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originally posted in: Opinions on “timeskip endings”?
9/12/2021 4:38:31 AM
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I enjoy knowing what happens to characters in the future, but as long as the timeskip doesn’t really affect the mood of the resolve. Most skips I’ve seen in fiction appear abrupt, empty, or very drawn-out, so the emotion I had for the ending was cut short. The best significant timeskips I’ve seen are the short ones that don’t interrupt the resolve and leave the audience satisfied in some way, even if it isn’t happy. However, I tend to prefer endings that leave us with good assumptions of what happens in the future, like in the LotR movies where we can guess that Sam lives happily with his wife and Bilbo and Frodo are at peace in the Undying Lands.
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  • I think my biggest worry there is maybe I drew it out too long. I drew it out a little on purpose, to kinda show the way the characters’ lives have and haven’t changed, and whatnot. Though, it is also only half as long as a regular chapter, so maybe not? I don’t know! This ending is stressing me out way too much! Endings are hard! >.<

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  • Hm… If the chapters are about as long as the first chapter of The Days Before the Fall, half a chapter isn’t too bad. I’d say experiment with it: consider what you want your readers to know and use that as a guideline to try to narrow it down. Maybe think back on timeskips you liked and find what “format” they used, then arrange your ending into those formats… If that makes sense. One format I’ve seen is the ending that shows you what the characters look like in the future with some short action, but then leave you with a good idea of what might have happened to them. Like in TLofR, when we see the Hobbits say goodbye but can guess that Sam will be happy with his family and Frodo will be at peace in the Undying Lands. Another example is in The Ride, where the main character leaves a rose at his mother’s grave when he is young and tells her he overcame their fear for them both. The scene then shifts to an older version of him in the same place as he walks away. There we assume he continues to grow in character. This scene only lasts a minute. A second format may be the brief summary thing, where the narrator describes what happens in each character’s life but keeps it at a length of 1-3 sentences. Sometimes those can be very satisfying if done right. That’s way longer than I expected it to be, but I hope that maybe it helps? O.o I like to think about endings, but actually writing them out does prove the pickle.

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  • I guess that might be the issue; I don’t actually know too many timeskip endings, so I don’t have a lot of sources to pull from. But, yeah, how long were the chapters in TDBtF again? 30ish pages double spaced? I’d say that’s about the same length, then. If that sounds lie a good length, I’ll take your word on it; I’m not quite sure how I could trim it down anymore to be honest. :p [quote]That’s way longer than I expected it to be, but I hope that maybe it helps? O.o I like to think about endings, but actually writing them out does prove the pickle.[/quote] Haha, yeah, I can talk smack on Una-Vaatu and courage punch all I want, but, like, when it’s [i]my[/i] turn to make an ending I have a really hard time.

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  • [quote]I guess that might be the issue; I don’t actually know too many timeskip endings, so I don’t have a lot of sources to pull from. But, yeah, how long were the chapters in TDBtF again? 30ish pages double spaced? I’d say that’s about the same length, then. If that sounds lie a good length, I’ll take your word on it; I’m not quite sure how I could trim it down anymore to be honest. :p[/quote] There really aren’t a ton of obvious timeskips out there, especially in books. I hate trying to come up with examples to glean from when stuff like that happens. ,-, So that timeskip chapter would be about 15 pages, yeah? I hope you don’t mind, but I scrolled through your conversation with Blueberry, lol. With how you described to bring about the funeral, I honestly think 15 pages is a fitting length. It’s obvious you thought a lot about it, and even though I don’t know what happened previously in the story, I already imagine it as worthy, substance-ful conclusion to an exciting journey that would leave me satisfied. As that bodach said, methinks all you gotta do now is wait for those readers! [quote]Haha, yeah, I can talk smack on Una-Vaatu and courage punch all I want, but, like, when it’s [i]my[/i] turn to make an ending I have a really hard time.[/quote] Blech! Talk smack all you want about Una-Vaatu, whenever you feel the need. I’ll be here nodding in agreement the whole way through. I really like to make my endings tie in with my beginnings: where the view of my MC has changed (perhaps completely) by the end, but the theme remains the same into the last word. I get goosebumps thinking about all the connections. But yeah… I go to outline it or make the rough drafts, and sometimes my writing time only consists of tapping my pen.

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  • [quote]There really aren’t a ton of obvious timeskips out there, especially in books. I hate trying to come up with examples to glean from when stuff like that happens. ,-, So that timeskip chapter would be about 15 pages, yeah? I hope you don’t mind, but I scrolled through your conversation with Blueberry, lol. With how you described to bring about the funeral, I honestly think 15 pages is a fitting length. It’s obvious you thought a lot about it, and even though I don’t know what happened previously in the story, I already imagine it as worthy, substance-ful conclusion to an exciting journey that would leave me satisfied. As that bodach said, methinks all you gotta do now is wait for those readers![/quote] I think it was 12 pages? Something around there, yeah. If that sounds like a fitting length for a funeral/reunion thingy, then I’ll trust your judgement. If only because I’m sick of obsessing over it! :p Thankfully, I finally sent it out to my grandpa, who told me to give him a week. That’s [i]way[/i] faster than my other peer reviewers! :D [quote]Blech! Talk smack all you want about Una-Vaatu, whenever you feel the need. I’ll be here nodding in agreement the whole way through.[/quote] Heheh, I have no idea how Una-Vaatu is even a thing. Like, they’re good writers—really good writers—but that is hands down the worst ending I’ve ever seen! It ran in the literal opposite direction of the entire rest of the story’s message. :p [quote]I really like to make my endings tie in with my beginnings: where the view of my MC has changed (perhaps completely) by the end, but the theme remains the same into the last word. I get goosebumps thinking about all the connections. But yeah… I go to outline it or make the rough drafts, and sometimes my writing time only consists of tapping my pen.[/quote] That might be a little hard when my MC is in a magic coma. >.>

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  • [quote]Thankfully, I finally sent it out to my grandpa, who told me to give him a week. That’s [i]way[/i] faster than my other peer reviewers! :D[/quote] Oh sweet! That’s awesome, I hope he gave some nice feedback! I’m glad he’s able to put so much time into it :P [quote]Heheh, I have no idea how Una-Vaatu is even a thing. Like, they’re good writers—really good writers—but that is hands down the worst ending I’ve ever seen! It ran in the literal opposite direction of the entire rest of the story’s message. :p[/quote] I know. I feel like it was a bad attempt to hype the audience, too. My sister and I watched it together; we thought it was going into an okay direction, but the ending was very out of place.

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  • [quote]Oh sweet! That’s awesome, I hope he gave some nice feedback! I’m glad he’s able to put so much time into it :P[/quote] Oh, well, he also only thought it was 15 pages, so he came back and told me it’ll be a bit longer, considering it’s a full length novel. :p But, he did give me his thoughts on the first 20 pages, and they were a lot of help! ^-^ [quote]I know. I feel like it was a bad attempt to hype the audience, too. My sister and I watched it together; we thought it was going into an okay direction, but the ending was very out of place.[/quote] “Alright, so we’ve got this plot set up, where we’re trying to say neither side is totally the good guy. There’s grey areas, both are doing some good, and some bad. ‘There are no sides, we’re just doing what we can to help’ and all that. How do you think we should end it?” “How about we have Korra absorb both Raava and Vaatu, symbolizing the world needs both order and chaos to function, and hammering in the message that good and evil aren’t as clear cut a-“ “Ooh, ooh, I’ve got an idea! How about THE ULTIMATE BATTLE OF GOOD VS EVIL, WITH [url=https://i.redd.it/uk50yql6dk811.jpg]GIANT SPIRIT LASERS![/url]” “I love it! You get a raise, Jimmy!”

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  • [quote]Oh, well, he also only thought it was 15 pages, so he came back and told me it’ll be a bit longer, considering it’s a full length novel. :p But, he did give me his thoughts on the first 20 pages, and they were a lot of help! ^-^[/quote] Oh, haha! xD At least you’ve still got a loyal proof-reader! [quote]“Alright, so we’ve got this plot set up, where we’re trying to say neither side is totally the good guy. There’s grey areas, both are doing some good, and some bad. ‘There are no sides, we’re just doing what we can to help’ and all that. How do you think we should end it?” “How about we have Korra absorb both Raava and Vaatu, symbolizing the world needs both order and chaos to function, and hammering in the message that good and evil aren’t as clear cut a-“ “Ooh, ooh, I’ve got an idea! How about THE ULTIMATE BATTLE OF GOOD VS EVIL, WITH [url=https://i.redd.it/uk50yql6dk811.jpg]GIANT SPIRIT LASERS![/url]” “I love it! You get a raise, Jimmy!”[/quote] Lol. I mean, I personally don’t believe that there aren’t “sides”, but that big battle of good vs evil has been done the same way [i]a lot[/i]. Like, you don’t have to be big and awesome to fight the bad guy, and the whole world doesn’t have to be at stake in order to have a good conflict. Considering the original direction of the show, your description would definitely have been better. That season actually had a pretty strong start, and I enjoyed it a bit more than the first season; it sucks they gave it such a cliche ending.

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  • [quote]Oh, haha! xD At least you’ve still got a loyal proof-reader![/quote] Speaking of, have you finished The Days Before the Fall, yet? If so, what did you think? :D [quote]Lol. I mean, I personally don’t believe that there aren’t “sides”, but that big battle of good vs evil has been done the same way [i]a lot[/i]. Like, you don’t have to be big and awesome to fight the bad guy, and the whole world doesn’t have to be at stake in order to have a good conflict. Considering the original direction of the show, your description would definitely have been better. That season actually had a pretty strong start, and I enjoyed it a bit more than the first season; it sucks they gave it such a cliche ending.[/quote] I guess it wasn’t saying there weren’t sides at all, but it did very explicitly go out of its way to make sure it wasn’t just “the good guys” and “the bad guys”. Even after Korra chose to side with the South, Varrik still did some underhanded junk & whatnot, and besides the whole Vaatu thing, Unalaq did actually seem to be trying to bring balance. The thing that throws me off the most, though, is that the hypothetical “absorb Vaatu” ending doesn’t [i]just[/i] fit better in Season 2; it fits better with Season 3 & 4, too. Season 3 was all about fighting the Red Lotus, a bunch of anarchists. Crucially, Korra was seriously missing an arc here. Wouldn’t it work so well if Korra now had Vaatu inside her, and had to learn to resist his urge to spread chaos, by siding with the Red Lotus? And then in Season 4 we had Kuvira—a villain obsessed with bringing order. Combined with defeating the Red Lotus in Season 3, defeating Kuvira leads to this sort of “we need balance” thingy, and for jannolor’s sake she even enlists the help of the Red Lotus dude! It almost feels like absorbing Vaatu [i]was[/i] the original ending, but they changed it for some reason.

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  • [quote]Speaking of, have you finished The Days Before the Fall, yet? If so, what did you think? :D[/quote] Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten very far into the second chapter ([i]yet[/i]), but I’m super excited to continue. I was able to finish the first chapter and man, I’ve got so many questions! Questions that make me excited, of course :P I really liked how you took such a familiar idea of fairies, even making certain things about them a little silly, but you cast a shadow over it. It’s not some happy go-lucky fantasy, but a story with real struggles and dangers I wouldn’t have really acquainted with fairies at first. The danger of contact with metal especially intrigued me, and I hope to find out what more you’ll do with that. I’m sorry I don’t have constructive criticism. I know there were a couple things I saw, but I didn’t have my heavy editor’s hat on, lol. If you’d like, I might have some time to sit down and read again tomorrow, and I can try to be a bit less fluffy then :D [quote]I guess it wasn’t saying there weren’t sides at all, but it did very explicitly go out of its way to make sure it wasn’t just “the good guys” and “the bad guys”. Even after Korra chose to side with the South, Varrik still did some underhanded junk & whatnot, and besides the whole Vaatu thing, Unalaq did actually seem to be trying to bring balance.[/quote] Aye, I can agree with that. There were a few times I was wondering how “bad” Unalaq was, especially since he could calm spirits. I think it’s okay to show how not everyone is what they appear to be, but blending right and wrong would be confusing. [quote]The thing that throws me off the most, though, is that the hypothetical “absorb Vaatu” ending doesn’t [i]just[/i] fit better in Season 2; it fits better with Season 3 & 4, too. Season 3 was all about fighting the Red Lotus, a bunch of anarchists. Crucially, Korra was seriously missing an arc here. Wouldn’t it work so well if Korra now had Vaatu inside her, and had to learn to resist his urge to spread chaos, by siding with the Red Lotus? And then in Season 4 we had Kuvira—a villain obsessed with bringing order. Combined with defeating the Red Lotus in Season 3, defeating Kuvira leads to this sort of “we need balance” thingy, and for jannolor’s sake she even enlists the help of the Red Lotus dude! It almost feels like absorbing Vaatu [i]was[/i] the original ending, but they changed it for some reason.[/quote] Huh. I didn’t think about it that way. I haven’t watched season 4 or finished season 3 yet, but I can see how that would work much better. How would that work with the Harmonic Convergence? I know it’s not for another thousand years, but if Vaatu goes into the next Avatar like Raava up to the next HC and they have to fight, what would happen? I could be getting my facts with that mixed up, lol.

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  • [quote]Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten very far into the second chapter ([i]yet[/i]), but I’m super excited to continue. I was able to finish the first chapter and man, I’ve got so many questions! Questions that make me excited, of course :P I really liked how you took such a familiar idea of fairies, even making certain things about them a little silly, but you cast a shadow over it. It’s not some happy go-lucky fantasy, but a story with real struggles and dangers I wouldn’t have really acquainted with fairies at first. The danger of contact with metal especially intrigued me, and I hope to find out what more you’ll do with that. I’m sorry I don’t have constructive criticism. I know there were a couple things I saw, but I didn’t have my heavy editor’s hat on, lol. If you’d like, I might have some time to sit down and read again tomorrow, and I can try to be a bit less fluffy then :D[/quote] Oh, you don’t need to do a super in depth critique if you don’t want to. I sent TDBtF over for fun, so a casual read is fine. :p Anyhow, isn’t the idea of being unable to touch metal so cool? It’s a thing in actual folklore—as I’m sure you’re aware—and it was learning about it that kicked off the entire story! That quickly lead to the overall tone of the story; the faeries were happy and carefree, but that didn’t mean the world was without its problems. It was still a dark place, with dangers and woes—and even back in its wildly different first draft it was always going to be about a faerie who comes to realize the world isn’t as sunshine and rainbows as it seemed. Originally, Sybil was actually going to be the villain. I think I like this way more, though. I’m [i]super[/i] excited to hear your thoughts on Chapter 2, though! I’ve shared Chapter 1 with a lot of folk, but you’re only the second person I’ve shared 2 with. Make sure to definitely let me know once you’ve finished! :D [quote]Aye, I can agree with that. There were a few times I was wondering how “bad” Unalaq was, especially since he could calm spirits. I think it’s okay to show how not everyone is what they appear to be, but blending right and wrong would be confusing.[/quote] It’s always those grey area villains that are the best, though, isn’t it? His shift to [i]big bad guy[/i] was really sudden. [quote]Huh. I didn’t think about it that way. I haven’t watched season 4 or finished season 3 yet, but I can see how that would work much better. How would that work with the Harmonic Convergence? I know it’s not for another thousand years, but if Vaatu goes into the next Avatar like Raava up to the next HC and they have to fight, what would happen? I could be getting my facts with that mixed up, lol.[/quote] Oh, er, sorry for the spoilers then. >.> Well, I think Harmonic Convergence should’ve been handled differently in general. It’s treated like Vaatu turning spirits evil, but I wish it was spirits turning corrupted because of an imbalance between light & dark. In Wan’s time, it was indeed because of Vaatu being so much stronger than Raava, but in Korra’s time I think it would have been cool if the corrupted spirits were actually Raava’s fault; since she was so much more powerful than Vaatu. If you mean how the fight itself would work, then, er, I dunno. >.> During HC the connection between the Avatar and Raava did seem weaker (Vaatu pulling her out and whatnot). Maybe they’d leave the Avatar behid to duke it out?

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