Okay, I'll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible (hard with this topic, I know) but here it is: Basically, the MC is separated from her host family (they're not related, but she stays with them) and finds her little brother, and the book is supposed to end there. I know that's very vague, but do the best you can. Basically, my problem is that I feel like there's supposed to be another book after this documenting the next part of their story, but I have no plot and no inspiration to come up with a plot. I really want to finish this book so I can move on to another, more exciting series that's a little more challenging to write that I can have more fun with. I also don't want to come back to this project later, after I've finished the next series, because that almost never ends well and I feel like I won't want to anyway. So my question is, should I put a letter at the end about where the MC and her brother ended up, or should I leave an open ending?
If you're just trying to get it over with so you can do something else, nobody is going to want to read it. If you're not excited for what you're writing, nobody else will be excited reading it.
Take a break and work on something else for a change? It's alright to put something on the backburner.
If the goal of the story is to have the MC find her little brother I don't see why there needs to be another book. Oftentimes stories end without tying up the protagonist's entire life, so I don't understand why you feel compelled to expand on their story after its over. Is there a reason within the current book that makes it feel like the reunion isn't satisfying enough to end there?
Like I said, I was trying to be as vague as possible to try and avoid spoiling anything, but I guess I have to go into more detail. The MC's overarching goal isn't to save her brother, it's to escape the life she's stuck in. She needs to find her brother to achieve that goal; for the past few chapters by the end of the book, she's been trying to get out of the country she's in to go back to her home country, but doesn't want to leave her brother behind. Essentially, she's got this plan to go on a ship to another country and take her brother with her, but things happen and she ends up sending someone else in her place, but since her brother still showed up, she's found him. The story here just feels unfinished to me, and I want to know whether putting the resolution to how she truly escaped in a letter (she's successfully escaped the life, as the papers binding her in such a life she hated so much got destroyed) would make sense, or feel like a cop out, or just be a bad idea.
Sorry, I didn't word that right. What I meant was that I have no excitement for the next book, and anything I would try to add to resolve the story in the next book would have no passion in it and would have the effect that Cephus described. In the current book, I just got finished with a boring part, so I'll admit I'm feeling a little uninspired right now, but a) the story gets a lot more exciting from now on, and b) I won't be able to write for the next week or so anyway, so I'll be taking a break and hopefully coming back reinspired for the next part of the story.
There should be no boring parts in a book. If it's boring for you, imagine how it will be for your readers.
If the MC's main goal and thus the conflict of the story is to escape her current life then the story isn't over until she does just that. You can't just tell the audience in a letter how she resolves the conflict, you have to show them. That's why they've read through this much of the book, to see how the climax goes down. This would be why the story feels unfinished, it is. If her goal is to escape you are going to have to write out how she accomplishes that, with the same level of detail that you've written everything leading up to this moment. Anything less will result in your readers having that same, this story is unfinished, feeling that you have.
For someone who's supposed to be a writer, I'm really bad at word choice in this post. It's not particularly boring, it just has no action going on; it's needed for character development, and it needs to make a death later in the book feel earned. Otherwise, it just throws the whole thing out of wack, and the MC feels like she's making too big a deal out of it for someone she barely knew, and I couldn't remove it. At the time I was writing it, I was feeling a little frustrated because I wanted to get to the parts of the book where the main plot of the book kicks into gear, and since I was really excited to write that, I was rushing through a little. It's not that that part was actually boring, I just was really excited to write a different part, so it felt boring. Does that make any sense? Because I'm really excited to edit that part once I've finished the first draft, so I think that's a good sign.
Well, it's really weird, and here's where my confusion comes in. Basically, because the MC's paperwork is the only thing binding her to the life she's forced to live, once that goes up in flames, she's set free and can start whatever life she wants. I know that she will eventually want to go back to France (where she's from) but since that's not really part of the main conflict of the story, I don't really think that's something that needs to be resolved on-screen. Actually, while I'm writing this, I think I've come to a bit of an epiphany. I think the reason it felt so unfinished was because of this one line I had knocking around in my head, "Whatever challenges come at us, I can face them as long as I have my brother at my side" that sort of thing, hopefully less corny and cliché. I could change it to "We'll build a new life together" and it would feel a lot more like it wasn't setting something up for a second book, and it's not implying that there's any more challenges to come. Anyway, improvised ending: the MC's papers go up in flames, thus freeing her from her life and leaving her open to any possibility she wants to pursue, her brother's papers are now heading across the ocean with her host family, and she finds her brother. Now that she doesn't have to escape the country she's in to get away from her life, she's content to stay for now. However, I feel like the MC will want a little more closure with her host family, because there was a lot of drama leading up to that point where she had to decide to send her host family in her place on the ship, and she'll just want a little more closure. So, if I end up doing the letter/epilogue thing, it'll be addressed to the host family, and she'll be able to send it because, as I said before, she'll want to move to France. And, while the readers won't get the answer from the family that the MC might get, the MC will still be able to provide herself more closure just by writing, and hopefully, by proxy, the readers will, too. I think that feels a lot more finished to me.
We can only respond to what you actually write, we can't read your mind. You need to do better at choosing the words that you use. Even if it is character development, that doesn't mean it gets to be boring. Dull, uninspired, meaningless prose still needs to go. It doesn't matter what the purpose this passage serves, it still has to entertain the reader.
There is nothing wrong with an open ending, if you feel the story is done then there is no need to add more to it. Don't add more for the sake of adding more, most stories could always continue once they end, a story might seem finished to you, but ten other people could come up with ten different ways to create a sequel. And if your mindset is: "I really want to finish this book so I can move on to another," you already have your answer right there.
It is very difficult to make any kind of real judgement here, just by reading what you wanted to happen and what you think you've portrayed. However, without reading the story, I'd say the one thing that might not work is if the 'papers go up in flames' thing feels a bit too coincidental and convenient. If a major focus of the story has been your character's wish to escape her bondage—and gee whiz, the papers all burn up so she's free to go now? That seems contrived, the way you've spoken about it. (It might not be in the actual story.) Just going by what I've picked up here, I'd make sure that fire doesn't just 'happen' to make a convenient end to the story. I know fires happen in real life that don't seem to be connected to any particular action taken by the people affected, but in a story things usually need to be connected that way. Actions have consequences, etc. Coincidence is a great way to START a story, but a bad way to end one. Readers will feel cheated. I reckon your character has got to earn that fire, in some way.
Something I picked up from the discussion is that you seem to be quite concerned about closure as a way of making the end of the story effective. But that's not necessarily what makes a good ending for a story (many good stories simply let the reader decide). I think what you should focus more is on whether the conflicts built up throughout the story are addressed at this point. In other words, did you promise your reader things which you have not delivered? I'd start thinking more along these lines. I'd say this is more or less the train of thought you should take. If you have foreshadowed a final confrontation between the MC and some antagonist, don't let fire take over that role. An antagonist doesn't have to be a character necessarily, it could be a natural or emotional force as well.
That's a good point. This is my first novel, so I'm still learning. I'll find a different way for her to get rid of them, maybe she takes them with her or something; I'll figure it out.
I'm typically good at word choice when I'm actually writing, I'm just in a different frame of mind when I'm posting on here, so I'm not so careful and concerned with word choice. Good advice, though.
I'm not necessarily so concerned about closure; I love reading open endings, and since I've been really affected by those sorts of endings (even more so than the ones where everything is explained) I understand that it can still be impactful. I just don't want to end it with it feeling like an unfinished product.
There was originally a decision made in this post, but in the two minutes since I posted it I've regretted that decision, but don't know how to delete replies entirely, so just ignore this for now.
