Michael

If your story was quite random - like just daily events in life and stuff like that - you can choose to end it whenever you had enough. I mean there's no plot line that says when you have to stop. Stop when you think there's nothing good you can come up with for the situation anymore.

If your story was linear - there is a plot that ties it together then that tells you - like simply if you accomplished the main goal - say destroyed the evil lord behind everything or whatever. You could say then someone else appears or another plot unfolds. In a sense that's just like a sequel - so same rules apply for that segment.

If you ask me deep down a story ends when the writer gives up on it. Has had enough and can't write on. Or else if you feel you'd ruin the plot writing on and stuff like that.

I think that if you're writing about random stuff, there should still be a theme to the randomness. For example, it might be the diary of a teenage girl, but the writing shouldn't just end when you don't want to write it anymore. For the sake of proper prose, there should be some conclusion, some moral that readers take away. So in the case of a teenage girl diary, ideas proposed around the beginning of the entries should be somewhat addressed by the end. For example, if she's madly in love with this dude, she could deal with being dumped and then gradually come to terms with it all. Not everything problem has to be solved, indeed, many problems in life aren't, but I think readers need a sense of closure. It can come as a series of self revelations, or some drastic event that alters the significance of things.

I think the story ends at different times for different people. Usually a story has a beginning, complication, resolution (or not resolution) and end. If the story can be told through a single cycle, then as far as the author is concerned, it ends. For readers, it's the beginning.

No, you missed my point. I wasn't clear enough anyway.

What you said just means you have to write a conclusion that ties things in and that it should resolve all the mentioned issues. This means you can just extend it by creating more issues and leave the conclusion for later.

That formula that said - you can have beginning multiple complications and resolutions and a final resolution. I always wonder why some television drama almost gone on forever - like how many years? New characters, new stuff, they just go on.

It is impossible (not impossible exactly, but it makes for a weak and hollow story otherwise) to have things in the beginning tie in with what happens in the end if you don't even know how it's going to end, and why it is ending like that.

Think about every book you have ever read or every movie you have ever watched that has a twist ending. Do you believe the person who wrote that story decided that after writing enough they could add this out-of-left-field plot twist that amazingly ties in with hidden details in the beginning without already knowing how it was going to end from the start? Perish the thought.

You can't just think of a story idea and begin to write it as a legit story without even knowing whats going to happen next. Notes are an authors best friend, why do you think that even though if an author dies without finishing their book it still manages to be published complete? It's because they have notes outlining the whole story, now that doesn't mean that the story will follow that exact course that the author may have gone had s/he lived. The notes are there to tell the entire story from beginning to end in a string of ideas and thoughts that have been written down. It makes it easier for the author to make changes as they see fit as they write. Also, just because the notes are a basic outline of the story from beginning to end doesn't mean you need to know the exact details of the whole story, it's merely a foundation to build your story upon.

The only exception to this is, as Concerto49 said, if it is just a random journal/diary about someones daily events with no specific point, merely journal entries. Unless it is going to be a story told through journal entries, i.e. Bram Stoker's Dracula.

So my answer is: You shouldn't have to ask when it is time to end a story, because you should already know how your story is going to end before you even get too far into writing it.

I stop a story where I think the loudest message can be heard. then again, I like to write odd, provoking stuff, and like to leave things hanging...haha _

basically, not at the climax or anything, but a point somewhere after the climax where the story's real message can be heard...and then leave it (not abruptly or anything, but don't drag out the ending too much). if done well in a story I'm reading, after I finish the book, I close it slowly, whispering a "wow." that kinda stuff.

I only end a story when it has fully satisfied me as a writer. After that I don't write a single word. I never know when I'll put my pen down and say, "That's good," and it often hits me when I least expect it.

Other than the actual plot, dealing with the after resolution is also a problem for many writers. Any writer knows how their story is going to end, IE how the problem is resolved. But sometimes you need a little epilogue to tie up all the other ends. Not every writer does this, and sometimes it is not needed for a story. For instance... does a writer always need to detail the character's life after the story? No. Sometimes it is really nice. But as with Harry Potter, you may only want to make it a short chapter with a few details and leave the readers guessing, but also putting enough conclusion to the story. You don't want to add anything that is not required, but just enough to tickle your readers. Of course, in other stories as soon as the main problem is resolved a writer may choose to end it there. This is great if it's exciting enough and you don't leave too many gaps, or even a good idea because it allows for a bunch of gaps that keeps a reader up at night. Ultimately, a writer knows when to stop when they finish that last paragraph, and editing, and say... "I can add nothing more." Within reason, of course.

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