Pernell Rogers – Writer

Hi all. Don’t let the title fool you. I’m still writing, but once again, I discovered another symptom of my “show the monster and stop” syndrome I seem to suffer from. In my last post, I stated that I’d begin editing my 15 stories. I’ve done extensive edits on the 6 stories for my collection, but the others have had less than 3 revisions.

I pulled out a story that sat on Revision 2. I read through my story, adding and deleting, as necessary. The story held my attention until I got to the end. I’d set up a situation the family had to suffer through. Then the words ‘THE END’ popped up. I re-read the last chapter again, and the story simply ended. Over 23,000 words and the story just stops. I don’t know why I ended it, but I’d omitted the entire section about the family’s predicament.

I needed a satisfying ending, so I started walking while speaking into my recording app on my phone. After 15,000 steps, I had a real ending. So, I added another 12,000 words to tie up every loose end I’d left dangling. Now, in a couple of months, I’ll re-read it again, and see if it really is satisfying.

I’ve been focusing on the endings of all my stories because they’re so important. Take Care!

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