Writing the Ending

Sorry about the hiatus! March was a very difficult month! I’m onto a subject that I’m having to deal with very soon which is the ending. I’ve been struggling for quite a while with “finishing” my historical fiction novel. Last year I even made a bet with my husband that I would have a draft done. I lost. This year he wants to bet me again. I can’t lose this time and I do believe I have a good chance of winning. I’m much closer and it really is time to wrap it up.

I’m both thankful and nervous at the prospect of writing the ending to my book. I came up with five different ideas of how to end it and have since narrowed it down. I realized that some of them would basically be cheating. Ending it to end it and I can’t do that. How do you decide where your book will end? I have a difference circumstance because Judy Garland’s life goes a certain way. The question isn’t really what will happen, but where do I cut it to maintain the closing that I want?

In having to think about the ending, I was reminded of a quote from the movie Secret Window/Stephen King’s Secret Window, Secret Garden. Forgive me if the story line is phrased differently, but the movie line is this: “You know, the only thing that matters is the ending. It’s the most important part of the story, the ending. And this one… is very good. This one’s perfect.” 

We all want our endings to be perfect and that can be a lot of pressure. I guess we just need to try one and see what happens.