Endings

One of the friends in my writers group finished reading his book. Took a year and a half, but it was exciting to reach the end. Another friend finished his thriller last month. A third member finished a wonderful short story. All were exciting and satisfying in their own way.

The challenge, as a writer, the group presents is being a constructive critic. It’s easy to be a cheerleader. It takes trust to point to another's weakness, and acceptance to hear my own.

We celebrate each other; commiserate over a character’s loss, brainstorm plot issues, and switch persona from writer to reader as we each tell our tales.

My lesson: The story we finished I had been following as an adventure story- a rogue DEA agent sails off on his own, takes out some bad guys, is chased, steals the bad guys money and gets away with it. As I pondered the last reading this week I realized I missed the real story. The protagonist fell from grace, slipped into the Dark Side, and sailed away into a lonely sunset of his miserable life.

Sometime the ending is Ellery Queen explaining the subtle clues of the mystery; sometime the heroine kills the monster; sometimes the hero saves the world from destruction. Sometimes it’s just a human who tries and almost succeeds.

The unexpected ending is the most satisfying for the reader.

The Write Guys

One of my writer's groups met Wednesday evening and I had the opportunity to read a chapter to them.  As always the feedback was positive and constructive.  They see plot boo-boos I miss and appreciate scenes that are strong, point out the weak scene.

Time together has given the group a level of trust to allow honest feedback that transcends the ego.  I also find the challenge of critically reviewing someone's work helps my craft.

I am fortunate to belong to two readers groups and find the dynamics fascinating even when the feedback is diametrically opposed.  One groups is primarily male, the other predominately female.  Different view points, different advice.  But when both groups agree, I pay close attention.

Case in point:  In a scene at Kelly's World Famous Bar and Grill in Djibouti, a terrorist attack is foiled, but just before on of the bad guys dies, he spits blood into Kelly's face.  She wipes the smear with a finger and touches the tip to her tongue.  Both groups grimaced, but confirmed that it fits with Kelly's fearless, killer personality.

I had considered taking it out as too gruesome, but such a strong reaction from so many readers convinced me that it works.  I want the readers to react strongly to her character, and they did.

If you're a writer, join a group or form a group.