Ending It All

ENDING IT ALL

by Kim Kozlowski

No, no! This isn't an article on how to do away with yourself (or your critique partners!) if your story didn't work out the way you'd hope. The trick there is to keep writing, and keep learning. Below are a few suggestions to point you in the direction toward wrapping up your story, and what your critique group needs to keep in mind when you're coming down the home stretch.

Do the protagonists solve their own problems?
Remember, the hero must wear his own armor-the heroine cannot help him; he must solve his own problem. Nor can a minor character solve a problem for the protagonists.

Has author made an obvious effort to revise, edit and prepare the manuscript to the best of her ability?

Does the finished work contain these essential elements:
A strong opening situation, presented in a dramatic scene?
A conflict showing the POV character trying to solve it?

Is the conflict one with which you, as a reader, can identify?
Is there a crisis point (Darkest Moment) where all appears lost?

Is the ending satisfying to you, the reader?

Did the story level off at a conclusion?

Are all the loose ends tied up?

If the above points are missing, or weak, then a kind nudge back to the drawing board is in order. So many of us are in a big hurry to submit to an editor, like there is a ticking bomb ready to explode if we don't make that sale this year.
Okay, let me jump up on my soap box for a moment. There seems to be a kindred pressure among writers to chum out material and submit it. Some of us brag about how many rejection letters we've collected. Some have said they've papered their bathrooms with rejections. This is my personal question. Why? Why are we in such a rush to submit material when we aren't ready? And by ready I mean, we can look at our work and recognize that it obviously doesn't match the standards we buy off the book shelves?

This hurry to produce salable material has killed many an aspiring writer's creativity and career, before it even got off the ground. She'd been writing since sixth grade, but had been a member of RWA all of two years. She'd only just realized that maybe she could sell a book, instead of just dreaming about it. Urged to submit to an editor by her friends, she put together a story and ran it through her critique group, and then shipped it off to the publishers. This was her first novel written with the intention of selling. The editor's rejection truly surprised her. But she rewrote it, and put it through the critique group once again. And again, was rejected. This time, disheartened that perhaps she wasn't good enough to be published, she let rejection eat her confidence and dreams, and eventually stopped writing. Why?

Because she never gave herself time to learn. Time to take the baby steps that most of us take trying to absorb everything that goes into writing a book. And there is so much! But, it's not impossible. All you need is desire, and stamina. Staying power.

So, don't be in a rush to submit if you feel you're not ready. Take advantage of your critique group, and of contests. Learn from them. Grow from them. Read lots of books, not only in the genre in which you wish to publish, but also "how to" books. Take a writing course, like Writer's Digest, or a creative writing course at the college.

Give yourself permission to not publish this year. I did. I knocked the foot off my back and have reaped tremendous relief from pressure, which shows in my writing. I'm actually writing something that I'm enjoying, instead of writing something that everyone says is in great demand by publishers right now. Hey, in this fickle business, whose to say that a topic or genre that you love to write, and supposedly isn't "hot" or salable right now, won't be in a year? Or two, or three?

Don't let pressure - or rejection - destroy your dream. Give yourself permission to relax, to learn, to enjoy the whole wonderful process of becoming a salable writer. And should rejection slips appear on your doorstep, give yourself permission to eat a whole quart of Ben and Jerry's by yourself. And if you're too consumed with guilt to do that, call me-I let you cry on my shoulder, while I'm polishing off your ice cream.