Welcome to week three of the Monday Blog for August. This week, I’d like to talk about something every story has in common: the beginning, the middle, and the end.

If you’ve ever taken any sort of writing class, then you probably learned all about this. Every story has a plot, and every plot has a beginning (the problem or something that needs to be accomplished), a middle (the steps being taken to solve the problem or achieve the goal) and an ending (the resolution: the problem is either solved or not solved). I’m going to use one of my books, Fortune’s Wing, as an example, in order to avoid any copyright issues, or misinterpretations of other writers’ work.

The Beginning

Here is where the reader learns about the story’s main conflict. In Fortune’s Wing, Fortune Oyama learns he is part of a prophecy to either save or destroy the world. He grows a single Left Wing on his eighteenth birthday, and must go on a quest to recover the Right Wing, thus completing the set. The problem: Fortune has one wing, and must find the other.

The Middle      

Now that it has been established, Fortune needs to find the Right Wing, it’s time for him to actually take steps to do so. Now, if Fortune could just go for a walk and grab the Right Wing, completely unopposed, the story would be over, and that would be that. The story would also be very, very boring. In fact, it wouldn’t be a story at all! A conflict of some sort is needed. Someone or something needs to try and prevent Fortune from achieving his goal. In this case, a set of sorcerers known as the Winged Seven, who also want the Right Wing, use their powers to try and stop Fortune from completing the set. The middle of the story concerns Fortune overcoming the obstacles the Winged Seven put in his way.

The Ending

How does the story end? Does Fortune get the Right Wing, or not? Spoiler alert: he finds it, but there’s a sequel, so you probably guessed that, anyway (plus it’s mentioned on the Book page of my website). Every story needs some sort of resolution, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a positive resolution. I used to be a fan of happy endings, but now, as an adult, I’ve become more of a fan of realistic endings. Maybe the hero dies, but the world is safe and the bad guy is dead. Or, maybe the world doesn’t get saved. Maybe, a group of heroes die (if you’ve seen Avengers: Infinity War, you know what I’m talking about). Either the goal is accomplished, or it isn’t. If it isn’t, I think there needs to be a very convincing reason. Your reader has hung in there, with you, until the very end. If you’re going to disappoint them, at least make it worth their while.

Until we meet again (which will be next Monday)