Writing Excuses Season 2 Episode 29: How not to end your book

Writing Excuses

Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler

Fiction, Careers, Business

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2009

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Let's talk about failure... but let's talk about it so that we can avoid it. How do you know if your ending has flopped? What kind of approaches to ending a story should you be avoiding? How can you recognize these approaches in time to avoid them? The best approach? Identify the promises you've made to your readers, and then fulfil them with your ending. Okay, now you don't have to listen.

Writing Prompt: Start your book with an ending where everyone dies.

This weeks Writing Excuses is brought to you by Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson, Book 3 of the Mistborn series now in paperback. Our Sponsors: * Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript

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0:00.0	This year my family will be having our 67th annual Christmas Eve dinner.
0:04.8	It's a menu passed down from my grandmother through my mom to me.
0:08.8	The entire family shows up.
0:11.8	I'm talking fourth cousins once removed and this is not an
0:15.1	exaggeration which means that during the lead up I don't have time to menu plan or
0:20.0	cook anything else. That's when I turn to prepared meals like Factor, America's
0:26.0	number one ready-to-eat meal delivery service. Factor can help you eat well for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with chef-prepared, dietition approved, ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door.
0:37.0	It allows me to save time and not eat garbage while tackling all my holiday to-do's.
0:42.0	So if you want to cross meal prepping... while tackling all my holiday to-do's.
0:42.6	So if you want to cross meal prepping off your list
0:45.8	this holiday season, consider factor.
0:48.4	You can skip the meal planning, grocery shopping,
0:50.9	shopping, shopping, prepping, and cleaning up, and get factors fresh never frozen meals delivered
0:55.8	to your door.
0:56.8	They're ready in just two minutes, which my dad says is the appropriate amount of time to cook
1:01.4	a meal.
1:02.4	He has no idea. The point is, all you have to do is heat and enjoy.
1:07.0	And if you're trying to squeeze writing into the holiday press, it might be useful to know that Factor isn't just for dinner.
1:15.1	Count on extra convenience any time of the day with an assortment of 55-plus add-ons to suit various
1:20.8	preferences and tastes.
1:22.8	So you can carve out some writing time in the morning by choosing quick breakfast items,
1:27.2	lunch to go, grab and go snacks, or ready to eat cold-pressed juices, shakes, and smoothies.
	...

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