Go Directly to the Ending

Pencils&Lipstick podcast · Dec 11, 2023

Transcript

Hey everyone, welcome back to Pencils & Lipstick. This is episode 209 of the show and I am your hostess Kat Caldwell and you have me today. I am sorry about last week but there was no amount of tea drinking that I could do to get through 20 minutes even without coughing and just more than coughing it was like breaking along a ribcage bone coughing it was pretty bad and I barely had a voice so I pretty much got through the minimum of life last week and I hope that you are feeling well there's this weird virus going along and all the doctors have told us that it's just a virus and, you know, just keep drinking warm, warm tea. That's what we're doing. And I don't know, I hope you're feeling well. I hope that you haven't gotten this. And if, if you have, I am so sorry,

but cuddle up with a warm blanket, get some something hot, your favorite hot beverage and listen in. We are going to talk a little bit about how we can round out this year on our writing and our stories and wherever you are on that. Before we get into it, this is gonna be a short episode, so if you guys would please subscribe to this. We are actually only, we actually only have one more episode for the year, so next week is our last episode of the year. I'm not gonna put one out on Christmas Day because I have a feeling y 'all will be with your families and not so much thinking about what I'm talking about with writing,

and I myself will be with my husband and with his family in Spain. So I hope you have lovely holidays. I will see you next week, but in case you might forget about us or you get a new iPhone or a new Samsung or new phone in general, be sure to subscribe to the show so that come next week and come January, you are ready to listen to all the fabulous people that I have lined up for you. So I have been interviewing people that no one's wanted to come out at the end of the year except for Gabriela, and if you missed Gabriela's episode, it was the last show, it's 208.

You definitely wanna go listen to Gabriela. She was so much fun to listen to. But everyone else, we have so many people coming in in January and February and March. It's going to be really jam -packed with interviews, if you like those. You're going to meet new people. You're going to learn new things. It's really, really fun. So be sure to subscribe. If you want to give me a review, I would appreciate it, of course. It's always good to have new reviews in there. So wherever you're listening, especially if it's Apple or Spotify, whatever platform really you're listening to, it's great to have sort of new reviews up there. I've got lots of reviews. Thank you to all of you who have reviewed. It's really fun to go in there sometimes and read them and I just love seeing that my guests and anything I could talk about might be helping you writers out there. So if

If you don't know, you can follow us on Instagram at pencilsandlipsick, all spelled out. I am technically on TikTok as well, pencilslipsick, I haven't been on there in a little bit. It's kind of hard when you have no voice and no energy. Or you can follow just me and my writings at katcaldwell .author on Instagram. But today I want to talk to you guys about a couple different things. As we come into the end of the year, I feel like this is like the time where we think about all the things we did and all the things we didn't do, kind of depends on our personality. And I'm of the personality that like I usually dwell on the things that I didn't do or where I'm not at, for good and for bad, right? Like that's not the greatest personality point about me, you know.

But if you're anything like me, if you've been reflecting on your story or the stories you want to write in 2024, if you're kind of figuring out what to do for the next few weeks, maybe you've just finished NaNoWriMo and you're like, I don't know what to do with this story. Or you're like me and you didn't do NaNoWriMo, but you have like half done a manuscript. So I am finishing up, Bended Loyalty is finished and it's just waiting for the editor. Bended Love I am editing and going through. But then I have like the historical romance that's like three quarters of the way done and then I have the new series that I'm sort of plotting and not yet writing. And so my mind is constantly filled with like, okay, I have all these things I wanna do and this much is left to the end of the year, right? So today is December 11th. I'm on the wrong calendar here. So yeah, we're in December 11th.

So it's like, okay, I have maybe three weeks and of those three weeks, it's jam -packed full of family stuff, right? Or shopping or baking or whatever it is. Tree trimming, I don't know. Traveling. So really we're reducing down the time that we have. Like Most of you out there are either full -time parents or full -time caregivers or full -time workers or all of the above, right? And very few of us are full -time writers, but even if you are a full -time writer, this is the time of year where your writing time is really compressed.

So there are ways around this. Like if you are totally cool with just putting it aside until 2024, good for you. Like, you're probably the healthiest mentally, as far as writers go, so, you know, kudos. If you're like most writers and you're like, I can't do that, I have to write, like, okay, let's talk about that. What can we write? So A, you could use your time to read or to watch shows. I'm going to give you permission to watch shows or movies. It is actually really, really good for you to be immersed in storytelling and to check out different types of storytelling. I know that it kind of ruins shows or movies sometimes to be looking at it from a writer's perspective, but I'm gonna encourage you to do that anyway. Pick out your favorite Christmas movies or take the time to watch something that you wouldn't normally watch and look at it from the point of view of a writer. So I did this. I was on the plane. We were delayed. I had like all this time just sit on the tarmac and thankfully these little

TVs work now even when you're not in the air. So I started watching The Last of Us, which is not a show I would normally watch. It is like fungus zombie apocalypse. I don't typically like ugly monsters. I was pleasantly surprised that it was easy to close my eyes through the ugly parts because there weren't too many. I was also surprised at how many plot holes there are in it. But what I was really, really into was the story, the premise of this show. It's only nine episodes now. It's kind of a bummer because the next season doesn't come out until 2025, but it's also great because then I'm not going to binge nine more episodes. So I actually have to stop watching it. The whole premise of this zombie, fungal, apocalyptic show is love and how far love goes and who finds love still in the midst of the end of the world and what

you would do for love. It's really interesting. I highly recommend it, actually, even if you don't really like monsters. It's a really great show, but I'm going to encourage you to watch the shows that are... to find those shows that are always on the streaming networks, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, whatever you, Paramount. There's so many of them. The ones that kind of always pop up around this season. What are the ones that are timeless? What are the the shows that are trending, why? Sit down and watch them, watch a timeless one and see why does it stick with everyone? Why do people watch it several times? Why do they watch it every year? Why is it still worth this business to put this movie or this show up? Then watch one that is trending. Why are people getting into this?

You just might be surprised. And I encourage you to watch something that might not be your cup of tea or might not be the one that you always go towards because you're going to learn something about storytelling. Um, I want you to especially pay attention to the climax of the movie or the show. And for the show, you're going to want to look at the climax per episode as well as probably the climax to the show overall, especially if it's a, if it's a short -lived one. And I want you to pay attention to the ending. So you also have to, little caveat here, you also have to realize that visual media tells story differently than paper and ink, okay? So keep this in mind always. Visual media is going to feed your visual senses a lot more than what you can do on paper. So you're going to want to be careful to, to not completely translate all that you see in the storytelling elements of visual media onto your book as you type it or write it out. But pay attention to the ending. What does it tell you? How is it satisfying? What is timeless about it? What's new about it? How did the characters come together? What decisions did they make? Did they leave any cliffhangers? Did they tell you everything or did they just give you a taste of something? And how can you then take those elements and put them into your ending? Endings can be really difficult for writers sometimes. And this doesn't depend at all on whether it's a standalone or a series. Endings have to really bring together the entire plot, the entire premise, and they have to be really satisfying. So there's a lot of pressure on your endings just as much as they are on your beginnings, but your ending, if it hits the nail on the head, it will influence your beginning. And I think in the author world, the reason why I want you guys to, you know, take this time to, of course, read, but sometimes it's easier to watch, especially if you can, you know, that's time with your

family or whatever, watch these stories and pay attention to the endings, maybe even take notes on them. Because what I want you to pay attention to is that ending and then reflect on that ending compared to the beginning. In the indie author world, I talked about this in my newsletter this last week, beginnings are talked about a lot. And even in the traditional publishing world, beginnings have a ton of emphasis. Why? Because that is the first thing that the agent looks that if they get past your query, they're going to probably look at your beginning chapter and it better hook them.

And there's a reason for that, right? So there is valid reason for this emphasis that we put on our beginnings. But if you are struggling with your beginning or if you're writing and rewriting and rewriting your beginning, I'm gonna encourage you to skip ahead to the ending. I want you to pay attention to endings and if movies are not your thing, pick up your favorite books and reread the last chapter, books you've already read. Reread the last chapters and reflect on what the author does correctly. Why is that ending satisfying? Same questions, right?

Why is it satisfying? What emotions does it evoke in you? What has been wrapped up and what has been left to the reader's imagination? How much did they show versus tell? How much did they tell? Really analyze these endings, whether they are books or movies or shows, and try to understand and then compare them to the beginning. Then what I want you to do is go and write your ending. If you already have an ending written, I want you to rewrite it. And I want you to rewrite it with a different point of view, in a different place, with a different ending happening, with a different decision happening. Let's say your character decides to go back to their spouse. What would the ending look like if they didn't? Now understand that this doesn't change your book. This is completely separate, but I want you to look at it and to make sure

Especially if you just went through NaNoWriMo 50 ,000 words probably is not the ending of your book. So skip ahead to the ending and see what happens it would be it would Benefit you to figure out that Semi perfect ending really like let's be honest. It's it's a draft. But the idea of the ending being perfect and and realizing what it might change in your book. It's better to do that now than to be rejected from an agent because they don't like the ending and then you have to redo the entire book or to get to the ending and realize I don't like this ending and now I have to change my entire book. I know this because I have done this, okay? Everything I tell you guys to do

is because I'm learning the hard way. So I want you guys to go all the way to the ending and write it out. And I did this for the historical romance, which is interesting, like it's three quarters of the way done, right? I just need to get pretty much the climax scenes in there and then sort of the denouement in there. But the ending's done, I know exactly where the ending's going. And the reason that I now teach this is because it's worked so well for me. There are many times that I've gotten to the end of the book and I haven't really known how to end it. And this happens to me especially in short stories. And so when it was suggested to me that I write the ending right away and write it in several different ways from different point of views and different things happening, it just started clicking so much better.

So I know what the ending is going to be and I know where I'm going. and then I can make sure that what I've written in the beginning is going to reflect onto the end. So it's like a mirror, right? Like we start here and we're going through the mirror and we're ending up over here, but we can still see the beginning. Now remember your readers are most likely reading your book within a few days to a few weeks, whereas you're probably working on it for a few weeks, few months, few years.

So you can, you as a writer might have a lot of space in between that one side of the mirror to the other side of the mirror, but the reader doesn't. And so what you want to make sure about is that the beginning has really like, it's taking that, I see it as like refracted light, you know, like when you're doing that experiment in middle school and so you have the mirror there and it's reflecting through and you get the rainbow. Like you want that whole rainbow to hit the ending, right? So you can't start topics that you're not going to wrap up at the end. You can't have the character, you know, be one way in the beginning and just completely opposite the end. Yes, they want to grow, but they still kind of have to be the same character. It's interesting, going back to The Last of Us, there's two – it's two characters that aren't super likable and yet you like them and you want them to succeed. And I think you have a little grace for them because it is like the end of the world and what a crappy apocalypse that is to have like fungus, you know, like fungus monsters everywhere.

But like, the little girls in this day and age, in a regular world, would be a brat, right? She's like, oh my gosh. And she annoys, I can't remember, Joel, I think, like annoys him. And then he's really not a nice guy to her. And you have sympathy for him because of some backstory that you understand. But it gets to the point where you're kind of like, man, are you gonna make the right choice here. And in the end, they have a growth, right? They, you see them mature, you see them change, but they don't change their personalities. And I will harp on this until the end of time. We never really change our personalities. We grow, we mature, we get better at stuff. But you know, if you're a high achiever, you're always gonna be a high achiever. You might not like take it out on your spouse anymore when you don't get things achieved, but you're still gonna be a high achiever, right? If you're really high in woo, you're always gonna be high in woo, even if you learn how to curb that so that you're not like all over the place. Maybe you can learn to organize a little bit, right? So we never really completely 180 our personality, but we do grow and we do mature. And so what you need to realize is like, who do I want this person to be at the end? And how does it then, like, backwards, like, taking the rainbow, like, back into just the white light?

Like, who is that person here not fully matured? So I'm going to encourage you to write your ending and to write it at least three different ways. Okay? So whether it's the person's point of view, whether it's what is actually happening, what What would it change if their decision, if they don't get what they want? What would it change, how would it change the story if they do get what they want? And what, how would it change the story maybe like if they've matured in a different way and a different personality trait, what would it change the story if they actually didn't mature or like the side character makes a different decision? So figure out, brainstorm a couple different ways that this ending could be different. And then, a lot of times, it helps people to set a timer and just start writing, because the timer sort of helps your brain not focus too much on like, oh, I'm being forced to do this thing that I actually kind of think that I already know how I want this to be, right? This is just an exercise. It's a fun way to make sure, maybe you know, you'll know at the end of this, know the right ending is the first one. And, you know, I already knew that and Kat can just shove her advice. But you might be surprised on how you might want to change it or how you might understand your characters better or how you might think about your characters in a little bit different way.

And if you're writing a series, you know, maybe you'll actually come up with something. The brain is amazing and sometimes comes up with like, oh, and actually I'm going to go this way for book two or book three instead of this way. Um, I really think that playing around with that ending is going to help you. It will, especially going back to the beginning, it will help you in the rewrites of the beginning. Instead of just sitting down and rewriting and rewriting and rewriting that beginning, kind of stuck on that same hamster cycle, if you really understand on where your characters are gonna end up, you can then backtrack to where they need to begin. So that is my advice for you now. As our time is compressed, like I bet that you can find enough time between now and New Year's to write a couple different endings. Maybe they're not great grammar wise, but who cares? This is just getting ideas out, right? It's the brainstorming time. It's maybe just going with some dialogue. How would the dialogue change and how would that change things?

Again, don't think that this has to be like the perfect ending. We're brainstorming the ideas of where the story will end. And then take the time to reflect on what that means then for your beginning. But do the fun part first, right? Watch a movie, watch one of the timeless ones, see how it ends and why it's still like that best ending for that story. Watch something that you don't normally watch and watch it to the end, watch something that's trending, try to figure out what is so satisfying about this, the show or this movie that people are flocking to it.

Even if it's not great, you can probably learn about why it's not so great, right? So don't count it as time lost if it ends up not being the greatest one, but then you can reflect on why doesn't that ending work? Like, why wouldn't I have done this? What would I have done differently? And if you're not in the middle of a story right now and you don't have anything to write the ending of, I challenge you to rewrite the ending of the show or the movie that you watch. Like, that might be fun to do, especially if it's not that satisfying of an ending to you. How would you have changed it? How would you have, where would you have put those characters and what would you have done to make them change differently?

What would have been more satisfying to you? Or if you write, if you challenge yourself to watch something that's not of the genre you usually write, how could you write it for your genre? So even if you're between book ideas or whatever, you never know how that writing exercise might spark the next story. So, I know that's a little bit of a short episode today. We're going to be back next week with another short episode. Just these little challenges to keep you writing through the holidays and into 2024. Again, if you plan to be here in 2024, I would love to have you because we have amazing people coming in. We have Paula Judith Johnson coming in. and we Emily Myers coming in.

We have people coming in to talk about how you can pitch yourself to a podcast with your book and your brand. We're gonna talk about writing. We have so many amazing interviews coming in, both authors and people who will help you in your author career. So be sure to hit subscribe so that you don't forget about pencils and lipstick through the holidays. I hope you have a fabulous week. I hope you feel better if you're feeling sick, and I hope you do not get sick if you're feeling great. But go out there, let me know what this challenge did for you, if you did it, I'd love to hear back from you. You can find me on all the social media, katcaldwell .author, on Instagram, pencilsandlipsick, all spelled out on Instagram. It's probably the easiest way to get ahold of me. Let me know if you found a different ending because of this little challenge that I've given you. I'd love to hear from you, and with that, I will see you next week.