Ending first for me, then the middle wanders off and the ending gets rewritten anyway. Your teenagers win on draft one only.
Do you know your last line before you start, or does it find you?
Thought
Ending first for me, then the middle wanders off and the ending gets rewritten anyway. Your teenagers win on draft one only.
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Most of my writing happens in a parked car with twenty minutes before pickup, so I've started drafting endings first. Something to aim the car at, so to speak.
My teenagers think this is cheating. They say a story should surprise the person writing it too.
So which are you? Ending first, ending last, or rewriting it eleven times anyway? And how do you know when a last line is actually done?
Thoughts
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PermalinkTwenty minutes before pickup is a real deadline, and aiming the car at an ending makes a lot of sense with that clock. It reminds me of John Irving, who has said he writes his last sentence before anything else. I bet your teenagers would still be surprised by how many times that ending moves before it is done :)
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PermalinkEnding first for me, then the middle wanders off and the ending gets rewritten anyway. Your teenagers win on draft one only.
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Do you write the ending first, or let it show up on its own? Tell me how you know a last line is the right one.