Full Circle
The other day, I blogged about beginning your novel. Now I'll blog about endings.
I wish life had neat little endings. We talk about "closure" all the time. But really, I have found my life has no closure. Grief, for example, can strike me ten years after the fact and bring me to my knees as surely as the day a death first happened. Old relationships don't end neatly. I try to be "in the moment" and let go, but occasionally old hurts rise to the surface. I found out recently that someone said something unkind about me to Oldest Daughter. She said the person said it in a joking manner, but it didn't sound funny to me. I aim for closure, but I don't often get it.
But then I have my novels.
My characters nearly always get closure. They may not get a perfect Happily Ever After, but they aren't plagued by old baggage either. They get their answers, their closure, their new love, the ability to move on. Whatever they seek--solving a murder, finding love, saying good-bye to someone . . . they usually get. The path may have twists and turns, but in the end . . . SOMETHING happens.
Because in real life, sometimes something DOESN'T. I will never forget losing a friend in a plane crash. No bodies were recovered. For years, I would "see" him places. Doppelgangers. Because there was nothing to say good-bye to. Just ash.
Not so in my books. My characters, even the ones where it doesn't end well, get that "something"--that dramatic moment.
The other part of my endings is a sense of full circle. I nearly always reference something in the last chapter that happened in chapter one. In The Roofer the last line mirrors almost exactly the first chapter.
I like to think that when I die, I will have come full circle. I will have a sense of having accomplished what I wanted with no regrets. A completed circle is a sign of a life well-lived, I think.
Thoughts?
I wish life had neat little endings. We talk about "closure" all the time. But really, I have found my life has no closure. Grief, for example, can strike me ten years after the fact and bring me to my knees as surely as the day a death first happened. Old relationships don't end neatly. I try to be "in the moment" and let go, but occasionally old hurts rise to the surface. I found out recently that someone said something unkind about me to Oldest Daughter. She said the person said it in a joking manner, but it didn't sound funny to me. I aim for closure, but I don't often get it.
But then I have my novels.
My characters nearly always get closure. They may not get a perfect Happily Ever After, but they aren't plagued by old baggage either. They get their answers, their closure, their new love, the ability to move on. Whatever they seek--solving a murder, finding love, saying good-bye to someone . . . they usually get. The path may have twists and turns, but in the end . . . SOMETHING happens.
Because in real life, sometimes something DOESN'T. I will never forget losing a friend in a plane crash. No bodies were recovered. For years, I would "see" him places. Doppelgangers. Because there was nothing to say good-bye to. Just ash.
Not so in my books. My characters, even the ones where it doesn't end well, get that "something"--that dramatic moment.
The other part of my endings is a sense of full circle. I nearly always reference something in the last chapter that happened in chapter one. In The Roofer the last line mirrors almost exactly the first chapter.
I like to think that when I die, I will have come full circle. I will have a sense of having accomplished what I wanted with no regrets. A completed circle is a sign of a life well-lived, I think.
Thoughts?
Labels: endings
posted by Erica Orloff at 7:40 AM
16 Comments:
Erica, love your blog title. I, too, enjoy giving my characters something at the close of a novel.
And sorry about the "unkind" not-so-funny thing you found out about. Those hurt, and I think sometimes it's because they just come out of the blue. I've had very few things blind side me, but when it happens it takes the wind out of ya. You gotta think, "What were they thinking?" Or more important, what's going in in their life, that they chose to try and pull someone else in their drama?
Old "friends" can definitely hurt you, even by inaction. I know, because as much as I'm trying to shake off something along those lines, I keep coming back to it emotionally.
Anyway, I like closure in a novel, I like the loose-ends wrapped up. I don't mind the sense that we might move forward, that there's more coming for the main character ahead, but I like to at least try and bring things to a rest for that story.
That said, one of the endings I'm most pleased about in my own work is the novella Catfish Guru. I purposely spun the ending to suggest that although the crime was apparently solved to everyone's satisfaction, the "killer" was dead by his own hand, the cops were happy, the main character, Theo MacGreggor, was unconvinced. And I intentionally wanted the readers to make up their mind for themselves. (Which, by the way, was interesting, because I asked people what thought thought and the answers varied... a lot.)
I asked my brother, whose opinion I value a lot, what he thought and he grinned and said, "I liked it, but I'm comfortable with a fair amount of ambiguity."
Which strikes me as being more of a reflection of life. As has been said by many writers, myself included, is: the big difference between real life and fiction is that fiction is supposed to make sense.
I think that's one of the comforting things about reading: we often have a sense of how things will end up. Readers want to be surprised, but in most books they know what to expect in those last few pages: closure, a sense of growth, a sense of things coming full circle. And when readers don't get what they expect, they can get pretty upset. Maybe it's because we sometimes feel like we have so little control in our own lives, and especially over how we ourselves end.
ladonna:
It usually is a reflection of the other person, and I usually am above feeling badly . . . but sometimes . . . .
E
Hi Mark:
Your brother is probably very right. I am in a women's book club and the people who dislike ambiguity REALLY dislike it.
E
Hi Caryn:
I have killed off a character or two . . . and you're right . . . the unexpected is not always met positively.
E
I love endings with closure but that elude to what is next, allowing the reader to imagine whatever he or she wants to imagine.
You're right, there isn't always tangible, substantive closure in real life and we can give that to our characters. But, as I put on my amateur psychologist hat, we always have the ability to give ourselves closure for whatever we need -- even if we need a little help to do it. Unfinished business or lingering emotions are manageable, if not changeable. I always look outside a situation to find the answers, and there are times I truly believe that everything happens for a reason - and that are life lessons to be learned every inch of our journey.
Whew! I'm exhausted. Let's do humor next, ok?
And...I'm going to my first-ever real-life writers conference next weekend! It's Chicago Spring Fling - a local RWA chapter sponsors it and there are 200 attendants, agents, editors...the works!
Words of wisdom??
Amy:
I agree. I always say . . . it is what it is. Acceptance and compassion.
As for the conference????? Have fun. My best advice is . . . perfect your pitch. I mean, down pat, can say it in 50 words or less. Spot-on awesome. Practice it until you can say it in your sleep. You never know who you might meet, who might ask "What are you working on?"--and then might say, "Send it to me." Perfect it.
Beyond that, BRING business cards. COLLECT them. If you make a personal connection with someone, write them after--even if just a note to their email or blog. You never know where connections might leave.
I also . . . and this was something I got from a bookseller . . . I put my photo on my card. I never thought I would do that, but I did, and it wasn't any more expensive to do them that way. It's my headshot from the front page of my site, shrunk down obviously. The bookseller told me she meets SO many people that it helps her place a face with a name. I thought about it . . . I also forget face/name sometimes. So it's a little tip--I get very positive feedback since I started doing that.
E
t next year, and wow, you are such an inspiration! this post really tugged at me! great choice of words, i is all put so well. love your blog and books!!
kathy :-)
Hi Crafty:
Thanks for dropping by. I LOVE your site and projects. You inspire me. I am SO not crafty (but do LOVE to do crafts . . . and knit). I dream of the day Demon Baby goes off to kindergarten and I can perhaps do some of your projects!
E
Erica, great conference tips! I'll be going to the WisRWA conference in two weeks, and I should start practicing.
I love what you say about coming full circle when you die. I think this is the reason we grieve when someone dies too young. They haven't lived their full circle.
You know, Erica, my silly writer's mind imagines happy endings in your life, too, but life just doesn't work that way. There was the deal and my brain went happy ending! And then the illness in your house last fall, and your health. I always hope for happy endings, but I guess we don't get an ending in life, maybe not even death.
Last week, a child who has been going through a fibbing and passive-aggressive phase at school sort of pulled her mom and I into her game in my studio. I guess her mom isn't completely aware, and I can't be the messenger. Anyway, the mother believed the little girl, and I couldn't defend myself because whatever I said, the girl would just spin more stories. Not a big deal, and she's a good kid at heart, but I got sucked into their drama.
Now I'm astonished that her mom believes her daughter, but in the thick of it, it felt horrible. I guess I got closure because we ended the relatioship, which makes me feel relieved, now.
I said all that to say that I think it's particularly hard, like in your case, when you can't really defend yourself, or answer to it. But then answering such things doesn't really work, either.
So all that to say I really don't know, LOL.
Since it's the bestselling book of all time, I've decided to model all my endings after The Bible.
You know, lots of flames and seven-headed monsters and total destruction and stuff.
Hi Edie:
Enjoy the conference . . . I really think the pitch is the most important one . . . and I still stumble over mine occasionally. I hate the dreaded "what's your book about?" question.
Hi Spy:
Sorry about the drama. Sounds . . . well, like it's better that you no longer have to work with the situation.
As for happy endings . . . I think in my life, I just hope for a journey of contentment . . . I no longer wish for everything to all work out perfectly because I know "real life" isn't like that.
E
Jude:
LOL! Good model for an ending there.
E
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