How to finish your story... pick the right length
There is a short, medium and long version of every story. Just because you can imagine the full 100k words doesnât mean that you have the interest in writing them.
If youâre stalled out, think about what version of the story youâre trying to write.Â
Are you trying to force yourself to write a long story just because you like the idea of it being long? Do you have enough plot to justify the word count? Or, are you trying to force yourself to wrap things up early when the story does need that extra length to explore everything?
Imagine a story where two rival thieves after the same diamond finally hook up after years of smouldering tensionâŚ.Â
In the 3k word version, they're already trapped in a safe. They immediately have chemistry. History is implied. We see none of the buildup, we just understand where they are and whatâs about to happen. They hook up. Story ends. Theyâre still stuck in the safe. Delicious.
In the 10k word version, we see the planning for the heist. We meet a few of the protagonistâs team members. We start to understand the context, learn about the history between the rival thieves. We see the heist on the page⌠they break into the bank, disable the alarms, sneak around the security guards. Our protagonist gets into the safe. Their rival is there. They hook up and we understand the context more fully, instead of just having it implied. They escape the safe. We can infer what might come next.
In the 100k word version, we not only meet, but also come understand the different wants and needs of the sixth other thieves in the protagonistâs crew. We see the full the hook up heist, and other heists as well, in detail. We see one that works, and one that goes wrong, building up the tension, introducing law enforcement as another point of conflict. We see the different interactions building across time as the rival spies betray each other, but we also see them save each other that one time. The hook up in the vault is a midway point. We come to understand that one of the spies wants to leave the life. But one of them doesnât. The police are closing in. Someone they stole form in the past has kidnapped one of the other crew members. They need to return the diamonds, but theyâve already been sold. Threat of being caught becomes real, something has to give. The end of the story gives us closure. We see the escape from the life, the betrayal... the double betrayal when what we thought was a betrayal turns out to to be an escape plan. Yay. We understand the fullness of their happy ending.
Just because you can imagine the full 100,000 word story doesnât mean that youâre interested in writing it.Â
If you have no interest in crafting heist scenarios, or in developing a number of different characters and giving them all their own wants and needs, or in writing action, or doing the plot work to get the double, triple cross.... though you may have imagined the fullness of the epuic version of the story, itâs not the one that youâll find most joyful to write.
Are you caught in the drudgery of trying to finish a much longer story when you've already written the part that captured your heart? Itâs extremely valid to have a larger story in your head, but to carve out the portion of it that you want to write.
Or, inversely, are you trying to force an ending on the shorter story when what you really want is to stay with the characters for another year and craft that 100k word epic?
Don't get stuck on what it could be. It's very common to know more of the story than what you actually write. It helps a world feel lived in. It allows you to decide what details to include. Ideas are wonderful, but they're different from stories; you don't always have to turn the fullness of your idea into a story.
Figure out the story you actually want to write and that will make it much easier to finish.
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