The Day
Rolled out at 2:40. Not quite as tired this morning.
Spent a short while doing emails, etc. to wake up, then turned to the writing computer. Did a short session of around 700 words, then took a walk. Only went just under 4 miles, but it was over rocky, sloping terrain so it was a good workout. Also took time to get a lot of pictures as well as a few videos. Still learning the video feature on my camera so I play with it now and then.
Downloading pics now (and writing this journal entry).
Fixed and ate breakfast, showered, checked and answered email, then read Dean’s blog post. Interesting.
Topic of the Night: Climax Versus Ending
In yesterday’s post I mentioned that all I have left to write on this book is the final big climax and the ending, and I mentioned that those are not the same thing.
No matter the story you’re telling, no matter the length, the climax is just the climax. It isn’t the ending. If you write the climax and then skip a blank line and write The End, you’ll lose readers in droves for future books. What happened as the result of the climax? That is the ending.
The easiest example to use (as is often the case) is from a film. In Star Wars (the last of the original ones), the final big climactic scene was the one that culminated with the explosion of the Death Star and the connotation that the Empire was finished. I won’t even begin to discuss how improbable it was that the Empire actually lost to a rag-tag band of misfits. US Revolutionary War anyone?
But that wasn’t the ending. For the ending, the writer skipped ahead a few weeks and showed the big red carpet, with the princess (or queen, whatever) hanging medals on everyone within reach, including a big tawny carpet. Remember? That was the ending.
In another favorite film, the final in the original Lonesome Dove series, again the writer skipped ahead from the climax to have a nervous reporter say to Captain Call that he was a man of vision. At that point, Call mumbled “Yeah, one hell of a vision” sarcastically and stared off into space as the director paraded all his dead friends past him.
The climax is the climax. The ending is the part that lets the viewer (films) and the reader (books) know it’s okay to get up and find something else to do. The story is over.
Finally, in a story like the one I’m currently writing (remember, I’m on the eighth book in the same story), the ending serves to let the reader know it’s all right to find something else to do for now, but it also entices the reader to want to read the next book in the story.
And I hope to reach that point today, or maybe tomorrow.
We’ll see.
Today’s Writing
Okay. Good day of writing today.
After the initial session of around 700 this morning, I had three more good sessions, each about an hour long. So the big climax is done. Now I have only the denouement (ending) to wrap it up and lead into the next book. That should fall into place tomorrow.
Fiction words: 3503
Writing of The Battle of Tres Caballos (Book 8)
Day 1…… 4125 words. Total words to date…… 4125
Day 2…… 2624 words. Total words to date…… 6749
Day 3…… 2766 words. Total words to date…… 9515
Day 4…… 1412 words. Total words to date…… 10927
Day 5…… 3441 words. Total words to date…… 14368
Day 6…… 1052 words. Total words to date…… 15420
Day 7…… 2486 words. Total words to date…… 17906
Day 8…… 3201 words. Total words to date…… 21107
Day 9…… 3186 words. Total words to date…… 24293
Day 10… 1585 words. Total words to date…… 25878
Day 11… 2178 words. Total words to date…… 28056
Day 12… 1730 words. Total words to date…… 29786
Day 13… 1083 words. Total words to date…… 30869
Day 14… 1784 words. Total words to date…… 32653
Day 15… 4018 words. Total words to date…… 36671
Day 16… 3116 words. Total words to date…… 39787
Day 17… 1678 words. Total words to date…… 41469
Day 18… 1805 words. Total words to date…… 43274
Day 19… 2713 words. Total words to date…… 45987
Day 20… 1541 words. Total words to date…… 47528
Day 21… 3503 words. Total words to date…… 51031
Total fiction words for the month…………… 5044
Total fiction words for the year……………… 447444