Novel Closing: “How?” He begs.

This week I sought to finish my novel My Undead Mother-in-law and failed. I’m writing the last chapter. I’ve planned what needs to be done in my outline. I wrote one scene–and got stuck. Hence this blog: “Novel Closing: How?”

What to do? Get unstuck. Keep writing, even if it just means fleshing out my outline.

Since I’m bearing my soul here, I thought I’d share my time usage this week:

Date

Start

End

Duration

Start Words

End words

Words

Words/hour

Running total of words

Running total of time

Chapter

2/6/2017	10:30	12:00	1:30							Write blog on Zombie Turkeys audiobook survey
2/7/2017	11:20	11:41	0:21	10,346	10,389	43	122.86			Chapter 10, added characters
	11:20	12:35	1:15	50,027	50,886	859	687.20			Chapter 10 , opening scene
			1:15:00			902	721.60	62164.00	165:09:00	Create Character list and description
2/7/2017	10:47	11:41	0:54	10,389	10,389	0	0.00			Chapter 10,
	10:47	12:35	1:48	50,886	50,886	0	0.00
	10:47	13:21	2:34							Blog post – poll on graphic novel Create Character list and description
			2:34:00			0	0.00	0.00	2:34:00

What? You don’t track your writing every day? Well, you should. Let me explain.

Why I Track My Writing, Daily, While Wondering “Novel Closing: How?”

A brick layer, at the end of the work day, can see the bricks he has laid. A plumber, at the end of her day can see the fixed leak or the new sink, toilet, or sink she has installed. What does a writer see?

If you change a paragraph, you might lose five words. Or add ten. If you write a new scene, how do you measure it? Especially with a first draft the scene might be deleted in the next draft. Or made into a whole chapter. How do you measure what you do as a writer?

Thanks to Rachel Aaron (Her blog’s here) and her book 2,000 to 10,000, subtitled “Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love”, I’ve learned to track what I write each day. Even if I write only thirty words, that’s still progress. Not the zero days you see in the log above.

One good thing about a lack of progress, it shows you have a block.  I’ve had this block for about a week now. The big thing is I’ve actually made a start. But why do I have a block?

Novel Closing: How? A Block Party for This Author

I have a list of things to write for my last chapter: plot threads to resolve, surprise twists and endings, and a few jokes. But what should I write? What does the reader want in the last chapter?

I haven’t asked that question before I started writing this blog post. Thank you, blog readers, for my psychotherapy session!

The first goal of novel writing is always entertainment. This comprises satisfaction at plot thread resolution and pleased surprise at unexpected twists. “I never thought that would happen!  Especially by that person.”

In many ways, writing prose or poetry is like music: you want surprises, but you also want predictability too. Great music and great prose mixes the two together in balance. In the Three Stooges, when Moe picks up a hammer, you know he will hit Larry or Curly with it. They then surprise you when they block the blow with a trash can lid. Then when Moe hits them in the stomach with the hammer, he surprises you again. Then when the poor victim lowers the trash can lid to protect the stomach, and Moe finally hits in the head with the hammer, you get plot resolution.

So I’ve gone from great music to great prose to the Three Stooges. That’s how my mind works. But I think I’ve gotten past my block.

Conclusion: Novel Closing: How?

The answer, for me, is, give the reader what they want. Have the hero kiss the heroine. Surprise them by having the hero kiss the heroine’s horse, and leave your readers disappointed that your book has finished.

Now, I just have to get out and do it.

The End, of the block. The beginning of the end of the last chapter of My Undead Mother-in-law.