Aaaaaa Ending a fic

[jajalala]

hoo boy I am a slut for the little "complete" symbol on AO3 when I get to the end of a long multichapter, but ngl I feel some pressure when I get to the final chapter(s).

I'm gonna be posting my final chapter for a fic on Thursday, and ack. I have a draft written for it, read/edited once (but probably will again), but it doesn't quite feel like a huge bang to end on... I think for this work in particular, I had a very strong scene I really wanted to write that I considered the actual emotional climax that was written like, two or three chapters ago. Now the past few chapters have sort of been some aftermath stuff and working through some plotty things, and this final chapter I'm trying to resolve things but there's not really a "bang" to the ending if that makes sense.

I worry that it won't be fully satisfactory, but also I would rather just let it end than attempt to drag it on because I don't know what I'm doing. I also know there COULD be more and deeper to explore, but it's all stuff that I'm just not interested in writing. I got through my big emotional chapter, now I just wanna give some closure.

To be honest I almost always feel this way about endings... They're so hard, especially for long works where so much has built up over time, but I'm the kind of person who eventually loses interest and wants to end things properly, so forcing myself through the brutal wringer of "ending" things it is.

Comments

[corvidology]

I always have the mental image of 'sticking the landing' the way gymnasts have to and if your footing is firm and you don't wobble on it then you've stuck the ending. :D

[jajalala]

Ahahah thank you, that's a good metaphor. I'll do my best not to wobble!

[vriddy]

There's something special to earning that "Complete" checkmark on a long running multichap :D Congrats on getting there (or neaaaaaaaaaarly there XD). I think leaving the readers with nice thoughts and images is fine, it doesn't always need to be a bang! Or to neatly resolve every single thing. Wishing you the best of luck with it :D

[jajalala]

Neaaaaaarly there indeed.... thank you!!

[tropicsbear]

As someone who also struggles with endings, Big Mood. Very rarely do I have a solid idea for how I want to wrap things up.

[jajalala]

Ahahah I try to start fics with an ending in mind..... sometimes I actually do have one, sometimes I don't, and sometimes it changes as I'm writing it (for this one I had a note at the end of the document that's like "[X happens and Y ends up like this]" but by the time I actually got to the end I was like ".....Wait that actually doesn't work with how I've set everything up at all XD New ending I guess"