No, I am not quoting the Doors. I am not deleting Bricu nor am I ending my run on WTTRP. I’m talking about the end, the conclusion, of stories.

I have a problem with endings. I think I can hook a players into a story. With enough time and participation, I can push the story forward. What I worry about, what I know I have problems with, is the ending.

I worry that the ending is too rushed, that it ties up too much or not enough. I worry that the ending took too damn long. I worry that the payout is not enough.

For fic, I’m lucky enough to have truly talented writers and authors who have helped me finished collaborative stories.  Events, however, are a different beast entirely.  I have a few tips and tricks, but I need help.  So you, dear reader, should totally help me out.  Think of it this way, by helping me, you’re helping hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of other nerd who have similar worries:

Be comfortable with the ending.


Game Masters/Storytellers/Organizers have to be provide choices for their players.  If we do not allow our players to play their characters, then why the hell should they participate?  RP is a collaborative process.  Railroading your friends into your desired outcome is not RP.  It’s just a crappy way to get people to participate.

That being said, we have to be comfortable with the outcomes of the story.  If the story depends on everything going perfectly for an ending  that you, and your circle, is comfortable with you have two choices.  ou can either detach from the characters or rethink the story.  Given that detaching from a character can be a difficult as ending a relationship, I’d suggest the latter.
This is a lesson I have struggled to learn over seven years.  It is one that I still struggle with.

Loose Ends and Final Endings

Way back in the day, while take a research methods and design class, my professor said the best way to end a paper was to, “explain the results and keep them wanting for more.”  To do this properly with an ending, one has to balance between a final ending and setting up for a new story.  Given the pull of our characters, it is entirely too tempting to plan towards the latter.  Sequential arcs can provide players with a method to explore the consequences of their actions.

At the same time, some stories arcs need to reach a “final ending.”   After months or years of planning, fighting and confrontations, he final villains, or heroes, die.  The objective is reached.  It is time to move on.  Think of this like moving on from an aspect of your own life.  If you leave, or lose, your job, that particular narrative is over.  What happens next, while related to losing your job, is something entirely new.  While you may go back and visit your work friends and coworkers, your story at that job is over.

Striking this balance is incredibly hard.  I have to admit, I am no where NEAR comfortable with my ability to work these endings well.

The Pace

When RPers Fic, our pace is mostly under our own control.  While we need to compete with other activities (work, play, hiking, whatever) we only have our own schedule to worry about.  When we involve other people, say in collaborative fic or forum posting, we have to worry about their schedules.  Trying to run an event , or  tell a complicated, multi-part story, in game means coordinating with even more schedules, server lag and griefers.  Scheduling events is only part of the pacing.  We have to determine how many events to run, what happens at said events, learn to roll with the unexpected AND make sure that every one who participates feels like they have a role to play.

Ficcing, in this regard, is so much easier.  Personally, I am comfortable with this particular aspect of how to end a story.  I know my difficulties lie in forum and in game events.  One trick I do have for pacing is working with people, parcing out parts of the story to individuals.  There is, of course, a drawback to this as well.  If the people can’t, or don’t, follow through with what they volunteered their character for, then it becomes my responsibility to ensure that the parts, and the pacing, proceed on time.

Endings are difficult.  It does not matter if its for fic, an event, forums, a comic or the end of the character:  Getting to the end game at the right time, and tying up the proper loose ends is hard enough.  Being comfortable–not liking or disliking but being comfortable–with an ending is struggle in and of itself.  I’ve shared my thoughts on the topic, and I have a few more in reserve.  Now its your turn.  Tell us how you end stories!

Tags: , , , ,