I'm trying to write a synopsis for a finished story and I'm using a format from a member on here as a guide to get me started: Somebody- who is the mc Wanted- what is driving the story But - what did MC have to overcome So - how did they solve problem Then- solution/end of story I found that it worked well for writing a synopsis for a different piece, but the one I've currently finished, I get stuck at the "So," because the "problem" never gets solved. the issues that they had to over come just kept getting worse and worse, and just when you think they will make it through it all, things go very wrong. the "end of story" is them reflecting on the things that went wrong and vowing to do things the "right" way in the future. (basically wishful young adults searching for their happily ever after where everything goes perfectly according to a step-by-step plan, finds that the real world doesn't work that way) in this case, is the "So" how they WANT (or try) to solve the problem... even if their planned "solution" goes wrong/never happens in the end? and the ending... i'd say its a tragic ending but kind of still hopeful in the sense that you believe they will get their shiz together eventually. ETA though the story has 2 main characters, i focused on the more prominent of the characters (the most vocal one) and was able to do the "So" followed by another "But" before the "Then."
In the case of a tradgedy, you’ll probably focus on how the external plot situation is resolved instead of solved. If the central plot is a cooking competition, then the external plot is resolved when the winner is announced, even if the protagonist has lost, for a very simple example. Things might go poorly, but the pressing, current events have come to a close. Then you can use theme and character development to make that ending feel satisfying and earned. If the central external situation isn’t resolved at all, if does make me ask, why have you chosen this as a stop point? What makes this the end to a chapter in your characters life? If you’re struggling with that question, ask, what external events are you using to push and represent your characters internal growth. You might even go back in your novel and clarify what your characters concrete, physical goals are. If your characters have ‘soft’ goals, paint a specific image of what they think their life would look like if they succeed and use those as concrete aims and deadlines. Then, the story can end when those goals have been clearly failed.
Worth considering that the story template may not be universally applicable and you're fruitlessly trying to hammer a square peg into that unjustifiably specific round hole. I do a lot of noir, and a trope for that genre is that the problem doesn't usually get solved; it's an exploration about how people deal with injustices. This is probably why there are dozens of story templates. eg: a more open ended one is the Pixar story spine: * once upon a time there was [character] * and every day [activity] * until one day, [inciting event] * and because of that [developing event] * and because of that [developing event] ... (repeat) * until finally [climax] * and ever since [conclusion]
Sometimes the solution/end of the story is that the main character changed in some important aspect, not that he or she achieved a goal. One of the reasons I like The Great Gatsby is the twist of no one changing except the narrator who observes the entire drama.
Your post reminds me of American Realism with its grim beginnings and tragic endings. The only exception, in my opinion, was Roman Fever by Edith Wharton. Stephen King said, "All tragedies are stupid. I'll take A Midsummer Night's Dream over Hamlet every time. Any fool with steady hands and a working set of lungs can build up a house of cards and then blow it down. It takes a genius to make people laugh." Yeah, it's human nature to want a character we admire and respect to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Why? Because we live in a world with problems that are often beyond our ability to solve. So it can be reassuring to read a story with problems we know will be solved by the hero in the end. So fiction can be just an entertaining way to escape reality. But storytellers use fiction to tell the truth, so fiction can also be a powerful way to change reality if we discover something true about ourselves. We become the young hero, the wise old woman, the transformed fool, the boy who becomes a man. In other words, fact and fiction dance in every story. Some stories paint life as fatalistic and hopeless while others fill it with dreams come true. Some emphasize our deep connections with other people while others exaggerate loneliness and individualism. In some stories, people enjoy serendipity while in others they suffer bad luck. Stories can show people living authentic lives, being dishonest with themselves and others, choosing a wise path over a foolish one, or getting stuck in a rut. The same is true of our characters if we polarize their traits and personalities as being at one extreme or the other -– optimistic or pessimistic, energetic or lazy, intelligent or stupid, cooperative or rebellious, loving or mean, kind or cruel, stubborn or malleable, serious or hilarious. The truth is that most people are capable of either extreme, or somewhere in between, depending on the circumstances.
Do stories like The Metamorphosis and Waiting for Godot solve anything (I don't think so, but maybe they do)? Generally, a story will end with the protagonist solving some problem, or learning something along the way but it doesn't have to end like that, as long as you have something interesting to say to the reader. This was the first thing that I thought of, maybe not the best example, but it's the end of The Incredible Shrinking Man, after he defeats a spider (I think), but realizes he's still continuing to shrink:
I recently read this article on the SFWA blog, but I think it clearly applies to more than just sci-fi/fantasy. The gist: Many endings, in an attempt to be satisfying, rest on the notion that the struggle is in the past and the future is hopeful. It’s an attractive notion—and it’s a painful one, because ultimately, it’s empty. Hope and suffering aren’t mutually exclusive. One of my all-time favorite endings is Perdido Street Station, which...well: Spoiler The main character has saved a city of millions from a terrible fate, but nobody will ever know or be grateful about it. He's lost his job and his home, half his friends are dead, his girlfriend is left disabled and needing constant care, and he's on the run from the law. The corrupt oligarchs who run the city and who sent the cops after him are still in charge. It's not exactly a happy ending, but somehow it doesn't feel like a sad ending either, because the last we see of him he's heading off to try and rebuild his life somewhere else. It feels like the start of another story, in other words. In my own WIP I have three MCs all of whom have fairly ambiguous endings. One thing I've tried to do is sign off of each arc with just a bit of foreshadowing of how things are going to go after we stop following them. Not necessarily bad or good, but just some sort of idea of a trajectory so people can imagine how the story continues for themselves. Dunno if it'll work or not but it's an idea. I guess all these inchoate thoughts are just by way of encouragement. If you don't want to write a story with a conventional ending, don't. Plenty of people have successfully done it before.
