WIP Challenge - Check In, Day 19 - Monday

[the_rck]

Poll #14082

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3

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Today I

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planned
2 (66.7%)

researched
0 (0.0%)

wrote
2 (66.7%)

sent to beta
0 (0.0%)

edited
1 (33.3%)

posted
1 (33.3%)

rested
0 (0.0%)

did something else
0 (0.0%)

How I feel about today is

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Mean: 5.33 Median: 5 Std. Dev 1.25

Awful 1		0 (0.0%)
2		0 (0.0%)
3		0 (0.0%)
4		1 (33.3%)
5		1 (33.3%)
6		0 (0.0%)
7		1 (33.3%)
8		0 (0.0%)
9		0 (0.0%)
Wonderful 10		0 (0.0%)

Today's discussion question: How do you know when a story is finished?

I don't always know when a story has ended. It's a common question I ask my beta readers. I try to end things after some sort of major movement has happened, usually something internal to the main character. I think not knowing when the story's over is a side effect of often not knowing exactly where the story's going when I start out.

Comments

[lea_hazel]

It depends on the story. The very short stuff, it's not meant to "go" anywhere. There's an idea and I lay it out, and it's meant to represent the situation as it is. Usually it's more character rumination than action. Ship fic ends when the couple gets together, unless it's a crack ship, in which case I may be satisfied with getting them in the same room and/or interacting positively. Hurt/comfort ends when the character has attained some sort of comfort, whether it's a solution to their problem or just some relief from it. Plotty stuff is complex, because I tend to go for action-light plots, which rules out, "we killed the thing!" as an ending indicator.