Finishing Well

I’ve been contemplating endings, lately, as I near the conclusion of my current work-in-progress. After 330 manuscript pages and more than 100,000 words, the end is in sight. I’m still not exactly sure how the book will end, since I’m one of those crazy writers who makes up the story as I go along, rather than plotting it ahead of time. I figure if I can’t guess what’s going to happen (and I’m two-thirds of the way through writing it), then readers will be kept guessing, too. I hate predictable endings!

There are some important things that I do need to consider in order to finish well. Some of the essentials of a good ending that I’ve discovered over the years are:

1) The pace should be picking up, with the highest levels of emotion and drama.

2) There should be a sense of closure where I deliver on the “promise” that has kept readers engaged.

3) The end should bring a resolution and a release of built-up tension—the bomb is defused, the murderer discovered.

4) There should be a sense of accomplishment in the main characters’ lives. Even if some of their problems remain, the central conflict is resolved and the characters come away changed.

All of this must happen as the story reaches a climax. Author Anne Lamott explains the climax as, “that major event…that brings all the tunes you have been playing so far into one major chord.” As I lead up to that climax, I’ll re-read my novel to look for all of those “tunes” so I can decide what that major chord should be. I’m not quite there yet, but I’m getting close. I want to finish well.

At the same time that I’m working on the big build-up to “The End,” all of nature outside my office windows is doing the same thing. Everywhere I look, the trees and bushes are building up to a grand finale in dazzling technicolor before winter brings the end of another year. And from the looks of things, nature is finishing very well.

There is another ending that I don’t like to contemplate very often, and that’s my own end. A month from now, I’ll be another year older. It’s not one of those big decade birthdays but I’m getting close. It occurred to me that I’m also about 2/3 of the way through my life. Scary thought! And like my novel—and nature—I want to finish well.

All of my life, I’ve been making up my story as I’ve gone along. There have been plenty of surprises, a lot of drama, a lot of emotion. And just like writing a novel, there are a few things I want to consider before I reach “The End.”

1) The pace should be picking up. I want to be like the hero in my novel “Fly Away” who decided to live every day of his life to the fullest. He wanted to “die living.”

2) I pray that my life will have a sense of closure. That I will have used my talents and gifts well in serving God, fully investing them as His faithful servant.

3) I don’t want to leave any relationships in my life unresolved. I hope to live each day asking others for forgiveness, and extending forgiveness to them.

4) There will probably never come a time when every issue in my life is perfectly resolved, but I hope I can look back and see how God has been shaping me, using my struggles to make me more like Christ.

As I reflect on my life, I’m starting to see how all of the “tunes” God has given me have worked together to form a beautiful chord. Even those discordant melodies that seemed so unpleasant to me at the time, have worked together to accomplish God’s plan. And I’m looking forward to learning some new songs in the years ahead, too.

But now, back to my novel. I’m very excited about finishing well.

8 comments

  1. Looking forward to seeing and hearing you at my church on Wednesday! Thanks for your writings, have enjoyed every one! Reading number 23 at this time, pilgrimage, very interesting. See you tomorrow at 1 o’clock.

  2. I’m starting a bookclub for women in our community. Our church has graciously offered the social hall and we will begin in January with your Chronicle of Kings Series and then the Restoration Series. I would love to put together good discussion questions for these meetings. I just ordered the paperback books and there may be something in the back to help out with the bookclub. I’ve read both series twice on my Nook and several of your other books. I look forward to reading this new one too!

  3. Thank you for all the effort you have put into all your books. My cousin in the Netherlands is so concerned about her grandchildren who are not brought to church by their parents. She encourages them to read your books. You include so much Christian worldview into stories of “real” people that they are getting the gospel in a new and fresh way. You have a lot of stories, we pray, to continue your ministry for a long time.

  4. Speaking of endings, as I read Legacy of Mercy, I could see where you were headed regarding Anna’s birth father. But I also could see another possibility. How ironic and fitting it might be if Anna’s birth father were Clarice’s father. That certainly would have stop Clarice from her nastiness. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book just the way your wrote it, as I have also enjoyed several others. I appreciate all the hard work you do in research for each book. Looking forward to the next one.

  5. “My life is but a weaving between my God and me,
    I do not choose the colours, He worketh steadily.
    Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride,
    Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.

    Not till the loom is silent, and shuttles cease to fly,
    Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.
    The dark threads are as needful in the skilful Weaver’s hand
    As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.”

  6. I enjoyed both wave of mercy and legacy of mercy . I felt that I was there with them through their pain. I felt very close to Cornelia. You write your stories with such compassion. I can’t wait to read another book.

  7. Just finished legacy of mercy. Please tell me there is going to be another book of Anna and Derk.

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