Writing From The End
Marissa Meyer, author of the Lunar Chronicles and Renegades series, is one of my all time favorite authors. I just love how she paints her worlds with rich details and gives us wonderful, life-like characters in anything but life-like situations. And this weekend, I was lucky enough to meet her at a book signing in Austin.
I can never think of good questions to ask other authors, but other people there had some great ones. From fans that wanted to know if they could find her old high school fan fiction (you can) or if she cries whenever she kills a character (once – the rest were difficult, and some were just plain fun) to young writers like myself wanting to know how she outlines her books and her world building process.
One answer stuck out to me though. A fan asked Meyer if she knows how her books will end while she’s writing them, and Meyer answered she does. Not only that, but it’s one of the first things she decides when she’s brainstorming her books. That way, she can build toward that moment as she’s writing.
I loved her answer because I’m exactly the same way. The End is definitely the one thing I need to keep my writing momentum going when I’m creating a new book. Without it, I have no goal. No direction to point my plot in. Sometimes I worry that knowing how a book will end will essentially suck the fun out of writing it, but that hasn’t happened. Because knowing where my characters end up doesn’t magically let me know how they get there. I discover that as I’m writing, so it’s an adventure for me too.
And the timing of all this was just perfect too. This weekend I’m publishing my first online class about novel writing, and it’s all about places to start writing your novel that aren’t the beginning. I talk about three different starting points in Writing Your Novel (Just Not From the Beginning) and highlight their strong pros and unique cons so that you can understand (and avoid) them. I’ve included one of the lessons down below, in case you’re still wondering how writing the end first can get your book started. ; )
If you’re a writer like myself and need some inspiration or other ideas to help you get away from a blank first chapter, the full class will be up on Skillshare this Sunday, March 8th. I hope it helps you keep writing.
With love,
Bethany R.
