[Contact NZIBS]

What are the tools required to finish an article with finesse and evocation. General discussion !!!

[Jill Malcolm]

Here are some thoughts:

A story needs to end with a sense of purpose or drama.

The ending should leave the reader satisfied.

It should have a lift and end memorably.

Some stories have no sense of closure and read as if the writer has just run out of steam.

The ending is not the place to cram in bits of information that you haven’t managed to fit in elsewhere.

[Contact NZIBS]

Hi jill ,  Thanks for the feedback given pertaining to this topic. I guess for me my biggest flaw in closing a written piece of work is my propensity to over work and re – work it to much within the editing process and it then starts to lose its finesse.

Regards.

Piers.

 

[Jill Malcolm]

Hmmm… Not sure what you mean by finesse, Piers. But I too often rework and rework endings because they are important.  I think it is the inner rhythm of the sentence that needs to be right. I often say it and hear how it sounds.  If it doesn’t have the drama I think it should have, I rearrange or reconstruct the ending.  The ear can pick up  the rhythm of prose better than the eye. Does that make sense?

Here’s an example:  The last time I saw the ship, her masts were casting long shadows on the water.

Compared to:  The ship’s masts were casting long shadows on the water. I never saw her again.

Which one has more drama?

 

[Contact NZIBS]

Hi Jill ,  what I was refering to with finesse is I guess its vitality and exuberance. The first example you gave with the ending ” long shadows in the water ” is for me more active as apposed to passive so consequently more dramatic ?? but again I could be way off.

[Contact NZIBS]

Sorry I stand corrected ” The ships masts were casting long shadows along the water, I never saw her again. ” is more active so consequently more dramatic ?.

[Jill Malcolm]

Yes I agree that the ending ” I never saw her again” is the more dramatic.