Starting from the end?

[Oriole]

I read this advice from a published novelist, and she recommended writing the end of the story, and then working your way to it. What do you think of it?

I have an idea of how my story will end, but it's not very clear to me just yet, so I can't quite follow that advice. Has anyone been able to work this way?
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[cdmaze]

I would say this is as close to a theory as I can get when I right. I know whats going to happen- I know everything about that part- its the parts leading up to it that are still foggy.

I'm not exactly a success story since I've never had anything published or even really solidly finished one of my novels (they're all in various stages in completion).

I like it, though- for me, I live for the great moments in my stories- alot of which come at the climax or the end. This method sort of works for me - like eating dessert first.

[Aufilia]

I've written most of my short stories that way. Typically, I come up with the character, world and ending last... then come up with a beginning, and drag myself on through until I write my way to the ending again.

With my novel, I didn't know exactly how it ended. I finished the first draft in 5 weeks ending Nov 30, but I didn't come up with the ending (last 2 chapters) until I finished the 2nd draft in early February. I do wish I'd had the ending much earlier, but I had a huge mental panic everytime I thought about how I had 27 chapters and couldn't think of an ending!

The one thing I DID have at the outside with my ending was the start and end of my protagonist's character arch -- I knew how the events of the story were going to change him by the end, even if I didn't know what the action of the ending would be.

[cdmaze]

I think that's probably a smart way to do it. I wish I was the type of writer who got excited to just create a world and let it happen, but I'm not. I know what I want to see in the story.

[Sagesgirl]

It makes a lot of sense to me. I have had a couple of pieces that went nowhere until I had an end (er, pun not intended). I won't say it's always necessary to have the final scene or line written but I think knowing what the end will be is vital.