Blurred Line

I've been a bad blogger. So bad, in fact, that when I look at the next entry in my posting ideas file (I routinely keep a text file filled up with ideas of things to write posts about), I notice that it references a post by Lynn Viehl over at Paperback Writer that she made over a month ago. I apologize. I'm going to try to pick up the frequency of my posts from now on. Really. Scout's honour, and all that.

Anyhow, her post was about ending lines. Personally, the last line of a story is of massive importance to me because if it hasn't written itself by the time I'm halfway through the project, chances are that the WIP is going to die before it ever reaches that point. I just need to always have the end in sight. I've also noticed that I tend to write either one-sentence endings, or at the very least I rarely exceed two. Then again, I also write in briefer sentences and paragraphs that most people I know, anyway.

I was curious, then, to check out the endings from some of my favourite books - only a few do I know well enough to have memorized them, and I wasn't sure whether this tendency of mine was something subconsciously inherited from the stuff I read. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, most of the books I've read tended to have short endings. A couple (notably Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children) have long and rambling final paragraphs, but they're in the minority.

Just for kicks, I thought I'd share a few of my favourites:

"That's true," I says. "And here's how it happened." - Thomas King, Green Grass, Running Water

He never saw Molly again. - William Gibson, Neuromancer (Not because the line's great in and of itself, but because it so perfectly calls to mind the hard-boiled detective novels -- The Big Sleep, in particular -- that cyberpunk drew so heavily upon.)

Mostly, I just don't give a fuck. - Todd C. Noker, Rated F

All short and sweet, as you can see. As are many of the others that I could have placed here. Interestingly, though, one of my favourite overall endings (regardless of what the last paragraph is) of all time (Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake), even though it has a one-liner ending, is decent, but not great. (FYI, it reads "Zero hour, Snowman thinks. Time to go."). Also, my all time favourite final paragraph comes from Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho, and it's by no means short.

So, what are some of your favourite enders?


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Thursday, August 30, 2007 - Ending Lines I've been a bad blogger. So bad, in fact, that when I look at the next entry in my posting ideas file (I routinely keep a text file filled up with ideas of things to write posts about), I notice that it references a post by Lynn Viehl over at Paperback Writer that she made over a month ago. I apologize. I'm going to try to pick up the frequency of my posts from now on. Really. Scout's honour, and all that. Anyhow, her post was about ending lines. Personally, the last line of a story is of massive importance to me because if it hasn't written itself by the time I'm halfway through the project, chances are that the WIP is going to die before it ever reaches that point. I just need to always have the end in sight. I've also noticed that I tend to write either one-sentence endings, or at the very least I rarely exceed two. Then again, I also write in briefer sentences and paragraphs that most people I know, anyway. I was curious, then, to check out the endings from some of my favourite books - only a few do I know well enough to have memorized them, and I wasn't sure whether this tendency of mine was something subconsciously inherited from the stuff I read. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, most of the books I've read tended to have short endings. A couple (notably Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children) have long and rambling final paragraphs, but they're in the minority. Just for kicks, I thought I'd share a few of my favourites: "That's true," I says. "And here's how it happened." - Thomas King, Green Grass, Running Water He never saw Molly again. - William Gibson, Neuromancer (Not because the line's great in and of itself, but because it so perfectly calls to mind the hard-boiled detective novels -- The Big Sleep, in particular -- that cyberpunk drew so heavily upon.) Mostly, I just don't give a fuck. - Todd C. Noker, Rated F All short and sweet, as you can see. As are many of the others that I could have placed here. Interestingly, though, one of my favourite overall endings (regardless of what the last paragraph is) of all time (Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake), even though it has a one-liner ending, is decent, but not great. (FYI, it reads "Zero hour, Snowman thinks. Time to go."). Also, my all time favourite final paragraph comes from Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho, and it's by no means short. So, what are some of your favourite enders? Cavan blogged at 5:03 PM \| 0 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart