When to start wrapping up a story?

[soupsabaw]

I plan out my entire novels before writing, so I always have my ending planned. When it feels like the end should be the end. But I don't feel like the answer of "when your views get low" is quite good advice I've been seeing here... Paying attention to view count will drive you insane. If your views get low then your story needs fixing. An end to it when you notice lower views might be abrupt depending on the story; I think that answer is only situational

 

[Ai-chan]

I was wondering when it would be a good time start the final arc of a story and wrap things up.

My Ideas:

• When the story demands it.
• When your reads for chapters go down to ???% of your first chapter's reads. <-- IDK what percent is the right number here
• When you start to rehash the same ideas.

What are your thoughts?

Did you not plan your stories? Even a very rough plan of how they start, escalate and end? It is often said that authors write from the ending. Then they work their way backward because they already have an ending that they want, but how to get there is another matter.

In Ai-chan's case, Ai-chan just writes whatever Ai-chan wants. The hell with viewership. They will either like it or don't.

 

[Leti]

You don't wrap up your story. You stopped appearing from the site.

 

[Deleteacc]

I was wondering when it would be a good time start the final arc of a story and wrap things up.

My Ideas:

• When the story demands it.
• When your reads for chapters go down to ???% of your first chapter's reads. <-- IDK what percent is the right number here
• When you start to rehash the same ideas.

What are your thoughts?

I really have a hard time with stories when I get the sense that the author is just responding to the masses so I would plan an ending to the story and put it in when it makes the most sense. When the story demands it or ideally before it feels like things are dragging on. Far too many stories just go on and on forever, which I can see the appeal in and if it's good and people like it then I guess go for it. But I guess I'm trying to say to do your best to cut it just before the numbers go down, not after. If you're rehashing the same ideas it's probably too long already.

 

[Zagaroth]

While one does not need to know the finish of the story when they start the story, you should have some idea of scope/scale of the story. Will you be saving/conquering a kingdom, a continent, or a world?

During your writing, you should be able to find the antagonist (whether a person or a force of nature or whatever) that matches this scale. Adjustments can always be made of course.

But you do want to settle onto a final antagonist, and then start weaving threads of how their actions impact the MCs, and begin drawing the MCs into a final set of action against the antagonist.

And the main part of the book is done. Time to tidy up and get a nice epilogue out there to create a nice satisfying finish/dessert. This is your aftermath or Happily Ever After or whatever fits your story.

If the scope of your story leaves room for other protagonists to have their own stories in the same setting, you can then write anthology style and create new series with the same world building.