#constantly-crying-cus-calculus

[spilledkauffie]

Hey, first of all, I want to say that your HCs are great! They are such a wonderful inspiration to keep working on my fanfics. That's what I wanted to ask you about. I've read a few of your fics (and again they're awesome), so Im seeking for advise. How do you end your stories? I always stop my stories about like three chapters before the end, I've a bunch of almost finished stories lying around. Ik the ending in theory, but then theres a blockage. Thanks if u anwser, i hope asking was okay <3

Hey there! Thank you so much for reading!  My answer is a bit long, sorry, so it’s under the cut. It’s totally okay that you asked, no worries!! I hope this was helpful and best of luck on your future writings!

✧ Chaptered fic series: For starters, let me say that I, myself, have unfinished works that I wanted to finish, but haven’t and that’s just how it goes for me sometimes.

With series, it’s a good call to in some way plan out where you’re going with it, so you don’t get 7 chapters in and then ask yourself “where was I going with this?” (that is literally me to myself with every series) Small chapter outlines are great, by small I mean a note that says “character does this / goes here-” or “smut chapter” just so you can quickly jog your memory— this really helps with the end chapter, because it forces you to know how you intend to end it in advance, before diving into the opening.

 IF THAT ISN’T YOUR THING, that’s fine, there are other ways. I’ve found a lot of help from re-reading the prior chapters, seems simple, but sometimes it inspires me to keep going with it and think of new things. Making HCs (specifically about the character within the series plot) sometimes helps me, it keeps me thinking about the character and how they’d behave in different situations which can then become the inspiration for the ending. 

Thinking about the genre surrounding your ending is also helpful. Do you want it to be an angsty / sad / fluffy / smutty / complex ending? When you determine the genre you can begin to ask yourself questions about the genre that will help build structure.

↳ Angst: do my character leave each other?Are they taken apart or does one decide to leave? Does one of them die? Does one get with someone else, leaving the other with a broken heart? 

↳ Fluff: Do they get married? Do they have kids? Do they live together? Are they finally safe and can enjoy domestic life? etc. Asking these questions can really help spark a great ending.

YES, LET’S TALK ABOUT BLOCKAGE! First, give yourself credit for having written the majority of a chaptered series, that takes a lot, so round of applause for you first! Okay, now, I find that I get a little worn out on writing the same series, sometimes, this can be as simple as taking a break from it and coming back to it. Other times, I’m just not there for it. Try and remember what inspired you to start the series, maybe a song, a movie, a scene, fanart? Re-listening/watching things that remind you of said character can spark the motivate you’ve lost. 

If I may, let me add on that taking a break can be for more than a few days, don’t feel pressured to always be writing, or continuing the same thing, it’s okay to distance yourself from the series or writing in general to give your mind some recovery time— you got this!

✧ Writing the ending IN GENERAL:

 For me personally, I typically write the beginning and the end first. So I can know where it’s starting and see where it’s ending, this also allows things such as foreshadowing to be easier to include, because you (the author) know what’s coming and can drop little hints that won’t be known by the reader until the end and hint to the end. 

Endings are typically where things all come together, so thinking about open ended things that have been throughout is good, because you can bring it all together nicely. 

↳ say a character once said they always wanted to go somewhere, having them finally go there in the end is a satisfying ending because a “wish fulfillment” has happened, even if it was mentioned once and a long time ago, it brings it nicely together.

Short and sweet dialogue can be an ending. Say you don’t want it to be a secure ending, that’s cool! Maybe your characters have just come out of something (an event / fight / escaped etc.), sayings like: “we’ve got a long way to go,” / “but at least we’ve got each other,” totally counts as an ending, even thought it’s fairly open still. OR if you want a totally closed ending: “This is everything I ever wanted,” / “I couldn’t be happier than right here,” are all affirmative endings, anything that sounds similar to “it doesn’t get better than this” implies that it won’t so this is where the story ends.

Happily ever after *record scratch,* okay maybe don’t word it like that, BUT description can also be a good ending. Describing the scene can be a conclusion, (e.g. Star Wars- we pan to the binary sunset). I love description, so I think it’s a fantastic way to end things.

Double check it, always. I’ve been guilty of just adding the ending to a story I’m stuck on and posting it, but found it’s a really good idea to give it one more read, you might like what you’ve written, but upon a reread found there’s more to add, a different way to phrase things, etc.

✧ Oneshots: 

I find that these are my favourites (aside from HCs) because there’s no pressure to keep it open ended or closed! With series writers can become very used to leaving / creating an open ending for the next chapter and the next to constantly fit into that the idea of a true finale ending is often absent from the creative thought process, so it just feels a bit unfamiliar when you come to the final ending. 

Oneshots, however, are great because you can kind of leave it however you want! It can be an open ending if you want or a closed ending, either way it’s a sweet story with an ending (obviously) that can be expounded upon or left alone.