30 July 2022

Isn't This Where We Came In?



The idea for this post came to me a few weeks ago, when my daughter and I went to see Top Gun: Maverick at a multiplex nearby. (Unlike my wife, our daughter loves movies almost as much as I do.) What happened was, TG:M was being shown in two different theaters in the multiplex, and we were directed by the ticket-taker to the wrong one. When we walked in, the feature was already in progress. It was an easy problem to fix; we just left and found the correct theater, and all was well. Nobody wants to walk in during the middle of a movie.

But I used to do it all the time.

Here's the deal. When I was in high school I saw a lot of movies. And not on TV, either--there weren't that many movies on TV in the mid-sixties. I went instead to the Strand Theater, just off the town square in Kosciusko, Mississippi. I was one of the Strand's regular customers.

The funny thing, though, is that I wasn't particular about whether I arrived at the start of the feature or somewhere in the middle. This probably had something to do with the fact that I was usually bumming a ride with someone else, but whatever the reason, my goofy high-school friends and I often strolled in after the film was well under way. We'd plop down in the then-uncomfortable seats and sit there and watch the second half or so of the movie, and then sit there while the end credits rolled and the old crowd left, and then keep sitting there while the new crowd filed in and the same movie started up again. Then we'd stay through the first half (or the first two-thirds or whatever we hadn't yet seen) and leave when we got to the part that was playing when we first arrived. Seriously. A question I remember well, because I was usually the one asking it, was "Isn't this where we came in?"

At that point we would get up and leave--or, if we had enough time, just sit through the feature again all the way to the end, thereby seeing the second part twice. We did that many, many times. 

What does all this have to do with writing?

Well, I've mentioned on many occasions that I am one of those writers who "outline" short stories, or at least map them out in their heads--including the ending--before the writing starts. And I think my teenaged habit of going into a movie halfway through the feature might've led to this preference for plotting a story out before getting to the actual writing.

I especially remember wondering what I had missed, as we waited in a silent and otherwise empty theater between showings. Wondering what had happened in the story earlier to lead up to the ending I'd already seen. And when the film started again, and I watched the introduction of the characters and watched the plot develop and thicken, I could sense the way the writer (or screenwriter, I suppose), must have felt as he planned the story and set the mood and dropped the clues and missing pieces into place and made the suspense build steadily toward a satisfying end. It was there that I learned firsthand about the importance of hooks and reversals and foreshadowing.

Now, many years later, I find myself doing the same kind of thinking, before and during the process of writing a short story. Once in a while I even come up with the ending first, and then backtrack to lay the plotting groundwork that will eventually lead to it. I once heard that every single thing in a short story must propel the story toward its conclusion. I believe that's true, and I can't think of a better way to make sure that happens than to know the ending ahead of time.

I heard someplace that Margaret Mitchell wrote the last chapter of Gone with the Wind first, and didn't write the opening chapter until ten years later, when the book was accepted for publication. Frankly, my dear, you probably don't give a damn, but I thought I'd mention it.

Once again, as I've often said in discussions about outlining, I'm not encouraging other writers, especially aspiring writers, to think or write that way, planning and plotting almost everything ahead of time. I'm just saying that's what works for me, in my stories. And I think it all might've started when our dumb little high-school movie group was always wandering in after Bogie or John Wayne or Paul Newman (or Clark Gable) was already halfway through his adventure. 

Not that it was the dumbest thing we did as teenagers. If I could convince you it was, I would be a good fiction writer.

Questions: What's your process? Are you an outliner or a free-wheeler, a plotter or a pantser? Or maybe a combination of the two? If you are an outliner, do you plan a story all the way through to the end, or discover the ending as you go?


Full disclosure: Fourteen years ago I wrote a post for the Criminal Brief blog on this same subject. This is a different and updated version, but I confess I happily stole some of the thoughts from my previous post. My apologies to any reader who might recall that column--I myself remembered it only when I was halfway done with this one.


Happy writing and reading (and moviegoing!) to all of you.


22 comments:

  1. I read that Arthur Conan Doyle (at least in his mysteries) always had an ending thought up first! At least when it comes to mysteries I try to do the same thing.

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    1. Jeff, I don't think I could write an effective mystery story without doing that. I'm not saying I think of the ending before I think of ANYthing else, but I do have to have the ending firmly in mind before I begin writing. (Doesn't mean I can't change the ending later--but it helps me to know where I'm going before I start the trip.)

      I envy those who don't have to do it that way. That's just the way my mind works and the way my ideas come to me.

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  2. Very interesting article. That's something about movies that I've never considered, but it makes perfect sense.

    My own method for writing short stories is very inefficient. I start with the germ of an idea, maybe a character, maybe a situation, maybe a setting, and start writing. I plod along, sometimes restarting after a couple of pages. When I finally reach an ending I'm satisified with, I have to go back and rewrite, adding foreshadowing, hooks, character tags, etc.
    It's a long process, but it's all I have. I can't remeber ever writing a short story where I knew the ending before I started. (Novels are a different matter, though. Those I outline.)

    Great post.

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    1. Hey Bob. Your method sounds pretty efficient to me, considering the kinds of stories you've produced.

      Once I have that germ of an idea you mentioned, that's when I have to keep brainstorming until I work that idea into a story, in my head--and only then can I begin writing. I honestly think the "process" is different for everybody, and that's not a bad thing. Keep doing what you're doing!!

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  3. cj Sez: Nice article, John. I'm an anxious reader, so I quite often jump to the end of the story when I'm about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through--not too unlike your movie viewing. I'm not able to plot without losing my enthusiasm for the story. But I do know how I want the story to end, so I call myself a "pathfinder," as the protag has to find his/her way past the obstacles to get there.

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    1. Hi cj -- Whatever works, works. I never encourage writers to change the way they do things, when this subject comes up. But I do think it's interesting to find out the different ways writers view the process. (For me, knowing the ending doesn't lessen my enthusiasm--it gives me a safety-net feeling and assures me I'm on the right track.)

      As for jumping ahead to the end while I'm reading, I don't do that!! Heaven forbid.
      Hey, we're all different, right?

      Thank you as always for the thoughts!

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  4. We used to watch movies like that, too. There were Saturday morning movies for a dime, at least two of them. They would circle around like that and we would leave where we came in. "Isn't this where we came in?" I definitely outline!

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    1. Kaye, we never even thought doing that was strange, at the time! These days, of course, a customer probably wouldn't be allowed to sit there between showings to wait for the next feature. A different world, in so many ways.

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  5. Great article, and I'll admit--and also note statute of limitations--to doing the same movie thing you did.

    Process-wise, I get lots of idea sparks, usually in batches. A premise, usually. If the idea sounds good or fun enough, I put it on the list. And when I'm blanking on a next project, I check the list.

    But I absolutely won't start writing unless I have a vague sense of the ending. I've had too many stories fail to come together without such direction. If I've got that, I play around with an opening (it's never the final opening) and a voice until the set-up is written. If there's a there there, I keep going. If not, the idea isn't ready to write.

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    1. Bob, I too come up with those ideas-for-multiple-stories-at-the-same-time. But sometimes I fail to put one on the "list" and it's forever forgotten. (Usually the ideas that occur to me in the middle of the night.) But there's always another to take its place.

      Glad to hear someone else feels the need to have an ending (maybe even if it's tentative) in his head before he starts putting the words "on paper." Personally, I think it saves a lot of time, since I feel I might wander aimlessly if I embark without a destination in mind.

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  6. I not only don't know the ending, I often have no idea what the crime will be. I have the situation, often suggested by the title, and the main characters, especially in stories in my three series, but the mental process is: OMG, I have to think up a crime! On the other hand, like most of us crime fiction readers and writers, I think a story without one is boring. I write the first draft into the mist (I hate that word "pantser"), always feeling at least a touch of anxiety about whether I'll manage to arrive at the end. Once I get there, I relax and can begin to revise ruthlessly. Darlings, beware! Lately, my plotting has improved to the point where I see clearly where clues are needed and can go back and put them in or take out passages that give the game away too soon.

    As for "where I came in," I hate to read or watch from any point but the beginning, probably less for the plot than because I need to engage fully with the characters. I recently spent a few weeks on Netflix with the brilliant Borgen (like The West Wing, only Danish). I tried the first episode of the new series first, and I was lost. I got the plot, but I didn't know who all the people were. So I went back to the beginning of Season 1, and I was hooked. By the time I got back to the discovery of oil in Greenland, I couldn't wait to see how Birgitte Nyborg and the gang were going to deal with it.

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    1. Liz, you and I are different in the way we start a writing project, but we're alike in that we both do a lot of rewriting after the first pass. I love to go back into a draft and insert what's needed and take out what's not until I feel everything's right. That kind of polishing is fun, for me.

      As for starting watching/reading anyplace except the beginning, I feel that way too, now. But back in those growing-up years we saw movies the other way, a LOT. Again, I think I learned from it.

      Thanks as always, my friend. I've also learned a lot from *you* over the years!

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  7. Elizabeth Dearborn30 July, 2022 15:02

    Like the other Elizabeth, I only watch movies or TV shows from the beginning. As a child I was only allowed to watch TV by prior arrangement & then only if my parents thought the show was O.K. for someone my age. All these years later, after the show is over, I still turn the TV off & go & "do something constructive" as my parents insisted. I'm working on a story now, telling it in reverse chronological order. I think it works but we'll see what happens.

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    1. Sounds as if you had wise parents, Elizabeth. (Even now, I think network TV can lead to brain shrinkage.)

      Good luck with the new story! I did a story in reverse chronological order a few years ago, which wound up in one of the Bouchercon anthologies. It was a LOT of fun to write.

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  8. Little of both for me. Sometimes I have the crime, and then have to figure out who did it. Sometimes I have the end, but have to figure out what happened along the way. And once in a great while, I have the whole thing in my head and have to write it all down like a maniac before I forget how it all holds together!

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    1. Eve, those are the best, when you have the whole thing at once. And you're right, sometimes you have to write it fast or lose it! The good thing is, there are a lot of different ways to get it done.

      I really do find myself thinking of the crime and the end first, though, and then--as you said--try to figure out what could happen in the story to get it to that point.

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  9. OK, everyone. if you don’t see me commenting on your post, don’t think I didn’t try. I’ve been having consistent problems with the blog. I use different computers when the problem arises as well as switching from Safari to Firefox to Opera. Did it multiple times this morning and just now, I’m able to comment (Firefox).

    John, nice post.
    Only once did I watch a movie from the middle and wait to catch the beginning. I was eight years old and my parents dropped me off at the Saenger Theater to watch a double feature of SERGEANT YORK and YANKEE DOODLE DANDY. Got in the middle of SERGEANT YORK, watched it to the end and watched YANKEE DOODLE DANDY and the beginning of SERGEANT YORK.

    It wasn’t until I was in high school, did I learn Sgt. Alvin York and George M. Cohan were different people. In my childhood mind, Alvin York went to war, killed a lot of Germans before returning to America to go on Broadway or the other way around.

    I also grew up thinking Dracula, Frankenstein and The Wolf Man were neighbors.

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    1. O'Neil, I feel your pain, regarding Blogger. Sometimes it's a hit-or-miss thing--I also have trouble getting it to take my comments at times. Thanks for continuing to try, today.

      I thought I was the only one who remembered seeing those long-long-ago movies, and some of their titles. And I too sometimes attended double features, sat through half of the first one, saw the entire next one, and stayed until the point where I'd come in on the first feature. But I did it a lot more than once.

      You mean Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man *weren't* neighbors??

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  10. Great post, John. I'd never thought about movies that way, but, yes, I saw many of them that way at our local cinema, only five blocks from my house. My friends and I spent hundreds of Saturdays there. And I learned how to plot from the serials (Zorro, Batman, Flash Gordon, all the rest). Along with the Hardy Boys, of course.

    I usually think I know the ending of a short story when I start, but sometimes the middle tells me I was wrong. I used to write the whole first draft and then go back and fix it, but now I tend to save what I've written, then re-read and edit to start the next day. That means I have a stronger sense of what's going on by the time I get near the end and I finish in a final burst. In fact, if I get stuck, I go back and edit again. That seems to help me find the story's voice, and sometimes that makes a big difference.

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    1. Sounds like a good process, to me. And I must tell you, I too sometimes discover, during the middle, that the ending won't work. If I find that out, I change it. Even so, I need to have that ending (though it might not turn out to the *right* ending) in mind before I start. If I didn't, I'd feel the same way I'd feel if I walked out and climbed into my car and started driving without knowing where I was going. Chance are, if I did that, it'd take a lot longer to GET where I was going, or get anyplace meaningful. I would probably just drive around aimlessly for a while. So I try to plan my trip ahead of time. (My opinion only.)

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  11. When I was young I couldn't stand to miss the beginning, but when multiplexes came in, we would watch the movie we paid for and then slip into another theater to watch the second half of something (usually involving heated sotto voce arguments in the hallway). If it was any good, we might stay for the beginning of that one, depending on the tolerance of the guy sweeping up candy wrappers and whose mom was picking us up. Now you've been got me wondering what effect that had on my own process.

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    1. Hi Eugenia! I honestly never thought of doing that at a multiplex, but it makes perfect sense. And who knows, popping in and out of those movies as you did (and deciding, based on watching a bit of them, whether to stay and see more) probably *did* have an influence on your later stories--and your process.

      Thanks for the thoughts!

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