Lately, I've been working on something new. It's a novella for an anthology (have I mentioned this before? Bah, whatever, I'm saying it again), and it's been going pretty well. I managed to reach the required word-count a few days ago and have been steady building toward the ending. Right now, my characters are languishing in the middle of a very tense scene, complete with a nasty decision that must be made. And I'm totally stuck.
The pathetic part is I know exactly why I'm stuck. I hate endings. I hate finishing books, leaving a great movie, watching good friends move away, etc. I just don't particularly want to leave that world right now. It's been a fun place to live for the past months. It's gotta be done though, and today I'm going to force one of the MC's into something she's probably not going to like me very much for, but it's the only way I'll get to "the end."
The other problem I'm facing is a little more troublesome: I know how the story needs to end (thanks to the anthology guidelines), but what I've written doesn't fit the requirements well. Ooops. I know I can fix this during revisions, but right now it's making it super hard to get those two little words down on the page. I'm bending characters to my will, not exactly what they'd do if I just let them. This makes me feel like some sort of cruel over-lord who forces people to abase themselves at his feet. Okay, maybe not, but kinda. :-)
All right, it's time to get those two little words down on paper. (Then it's time to come up with some kind of working title...*gulp*)
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I can't imagine having to fit an ending into someone else's requirements. I'm not surprised your characters aren't cooperating! But it sounds like you have all the ingredients to make it happen. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I read the fine print on the submission guidelines, lol! Otherwise, things would be very different.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment :)