Here we are, at the end of all things
In the pack:
- Geoff Dyer on how endings are a prelude to re-writing
- Michel Faber on the power of endings
- Eva Verde on crafting a satisfying end
As we near the end of another challenging year many of us continue to seek refuge in fiction. Reading is an escape driven by imagination. We imagine the characters to life, believe in their stories, and as readers, are capable of great leaps of imagination. And so how we leave those characters, where their stories end, can be emotive.
Here’s a thought: there is no such thing as an ending. Not in life and not in fiction. Because the characters we get to know, fictional or otherwise, don’t end with their stories. Even in death a character’s life goes on ahead of them, carried by the people who knew them, left behind on scraps of paper, legacies of blurred facts, photographs, anecdotes.
Perhaps in fiction it’s more important to consider where things are left, rather than ‘what happens at the end?’
Happy writing!
National Centre for Writing,
December 2021
