If you have heard the song 'In the End' by Linkin Park, you may be familiar with the lyrics:
'I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter'
The lyrics are deep, and if you listen to the whole thing, the song is filled with emotions and meaning. But in this post, I want to talk about the contrasting aspect. I'm determined to find an ending for my novel, and it really matters!
So, here's what I've done in the past three days:
As planned, I worked on the novel's flow for a couple of days. I managed to condense my entire novel into 10 precise event pointers. What I realized is that mapping out a flow is not a good way to get started.
To seek some direction, I watched a masterclass episode by Anita Nair, for which I had enrolled long ago. The good news is: it saved me.
Anita suggests that before anything else, write a synopsis of your novel. Ask yourself why you are writing this story and what it is about. I had watched this particular episode from her masterclass long ago and had completed this task, but the result was not quite satisfactory back then.
Yesterday, I took pen and paper, briefly narrated the entire story to myself, and let the words flow freely onto the paper. Everything was coming together and making more sense—it was aligned with what I intended to write, until—
The ending of my novel brought me to a pause. I have multiple endings in my head, but I need to find or, better yet, discover the one that fits well into the narrative. I let the synopsis sit for a day and revisited it today, actually reading it aloud, but I couldn't create an ending scene that would bring the entire story to a satisfying close.
There's no need to rush—I remind myself. I will allow the perfect ending to come to me naturally, hopefully by tomorrow. And if not, I can always brainstorm.
I'll keep you updated on my writing journey. Until then, goodbye, and embrace your life experiences!
PS: I have also been learning French for a couple of days—because I love to keep the spark of my daily life alive, and the idea of learning new languages has always thrilled me—so here's a little of what I can say in French: Je suis Pooja, et je suis un writer 😉
If you understood what I wrote in French, write to me in the comments!