Happy August, WriteByNighters!
I'm about 75,000 words away from writing
"The End," but I already know the closing line of my WIP. I'm sure many of you are in the same boat(s against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past).
Your last line is your last
chance to leave a lasting impression on your reader.
And isn't (it pretty to think so?) that our goal? To have a reader put down our book and say, "Now that is a book I will remember!"
Yes (she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision).
(Bonus points to the first person who replies to this message with the titles of the three books I've referenced
using this silly and confusing gimmick that I shall now abandon.)
I'd even venture to say that a great last line can save a book from mediocrity in the eye of a reader.
A few months ago, we asked for some brave souls to share the opening lines of their WIPs in a post titled "Great Beginnings: Yours!" Over thirty of you did so, and it led to some great (and I hope helpful) interaction.
By now, many of you who did so -- and plenty others of you -- should be
nearing the end or done with those WIPs. So what better time to take a look at your closing lines?
Any of you
courageous enough to do so, leave the closing line or lines of your WIP (be it a novel, memoir, story, poem, whatever) in the comments section.
Try to avoid the temptation to offer context or
explanation; let your beautiful words speak for themselves! Just float them out there and see what comes back your way.
And after you do so, take a minute or two to respond to the closing line(s) of some of your fellow
writers. Does that ending make you want to know what came before? Why or why not?
Are there any questions?
(That's the wonderful closing line of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.)
