Endings

      Endings are important because if they are not satisfying to the reader, the entire story may be deemed a failure.
      When my kids were toddlers, I would occasionally sit on the edge of their beds and tell them "bed time" stories to help them get to sleep. I recall a time I was doing that with my youngest daughter -making up a story and providing vivid detail until I thought it was time for her to go to sleep. So I ended the story abruptly and told her good night. And she said, "That wasn't a very good story." Had she been older and more succinct, she would have said, "That was a lousy ending." And she was right. But to her, the whole story fell flat on its face.
     Whether it be fact or fiction, novel or speech to the local Lions Club, pay as much attention to your ending as you do to the rest of the work.
      Strive to do what gymnasts must do - stick the landing.  

Why we write

     In the late 1980s, a writer named Isaac Singer gave a lecture at a university. Afterward, a student asked him what's the purpose of literature. He did not hesitate. "To entertain and instruct," he said. Notice that he said entertain first, then instruct.
     Too often we think of entertainment as funny or a lack of seriouness. What Singer was saying is that if the reader is not entertained - if he or she is not engaged in something they enjoy - then all possibilities of instruction are lost.
     A person who receives a gift and enjoys it is entertained. A writer's job is to give a gift to the reader. Author Richard Russo puts it this way: The writer "comes bearing a gift he hopes will please. He starts out making the thing for himself, perhaps, but at some point he realizes he wants to share it, which is why he spends long hours reshaping the thing, lovingly honing its details in hopes that it will please us, that it will be a gift worth giving and receiving."
     In other words, it must be entertaining.   

Something to think about

   A 17-year-old high school student wrote and directed a short film that was shown at an independent film festival. The youngster was asked what he thought were the secrets to producing a good film. Read what this teen-ager said - and then let's all think about how his youthful words can apply to our own writing.
   The young man said, "Rope the people in at the very beginning; keep them attached; and give them something to think about afterwards for hours, or even days."

Hit the right chord

     I came out of the journalism era in which we were taught to answer the five basic questions: Who, what, where, when and why. It wasn't long before I realized you could accomplish all of that and yet the reader could still say, "so what?" as in "who cares?" So, "so what?" is the question you never want your reader to ask. Put another way, it is the question you are obligated to answer in your writing so that it will never be asked.
     The great screenwriter, Nora Ephron ("When Harry Met Sally"), who died last week, put it this way: "You better make them care about what you think. It had better be quirky or perverse or thoughtful enough so that you hit some chord in them. Otherwise, it doesn't work. I mean, we've all read pieces where we thought, "Oh, who gives a damn?"

Finding the needle

     I hate to use a cliche in this space, so I'll just say that sometimes, research becomes like trying to find a needle in, well, you know what. I want to share a recent experience with you.
     I am writing a biography of an old ballplayer. The Baseball Hall of Fame provided me (for a price) with the player's clip file - every clipping they collected on him for 40 years. My job was to go through the clippings to find information that would be useful for my book. As a matter of professional ethics, if I use information from a clipping that isn't general information, I cite the source.
     I came across a clipping with fascinating information I wanted to use in my book. It was from a 1941 newspaper but the only indication of the name of the newspaper was at the top, by the page number, where it said "Citizen Observer." I had no idea what city that was in. There was an advertisement on the page for a car repair shop. I figured the shop was probably long gone but I decided to "Google" the address of the shop. Google provided me with the name of a different business but the address was in Utica, New York. Using Google again, I searched for the name of the newspaper in Utica, New York. Presto - The Utica Citizen Observer.
     I had my answer to where my newspaper clipping came from.
     Researchers enjoy small victories - and love to share them with captive audiences like you.