[vickyerexx]

Hi,
I want to write a story but whenever I do, I can't think of a good ending and normally leave it halfway through. I also find it hard to think of ideas for a good story. Any ideas?! :confused:

[Nosnosna]

Endings are the hard part.

Experiment with writing endings you think aren't good... whatever comes to mind first, write that. The important thing is to actually be writing... when you get to a part that's hard, just write through it with whatever comes to mind, good or bad, and then you can rewrite that part later with a fresh view on it.

[alkaline]

Try text based (like AIM chat) online roleplaying.

Start up a story line with another person and take turns writing what your characters are doing. It can help you with character development and push the story along.

[shizukamelodi]

Hey, I also want to write I have had the same problem, like alkaline said, go online and roleplay, me and my mate made a 100 page novella fromt that idea . Jeje.

Hey if you want to write With someone write to me and I'll help. :d

[sftbalnerd]

Try writing the end of the story first. Just think of something funny, cute, romantic, scary, whatever you want, and make it your ending. Then, add all the details that would lead you up to that point. That way, you don't have to "think" of a topic. Something is bound to come out.

[Clough]

How to Write a Story - Story Writing Tips

How to Write Page 1

How to Write - advice for writers.

Kids Freesouls - Brainy Stuff - Literature - How to Write a story

Tips for Writing a Short Story

How to Write a Good Story - wikiHow

How to Write a Story in Ten Easy Steps - A How to Guide to Writing - Associated Content

[Canada_Sweety]

I write too.. in many cases I use personal life experiences of mine and alter tehm a little bit and they actually end up making the story much better. Say the story is about a little girl who loves her dog but he gets lost in the park. The story could end with the little girl getting a new dog and her old dog finding its way home and the 2 ogs falling in love and having puppies or something. Try using personal experiences is what I advise.:) GoodLuck

[Colonel Young]

:D

Endings are the easiest for me. Granted, I often prefer to do a lot of changing and editing, but endings are the easiest. Beginnings are easiest; it's simply finding how to begin.

The webpages given by Clough (the last one is partially an exception) are terrible nightmares. If you want to learn how to write, avoid those "instructions" like the plague.
I'll give you a no-brainer example. In the second page, it says that 'the secret to writing is practice, practice, practice. It's much like drawing.' I'm sorry, but you can practice an art for an eternity and gain little-no improvement. If someone doesn't know how to write, practicing will not do anything. What someone needs to do is STUDY, STUDY, STUDY. LEARN a/the technique, then PRACTICE THE TECHNIQUE. Its like a martial artist telling someone to go home and practice martial arts every day and that one day, they will come back a master. It's bull. I practiced writing for 11 years and the only thing that got better was my grammar/spelling, knowledge, and increased word usage (which all comes with age). I started learning how to write when I was actually shown that writing is more than just putting imagination and words together on a piece of paper.

Writing is an art. There are techniques to word placement. There is a degree of effects to sentence structure and marks of punctuation. There are words to avoid in certain description types. There are words that offer different levels of emotion and when used properly with the right-picked punctuation and arrangement, hit the spot where needed. There are proven sayings of writing that are constants throughout prose. Character development is the ability to create realistic characters through more than just profiles and description. There are certain things and words that are good for poetry or history books, but not for prose. Writing is more than simply checking errors, research, and making things as colorful as you can imagine. It is a communication skill from author to reader.
You may have heard of one or more of these words of wisdom (or some form of them) in the world of writing. Any author who gives you several of these is an author who knows what he's talking about:

The Core of the Story is the Characters. The Core of the Characters is the Care.

The plot is the action and reaction of character interaction.

A story based on plot is nothing more than a record of events. A story based on characters is an adventure.

The reader must be able to 'identify with' the character. (Meaning: have feelings with, able to believe the character through commonalities with their personal reality)

Use action to drive the story. (Action means anything actually going on)

Put the reader in the story now, not then.
-- Avoid linking and helping verbs.
-- Use the present tense.

Write what you know.

Show, don't tell.
-- Adjectives and adverbs tell.
-- Nouns and verbs show.

The suspense of disbelief (this term means to write so realistically that the reader will purposefully forget that the incidents in the story are fictional).

The story begins at the beginning.
-- Put the readers in the action at the very beginning. Start suspense there.
-- Never begin a story with descriptions or long explanations.

Hide information from the reader and character throughout the book. Allow them to discover. Increase suspense.

Part of good suspense is the ability to "control time".

...

I can expand on all of these in an essay that is a collection of my 2-year-long hard studies in writing containing references, examples, and explanations. Grammar and spelling is the least important part of my review of a story (though I will mention it).

Two good examples of who NOT to study:
1. Stephen King
2. Mary Higgans Clark

These two authors have produced some of the worst works of literature I have ever dared spit upon. I have seen teens on the internet write far better than they. The reason why they are so popular and make so much money is because their audience is in part aimed at the baby boomer generation. They can put imagination very well on sheets of paper, but the actual skill they use to do it is not there.

Another reason why one can find such terrible literature is because the publishing business works in this saying, as given to me by a literary agent at a meeting (I will never forget): "Publishing is just like any other business. Its not how good you are, its who you know." So she discusses getting good relationships with publishers and agents to get the 'inside edge' into publishing.

Many writers reading the publishing world can relate to this example: It's also much like watching a movie with martial art stunts. Everyone in the audience says, "Ooo, ahhh!" and wow's at the scenes put in place on the big screen. However, a real martial artist who actually studies and performs the art is shaking his head and chuckling because he knows what he sees is ridiculous.

...

Onto the subject directly at hand…

While I gather a lot of ideas in my head and go about finding ways to expand on them, the only ones that I remember, stick with, and continue down to the end are the ones based off characters, not ideas. Ideas, when you reach the end, have run out and your interest dries up. Characters, on the other hand, you grow with them. They are part of your creation, and you learn to love them. You care for them, despite the fact they're not real. No doubt, usually what an author can feel is often more intense to the audience than himself.

The manuscript I'm finishing involves perhaps my best character ever, and maybe ever will be. She is a 12-year-old girl who is thrown into a life of shyness and withdrawal. Her cares are strong for her teddy bear, Guardian, and for the being who gave it to her. Her comfort zone (the area of comfort that allows a person to live normally, interact with persons and objects. i.e. a friend's house may be a place of some withdrawal while grandma's house or home is a place of openness.) has been reduced to her bedroom, and excludes all human beings, even her parents. The tragedies, horrors, sorrows, and pain I bestowed upon this main character sent me to bed in faint tears (not like sobbing or anything, but I did get watery). I would go to bed repeating, “I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” and I always make references to her (when speaking to someone else) as if she were my daughter/niece.

That care for Lisa (oops. I couldn't resist putting her name) gave me the drive to keep writing about her to the end. I was determined to turn her life around as I intended, because I was not going to leave the computer and stop writing when she is vexed to suicide. I can even claim minor psychotic problems with my attachment to Lisa.

People who read Lisa's tale have asked if I have a major in psychology. Truth is I don't. Most authors who can master their characters and descriptions can supersede the expectations of the readers; can deceive the readers into thinking that they have taken part in that profession their book deals with. This can range from fighter pilots, to actors/actresses, hackers, and the list goes on for an eternity.

The point is, most often when I talk to other writers; it is either out of obligation that they finish their stories, or out of interest in the characters. Most all times when it comes down to not finishing, it comes from laziness, disinterest, or the like. When I ask, “What is it about?” They usually give me a plot. When I ask, “What is it about?” And they give me a description of characters and the setting they're forced into, it's usually something good and interesting.

Thought for the Day: The Core of the story is the Characters.