Very often, writers get to the two-third or three-quarter mark of work and get stuck, sometimes abandoning it to move on to something shinier. Why does this happen? Well, it’'s a place at which we move from raising questions for the reader to needing to answer them. This change in mode requires a different set of tools than the beginning of a story, while needing to appear part of a seamless whole. Let’s dive into how you can do this!

Homework:

Outline the second half of your novel (or revise the outline you already have). Then find two or three questions your story asked in the first half, and come up with two different ways you could answer each one.

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Today we're focusing on the mechanics of writing endings: what needs to be resolved, what can be left dangling, and how to give your reader a sense of what has changed. We talk about symmetry between beginnings and endings, giving important moments enough room to land, and how a final line can shape the feeling your reader walks away with. We also dig into epilogues, callbacks, “avatars of success,” and why the order of your final beats matters. Plus, why you probably don’t need to know your perfect last line when you start writing—or even when you finish your first draft.

Homework:

Ask yourself these five questions about your ending:

1. Does it match the promises of your beginning?
2. Do you have an avatar of success?
3. What did your characters earn?
4. Is there any symmetry with your opening?
5. Does the closing line underline the tone or theme of the story?

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Psychotherapist Maureen Murdock invented the Heroine's Journey in response to Joseph Campbell's monomyth Hero's Journey. He reportedly said, "Women don’t need to make the journey, they are the place that everyone is trying to get to." This version of story structure is attempting to tell different stories. This week, we’re diving into the Heroine’s Journey! We talk about its (very) gendered origins, but also about what we can take from the structure: what happens after a character gets what they thought they wanted? Our hosts also discuss the biases built into different plot structures, layering structures on top of each other, and using the Heroine’s Journey to think about a character’s relationship to themself, their community, and the expectations placed on them.

Homework:

Pick one of three strands—your character’s relationship to community, self, or expectation—and track how it changes at each major plot point. When you get to the end, ask: is there somewhere else you can go?

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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