Knowing the End Of The Story
Dec. 27th, 2001 11:16 pmIt's more important than people realise. i often marvel at those people who can put a book down, unfinished, never to return to it again. That story ended for a reason. You cannot tell a story, without an ending. There needs to be a stopping point, if only a vaguary like "And they lived happily together, until the end of their days." Some suggestion of mortality. Death. Permanence in the shifting zones of story. Knowing the ending makes it complete, but there's more.
When you know the ending, it can spark a sense of wonder and questioning. That thing that makes you say-- often to the chagrin of all near and around you-- "Cool... but I wonder what happened to their children?" And this can and tends to lead to new stories. The practise of not stealing from the old stories, and making things that are yours can be discussed by others. But it all starts with knowing the Ending.
The ending is what affects us. The bits in the middle, the climax, the plot devices, these all lead up to the End, which is the point. There, you get the reward for having gone through it all: It's Over.
i don't know how to communicate it, to those who don't feel it, already. i don't yet know how to convey the sense of raw emotion i get from a mall child screaming a wish to hear the Ending of a story. But it's important. It's true. It's real. To me...
"Stop it! We'll all be killed! And then I'll never know the end of the story!" - Sally, "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"
When you know the ending, it can spark a sense of wonder and questioning. That thing that makes you say-- often to the chagrin of all near and around you-- "Cool... but I wonder what happened to their children?" And this can and tends to lead to new stories. The practise of not stealing from the old stories, and making things that are yours can be discussed by others. But it all starts with knowing the Ending.
The ending is what affects us. The bits in the middle, the climax, the plot devices, these all lead up to the End, which is the point. There, you get the reward for having gone through it all: It's Over.
i don't know how to communicate it, to those who don't feel it, already. i don't yet know how to convey the sense of raw emotion i get from a mall child screaming a wish to hear the Ending of a story. But it's important. It's true. It's real. To me...
"Stop it! We'll all be killed! And then I'll never know the end of the story!" - Sally, "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"