I've been doing a lot of travelling in the past month (mainly back and forth between the lovely Gold Coast and cold country NSW). There is a positive about spending 12+ hours driving each way, though. It gives me a lot of time to think and reflect on my characters, story or loose ends I need to cover.
When I think up my plots, I have so many different elements and events all happening at the same time that it can sometimes get confusing to try and make sure everything is tied in a neat little package at the end. One secret weapon I use to keep everything together and to track is a mind map. I find that by visualising all the paths that are taking place within a plot will help me track what needs to happen with all those little loose ends.
Tying up loose ends in novels is probably in the same league as the debate over standalone vs series. If there are still questions to be answered and I know that the next in the series isn't going to come out for another year, I might be content to wait or I might also feel let down over how the first one ended. When I read and I know it's a series I do like a little bit of tantalising info to keep me wanting more, but I don't want a twist right at the end that leaves it open on a cliff hanger that doesn't answer anything for me (but there have been cliff hangers that I have been satisfied with).
What about you? Do you prefer all loose ends to be neatly tied up or questions that leaves you wanting more? What about writing endings? Do you find it easy to write the ending and tie up the loose ends?
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4 comments:
I think my writing ties up the loose ends and then introduces new questions and possibilities.
I like tying up the conclusions, but sometimes I like a story that leaves some room for imagination at the end. :)
wow, that's a lot of driving.
I like to tie up the main loose ends and sometimes I'll leave one or two threads dangling, but never a main one.
for me, it really depends on if i plan on writing a sequel or not. If yes, then there will be loose ends. If no, then i try and wrap most of them up
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