The Last Fifty Pages by James Scott Bell

Author:James Scott Bell
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780910355438
Publisher: Compendium Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

7

BRAINSTORMING ENDINGS

Don’t skip this section, pantsers! You may be so against planning that your knickers get in a twist (even if you don’t wear knickers), but what I’m telling you here will prove helpful.

Several times in my career I’ve decided to write a novel just by getting an idea for a great climactic scene. I’ve envisioned courtroom dramas, unique deaths, and sometimes emotionally resonant scenes between characters

I once wrote a whole screenplay because I pictured a father-son reconciliation scene while listening to the musical rendition of “Unchained Melody.” That scene was so powerful me I wanted to write the script just to find out how to get there.

I did write the script, and sent it to Ed Harris, but never heard back, which is a pity because it would have earned him a Best Actor Oscar.

Ahem.

You will note, of course, that this is one step further than knowing the ending shape (as discussed in Chapter 5). This is more specific and therefore more emotional to you, the author.

Emotion is the great driving force of fiction, so the more of it you have for your story, the better.

Remember, a specific ending is not etched in stone. It’s always subject to change without notice. But the added inner fire it gives you will elevate all your writing.

Further, having a specific ending in place before you start writing opens up all sorts of organic story and scene ideas. The brainstormed ending is your writer’s mind sending you a message. It’s saying there’s something deep here and I want you to explore it!

Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, North By Northwest, came about because Hitch envisioned a climactic chase across the giant stone heads of Mount Rushmore. He hired a well-known screenwriter, Ernest Lehman, to flesh out everything else. And boy, did he.

I’ve heard mystery writers say something along the following lines: I just write. I write without knowing who committed the murder. Because if I don’t know who the murderer is, it’s pretty certain the reader won’t, either.

While this sentiment sounds logical, it is based on a false dichotomy. If you do know who your killer is going to be that does not, perforce, mean the reader will have a clue. The art of writing a mystery is in the hiding of things, the red herrings, and the skillful reveal. You don’t get those things simply by virtue of not knowing who the villain is beforehand.

Let’s just say this line of thought is more or less fodder for the pantsing writer. Which is fine as long as you realize that your first draft is for discovery, and once discovered you’ll have a lot of re-writing to do.

That’s one approach.

The other is to know your ending so you can plant clues and red herrings skillfully and purposefully all along the way.

This doesn’t mean you have to massively outline your novel before writing it. As one of the great twisty-turny thriller writers, Harlan Coben (a non-outliner) has said, knowing the ending makes the writing “like driving from New Jersey to California.

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