Thursday 28 February 2013

Writing up to the End

I’ve always been good at starting stories, but not so hot at finishing them. I have files full of starts just waiting for an ending.

Having wailed my dissatisfaction with myself to my writing tutor, Sue Johnson, she came up with a ridiculously simple way of solving the problem. Her suggestion was to write the first and last lines of a story before you write anything else.

Using this technique you always know where you are heading. Drumroll please…..it works! I’m actually finishing stories.

 A personal happy ending.

Sue Johnson has just had a new book published Surfing the Rainbow - details here. This book is for anyone who has tried and failed to create the novel of their dreams. It aims to help writers with visualisation and chakra balancing.

Surfing the Rainbow book 

I think Sue deserves the advertisement for getting me on track with finishing my stories.

Please share below any writing gems which have helped you.

4 comments:

  1. I must admit I like to know how the story is going to end so that it gives me something to aim for. The good thing about romance is we know it has to be happy lol!

    Hope to see more of these finished stories then. I need to get started :-(

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  2. Teresa - You must have loads of material for house moving stories! I'm bogged down with editing at the moment, so it has been a light relief to write a few short stories. Come on get writing. Mx

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  3. I always have an idea of the last paragraph of my story - so I can confirm it definitely works! Good luck finishing lots of projects!

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  4. Annalisa - It is working so far! And helping me with mirroring the begining at the end of the story. Thanks for commenting. Mx

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