What I'm Reading

I love to read. And I read a lot. Mostly fiction. I like to be entertained, to be completely removed from MY world and placed in a story I've never been in before. But at least quarterly, I try to read something educational, usually about writing.

Right now I'm reading, Hooked by Les Edgerton. The subtitle is, "write fiction that grabs readers at page one and never lets them go". Sounded good to me; that's what every writer wants. And it's desperately what every wanna-be-writer wants.

But what I really need is to find this book's functional opposite. No, not a book that pushes readers away after 3-5 pages. More like, a book that ties all of the loose ends together so that the book ends in a way that satisfies the reader.

I can create believable, lovable characters. I can even create relationships between those characters. I'm not great at irony and suspense, but I think I can tell a pretty good story. And I love to write. I LOVE to sit at my PC and type away, making up the story as I go along, or wading through notes that I've made to put things into a more logical order. What I can't seem to do is FINISH a book.

Sometimes the problem is that I simply don't know what the ending of the story is. I've recently started exercising that part of my story-telling. I see an advertisement for a new movie or an upcoming episode of a television show and I try to imagine how it would end. What twist would there be that would surprise the reader, but still be believable? Who makes it to the end of the story and who doesn't? Is there a way to work the ending so that a sequel is expected/warranted?

Sometimes the end of the book is too predictable or not very interesting. I hate that. Whether I'm reading it or writing it, I hate that. But I have a difficult time shifting the story to an alternate ending. Sometimes I'll read the last couple of chapters or my chapter headings to see if a new idea comes to me. I'm just not that practiced at the endings.

And sometimes, I'm just enjoying the characters and their story so much that I don't want it to end. I have to admit, this happens to me a lot when I'm reading as well. I hate to see the end of the book come.

Nevertheless, every book that has a beginning MUST have an ending. And although I am enjoying reading this handy-dandy book on creating amazing beginnings, I need to find it's mirror. I'm sure it's out there. So, if any of you have any suggestions, please let me know.