What do you do when you have a story idea and know the beginning and the ending but not how to get from one to the other?
What do you do when you have a story idea and know the beginning and the ending but not how to get from one to the other?
That's like a computer programming problem - you know the inputs and outputs and your task is to add the processing to get from one to the other.
One approach is top-down, breaking the story into ever smaller, more manageable sections until the whole storyline is complete.
Another approach is object-oriented. Take each of the main characters and work out what has to happen to them in order to achieve their final state.
AJ
First, write the beginning and the ending, before you forget either.
Next, refine each character, flesh them out in sufficient detail that you begin to 'feel' how they act and react, both to the situation and to each other.
Now drop them into the story where your 'begining' ended and try to keep up as they do their thing.
ps
Don't be surprised if they decide the ending isn't that which you first envisaged...
" Don't be surprised if they decide the ending isn't that which you first envisaged..."
I second that.
I've started a story with a pair of interesting characters. Then, they decided to not get together. Maybe, here, I should have finished it and posted it as a no-sex story.
Know your main characters and put them in situations with the ending in mind. Depending on what happens to them will lead to other situations. Write those with the ending in mind. Add sub-plots with the ending in mind. Add minor characters when needed. The important point is — always keep the ending in mind and write toward that.
In technical terms, the beginning is the inciting incident which is what sets the conflict in motion. The ending is the conflict resolution. When putting your protagonist in situations, you're giving him mini-conflicts. When they get resolved new mini-conflicts arise. When the main conflict is resolved, the story is over.
You can define the beginning and ending, and then force the in-between to reach your desired ending.
or
You can work to a desired ending and allow your imagination to evolve your intended ending - this is my preferred methodology for a number of reasons.
You're deluding yourself, oldegrump.
You might think you know the ending, but once you start writing the damn characters take over and God only know where those idiots will take the story.
You might try explaining it to them before you start, however there is no guarantee they will agree with you (mine certainly don't!).
You know where you're starting, and you know where you want to go. Think of it like backpacking/traveling across a country with multiple people in tow, and meeting ten fold that number along the way. Now apply this quote to each character involved;
I have great respect for the past. If you don't know where you've come from, you don't know where you're going. I have respect for the past, but I'm a person of the moment. I'm here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I'm at, then I go forward to the next place. Maya Angelou
The where you're going part becomes secondary to where they have been.
My .02
When I write, I keep my mental outline as simple as possible. I know the start (the inciting incident) and the general ending, though typically the details for the ending a fuzzy, as those will change as the story progresses, and then I work out the 'way points', how the list of events which need to happen for the characters to get from the start to the end (and, typically, each way-point encompasses a chapter of its own). The rest of the story is entirely fluid, and I let the characters lead me, as they know the story better than I do, and they'll typically refuse to do anything which isn't in keeping with their characters. So, whenever you hit a roadblock, it's typically because the characters simply refuse to do what you're demanding of them.