A Chance to End It All

Some well-known authors have been writing an online serial novella. They started it back in April for Lexus magazine. Now, Lexus magazine wants someone else to finish the story called “In the Belly of the Beast.”

The nine authors who’ve each written a chapter are:

• Richard McCann, author of the autobiographical novel Mother of Sorrows

• Curtis Sittenfeld, author of bestselling novel Prep and The Man of My Dreams

• Brian Antoni, author of Paradise Overdose and contributor to Naked Came the Manatee

• Bob Shacochis, National Book Award winner and author of Easy in the Islands, The Next New World and Swimming in the Volcano

• Pam Houston, author of Cowboys Are My Weakness, Waltzing the Cat and Sight Hound

• Robert Ferrigno, author of the bestselling Horse Latitudes, The Wake-Up and Prayers for the Assassin

• Mary Otis, author of Yes, Yes, Cherries

• Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres and Ten Days in the Hills

• Arthur Phillips, National Book Award winner and author of Prague, The Egyptologist, and Angelica

I recently heard from Genna Mazor with Channel V Media who said Lexus is inviting writers to submit their 1,000-word ending to the cross-country adventure story. The best ending will be featured in the next issue of the magazine.

So, here’s the deal…you can go read the story as it is now and if you like it and think you know how to end it all, then give it a try. Submit your conclusion to “In the Belly of the Beast” and see if you’ll win and make it into the magazine. But you’ll have to write fast. Lexus magazine is taking submissions only until November 16.

If you decide to enter, leave a comment and let us know so we can be rooting for you.

Climax and Denouement

While sitting in the doctor’s waiting room this morning, I finished The Poet by Michael Connelly. Had a few problems with the ending, but I’ll try not to give it away here, in case there’s anyone left in the world who hasn’t read it.

I mentioned yesterday that the protagonist did something I considered stupid. Still think that. I know why the author had him do it, but that’s sort of the point. It felt like the author having him do it in order for something to happen a little later on. But it also felt out of character.

This action eventually led the protagonist down a path that also felt forced. There was no set up, no clues, left that would allow the reader to understand the protagonist’s conclusion, so, naturally, the protag/author had to lay it out for us. This led us down a wrong path. But that’s okay. It’s just that the correct path had never been set up or alluded to with any clues either.

I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the book. I’m just saying the ending didn’t satisfy me.

Celebrate Your Climax

We all know how tough it is to write a book, don't we? Man, those beginnings are hard. You have to grab your reader on the first page, hopefully the first sentence. Then you have to keep them hooked through the opening scene. And, boy, then comes the middle. That's when things start to sag (I'm talking writing here, not age). It's difficult to keep the tension, action, and interest.

Then there's the climax. Those are really hard to write. The climax has to be, well, climatic. It has to wrap up things, bring a sense of finality to the plot, closure to your theme. The bad guy gets whupped or the danger is fought through and conquered. Decisions are made; lives are changed.

You've brought your readers this far, from your opening line, through the turns and twists of the middle, right up to the end. Now it's time to tell 'em how it all erupts in a volcanic spew.

Wrong.

It's tempting to try to wrap it up quickly ... or to make sure you've tied up all the loose ends by re-capping those threads ... or to avoid writing the emotional, action-packed scene by glazing over the climax. If you do that, you cheat yourself and your readers.

Don't tell the climax. Always, always show the climax. Put your readers in the scene so that they're living it along with your characters. Make the climax vivid and dramatic. Use dialogue and action. Let the readers feel what the characters are experiencing. Put the readers into
the characters' heads.

This holds true whether your climax involves two men/women duking it out ... or one woman fighting against a raging tornado ... or the townsfolk rallying in support of the ousted principal ... or a man finding his inner center and refusing to commit suicide.

Whatever your climax is, it will be more believable, heart-wrenching, and satisfying if you show me, you let me live it. I want to see the chaos, feel the blows, cry over the decisions.

Don't tell me that her tears were salty. I want to taste them as they drip onto her lip. The bomb doesn't explode inside the nunnery -- if you tell me that then I've missed seeing it happen. And I do want to see it. I want to see the shrapnel ripping through the surrounding shrubbery; I want to feel the heat of the fire, smell the burning pews, hear the screams, taste the smoke filling my lungs. I want to experience the joy of running from the collapsing building, the panic of realizing someone is still inside, the terror of racing headlong back through the flames.

As a writer, you have worked so hard to get to this point in the book, don't slack off now. It's time to celebrate. This is the fun part. Enjoy the writing (and the re-writing).