Finishing Your Novel
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Finishing Your Novel
Russell Celyn Jones (Published writer. Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the MA Programme at Birkbeck College (University of London).) gives expert video advice on: Why can't I finish my novel?; I've lost track of my story how can I rescue it?; How do you keep track of your story? and more...
Why can't I finish my novel?
If you can't finish your novel it's probably because you don't want to finish it somehow. There's a psychological desire to keep writing sometimes that you have to attend to.
What makes a good ending?
A good ending is probably an open end where the characters seem to have lives beyond the scope of the book. You don't need to wrap things up clinically. Life goes on and the life of a book tends to be ongoing as well. There has to be a sense of closure perhaps, and a reader needs to feel satisfied. But a good ending is a really difficult thing to get right. But there shouldn't be a death and there shouldn't be too happy necessarily.
What makes a bad ending?
Well a bad ending is probably a Hollywood-type ending when, independent of what the story has been about, it ends with a kiss or a sense of happiness. Francois Truffaut once said that a comedy that ends in a marriage is a tragedy about to begin.
Do I need to give myself a deadline?
You don't need a dealine for finishing a book really. Sometimes you have a contract and people constantly go over their deadlines. I think a book has to be written in its own time. I think the most important thing is to write the best book you're capable of, and that tends to take as long as it takes.