Wrapping it up
Tonight I’ll be wrapping up my time with our local Junior High School with official pomp and circumstance, cap and gown, diploma, photos and the prerequisite red and white cupcakes and balloons. There is no mistake that this is the end of my daughter’s three years at this school – where she has undergone a more magnificent transformation than the building itself which now has a two story atrium entryway (my tax dollars at work). Huge changes happen between the beginning of 6th grade and the end of 8th grade. Like, whip your head around, I can’t believe it’s the same kid, kind of changes.
So there is no doubt tonight is the end of that chapter for her and the beginning of a new one. And for me too, since now I’ll have two kids in the same school for one year — and that school would be high school.
If this were the end of a book, we could end with tonight’s graduation and make assumptions about going on to high school and we could imagine that my daughter’s future would be bright and perhaps what her year in high school might bring. If I were writing that book I’d describe the cap and gown, maybe (maybe!) the weather, the buzz in the gymnasium and the amount of eyeliner on some of the girls’ eyes. But chances are I would stop before the processional and allow the reader to just know in her head and heart, what would happen — and that could be whatever the reader wanted it to be. I’d allow the reader to wrap it up in his or her head, based on story that preceded it. I would want promise to be enough of an ending.
But for many it is not. (And I am not talking to you, SF, I know hope and promise work for you)
If you were reading this story, would you need it tied up neatly with a bow? The diploma? An award? A slice of cake? How about an epilogue? Would you want to know what happened six months or a year or ten years later?
Do you want the author to wrap it up, or do you like to do it yourself?
I like to tie my own bows, thank you.
Congrats on the kidlet milestone.
I like the author to wrap it up. But that’s just me. I LOVE to read about the characters in an epilogue that takes place a few years (or heck, even months) down the road.
And wow – done with middle school! I fear for that time. I have two years left before that happens and I am NOT looking forward to it.
My current wip leaves things pretty open-ended. I’m worried it will piss people off but I’ve left enough clues that the reader should know what’s going on. The MC doesn’t, but the second MC does. She’ll help him figure it out (off the page, of course).
I’m so jealous of all these graduation ceremonies. I never had one until I finished high school — what the heck kind of schools was I going to?
A story like that is emotional and the end would go well with the mom watching her daughter across the room, random musings going through her head on what the future would bring with high school… good grades? flunking? college? boy problems? friend dramas? How much more will she change? How will she look in four more years when the graduation is the real deal? Will she be the woman inside that I hope she will be?
I can feel this because I’m in EXACTLY the same boat!! My daughter just completed 8th grade too, and goes to high school in a few months. I look at her right now and even with the eyeliner and the attitude, she looks too small to be going to high school!
Congrats and good luck! I feel ya girl.
Hi all!
I like to wrap things up for myself too usually. When something is tied up neatly I often think of where the author coulda, woulda, shoulda stopped so that the ending was obvious but unwritten.
But that’s just me!
Yes, my daughter is done with Junior High and next year my son will graduate High School — think of the posts that will come along with that milestone!
Thanks everyone, tonight is sure to be amazing!
Amy
Congrats on the milestone! I have a son who’s entering middle school in the fall, so I’m sure the drama is only beginning.
Regarding endings, I think a lot of it has to do with what market you’re writing for. If it’s genre fiction, then there’s an expectation of a neatly wrapped up (happy) ending. But if it’s literary fiction, leaving it up to the reader is key, no?
Personally, it depends on how invested in the character I am as a reader. If I feel I know the character well, then I can draw my own conclusions. But if I’m still wondering what could happen, for example if the character is unpredictable in some way, then I like to know where the story is headed.
If you leave enough open-ended questions at the end, it’ll leave you room for a sequel. If that’s the case, then you’ll need to decide if you want to carry the characters in your heart for the duration of another story.
Good questions! Thanks!
Congrats to you and your daughter! My niece graduated high school last weekend, 20 years to the day I graduated from high school. I sat in the stands and cried. My mother says, ‘why you crying?’ One, I am old, and two, Sara is all grown up.
Anyway, I am a epilogue kind of chick. I like to know the ‘happily ever after’…what ever it may be.
I always feel let down when the final moment doesn’t live up to my expectations as a reader…and unfortunately graduations usually aren’t the kind of affairs that produce high expectations. We all know what’s going to happen, and lots of times it just isn’t all that exciting. All the glory is in overcoming the obstacles to make it to that finish line.
Now, ending with a prom might need all the bells and whistles because of all of the exciting possibilities.
Congrats!