End “-ines”

This week, I decided to expand my pursuit of literary DNA since last week proved a major scientific/literary discovery of the Beginning “-ines” (though, I’m still waiting for the Nobel Prize Committee to call – they must’ve lost my number). Using the same methods and materials, I began cutting deep into Endings…boiling down the best of the best until I identified the most basic elements contained within. The End “-ines”, if you will (and, knowing you, dear reader, you will).

The first thing I distilled was abundant and familiar…Care-ine. Stating the obvious here, but proper Endings continue to engage us, the readers. The characters are in a pickle and we’re in it with them. We’re not sure how (or if) they’ll make it out. We want the bad guy to pay for the crime. All the trains scream toward the same spot at the same moment and we’re the unblinking witnesses. By the End, the mysterious nature of Care-ine makes a good book nearly impossible to put down (How will Dorothy escape the Wicked Witch?).

As it was in the Beginning study, Voice-ine was very apparent in Endings. The last words dripped with it as much as the first. Voice-ine is not necessarily the same structure as is was in the first pages, since things evolved over time, but the substance is consistent. It’s the eye color of a story…it may drift with age, but once it’s set, those windows-to-the-soul keep to a general hue. (The narration of Oz starts out charming and ends just as much).

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The subtle Theme-ine was present too. By the finale, those BIG QUESTIONS have been thoroughly scrutinized with many angles being presented from a gaggle of viewpoints. A lot of times, the story presents a final thought or conclusion (Dorothy finds home is where those who love you are), but it doesn’t have to (Does OZ really exist?).

Guess what else I found? Yep-yep, Hook-ine, making every word hum with tension and that reason to “read on.” Presenting itself in different formats in the Ending, Hook-ine largely serves as an answer to the book’s central driving questions (Dorothy found her home). However, I noticed some other interesting traits. Sometimes, there were lingering/unanswered questions within Hook-ine’s structure. Things that made the reader KEEP thinking about the book after the pages themselves ran out (What happened to all those zany munchkins?).

And that was it. The same four “-ines” as the Beginning. No secret chemical making a satisfying Ending, just the same ole’ stuff as a stellar first page. The major scientific discovery here is as simple and as elegant (and DUH worthy) as it sounds: A good book is a good book, cover to cover. It implores all the same building blocks no matter where it’s cracked open.

Great! But HOW do you put all these “-ines” together in the right format? What’s the genetic sequence of a bestseller or award-winner or even the story that will land you an agent?

I’m glad you asked, because I came across something very, very interesting…something that will change the craft of writing forever…something that will make this whole writing thing as easy as pie –

Wait, my phone is ringing. It’s gotta be the committee. We’ll have to continue this conversation later. Sorry to run…Hello? Hello?