The end

Much like finding the right point to end a character's abilities and hobbies, finding the right point to end a story is immensely difficult, especially when you are enjoying the story being told. Think of every time you have finished a book and said to yourself, "Man, I wish there was more of this to read." Chances are, the author thought the same thing themselves. Many, many times throughout the novel.

I'm the kind of person that doesn't plan a whole lot in their story. Chances are, when I start out, I have an idea of where I'm starting from, and where the end goal is. But I have no idea how to get from the beginning to the end. For me, that's where the fun is. I know what's going to happen in the end, but it's huge journey to get to that ending, and I have no idea what kinds of things are going to happen in the interim. However, this also becomes its own problem. Even though I know what that ending is, I don't know when it is. It's hard for me to look at my writing and say, "This is enough. This is where the conclusion is reached."

You don't want to drag out your story. You don't want people to get bored part way through, waiting for the events to be satisfied. You never, under any circumstances, want your reader to think, "When is something going to happen?" You can make them want to know when a specific event is going to happen, to yearn to keep going to see what they're waiting for. But you don't want them to be waiting for anything to happen.

It's hard to get that feeling when you're writing, though. Because the process is far more drawn out. Five minutes of reading can easily translate into a solid day of writing. So for the author, there is a complete disconnect between how long you have to wait for something to happen, and how long your reader has to wait for something to happen.

Months upon months of writing can go into something that is read in a matter of days. And by the time you're done writing, you know absolutely everything there is to know about that story. (Well, in theory, but that's another story.) Even when you go back to read it through again, everything is compressed in your mind because you already know what is coming. It can be hard to see what is boring when you know how much effort you have put in to writing it.

So it can be incredibly hard to throw down those two little words. "The end." Ending your story means saying that it is complete. That you can no longer keep it going. That that world is full and complete. And that can be a hard thing to face. I know that I have wanted to just keep adding to a world I have created. I wanted to make it as full and vibrant as possible. But eventually it becomes too full, and too over saturated. All of the color becomes dull because there's just too much.

But just like with a character that you want to make interesting, that can be painfully difficult to see on your own.