pertinent to the mood and subject of the story. More information may be ignored, or it may cause the reader to be confused and just stop reading. Just how much detail depends on the story line and the depth needed to make the character's actions believable. If you read a story, and ask why a character would do what they did, the author did an incomplete job of character and setting definition. All this definition need not be at the very beginning, but enough should be done to let the character unfold as the story progresses.

I like endings that are relatively short and leave the reader at least thinking about what might happen next. It may be the traditional "they lived happily everafter", or it might be that one character muses about a next meeting, but the reader should want to know more upon finishing the story. Cold endings leave me wanting, and I avoid writing them.

 

[CatEyes]

About endings......

Why wouldn't it work if you didn't have an ending?

Here's my thought process and maybe it's a weird one but here goes:

On tv you have shows sometimes which have 3 or 4 parts to them and each week the show doesn't really have an ending, it actually leaves you hanging so you come back next week to find out what happens. Alot of shows were built on that, those night time soap operas like Dallas.

So why wouldn't that work with writing? On a site like this people come back week after week to see what's new. You'd have to time it right and make sure you could submit the next installment each week but I think it could work.

Do you think it would or wouldn't work? Why or why not? Any opinions?


CatEyes

 

[Weird Harold]

About endings......

Why wouldn't it work if you didn't have an ending?

Here's my thought process and maybe it's a weird one but here goes:

On tv you have shows sometimes which have 3 or 4 parts to them and each week the show doesn't really have an ending, it actually leaves you hanging so you come back next week to find out what happens.

Not only is that not a "story without an ending" it's so common that it has a name: A "cliffhanger ending." (Taken from Saturday morning serials at the movies, which usually ended with the hero hanging from or plunging over a cliff.)

Cliffhangers are so "conventional" that they're almost a cliche. If I had a dollar for every incest story that ended,"it was Mom!!!," or "My sister was standing there watching!," I'd be a very rich man.

 

[Guest]

My 2 cents.........

On several occassions I've begun a story with no clue how I'm going to end it. And maybe that's simply part of my personal style.

I've often known what I want to write about, but as the characters develope and begin to take life, (hopefully for the reader too and not just in my mind), they then take over where the story is heading, and I just let them go with it.

When that happens.....somewhere in the middle of the story usually, I finally see that light at the end of the tunnel. And then either a line, or a final thought...or a final act pops into my head.

And ta-da! I have my ending.

So..........whatever works for you.....go for it.

To sleep.........perchance to dream - William Shakespear

I remain........

 

[SecretScribe]

Thank you for the insights. They actually have helped quite a bit. It also means that I've got a fair amount of work to do on any one of my "stories" before it is ready for release. However, I suspected that before and had no handle on exactly what it was that needed to be done. Now I have a better framework to work with.

So thanks to everyone who has given their insights.
SS