SEIZE YOUR ENDING
Dear writers,
I’m not claiming that I’m an expert on this topic. Nor do I have the authority to tell you what to do. But I have found that my thoughts on the topic of endings will no longer be contained, so please bear with me. In each and every one of your works, the protagonist is handed a challenging beginning. But do they get disheartened? Do they wallow in self-pity? Never.
How would Frodo have fared if he hadn’t left the Shire?
How would The Iliad have ended if Achilles had decided to stay at home?
Where would Elizabeth (and Mr Darcy) be if she’d accepted Mr Collins’ proposal?
That’s something that I love about books – protagonists never settle for the hand they are dealt. But why must this be something that I love about books alone? What is stopping us from being like our characters, working to transform our bad beginnings into wonderful endings? When dealt a bad hand, more often than not, we sigh, complain and pity ourselves, but we refuse to take the steps to change this beginning.
I guess what I’m trying to say, writers, is ‘thank you’. Thank you for inspiring me, through your characters, to seize my own endings and to never settle for whatever bad hand I’m dealt.
And secondly, writers, I challenge you. I challenge you to be more like your characters and seize your endings! For we are so much more than our bad beginnings.
Kind regards,
Anonymous
Do you have thoughts about the complex nature of endings? Are you bursting to write about a time when you seized your own ending? The USYD Anthology is still welcoming submissions of short fiction and poetry on the topic of beginnings and endings.
