From grade school to college, students have been taught that the beginning of a story is the lungs, the rising action is the veins and the climax is the heart of a tale, but an author and UH alumna told students Monday that the end is an ambiguous, yet likewise essential, part of the anatomy of a fiction narrative.
“There are a number of strategies and triggers and suggestions for how to begin a story, but there is very little insight offered on how to end a story,” said Amber Dermont, author of “The Starboard Sea” and “Damage Control.”
The crafty creative writer, Amber Dermont, who has penned a couple books in her career, took the stand Monday to give aspiring authors a piece of advice for their writing. | Isabella Serimonteikul/The Daily Cougar
“Perhaps no one makes it that far in the process,” she said. “It’s too daunting”
Students and professors listened as Dermont’s craft talk, hosted by The Honors College, presented three very different endings to the same story.
“She was complicating the notions of endings instead of giving us any sort of quick solution for ‘This is how you do it,’” said creative writing graduate student Jameelah Lang. “Instead, she made our notion of how to end a story or what makes a successful end into something that can be looked at in a lot of different ways at the same time.”
Although Dermont didn’t offer any clear process on how to write the ending to a story, many were intrigued by the provoking idea that the closing of a story can be a cathartic release for the writer and reader, said creative writing graduate student Michelle Mariano.
“Even if there are no solutions on how to get to an ending, just to have things to think about for it are pretty interesting,” Mariano said. “I had no idea how to end a story.”
To conclude, Dermont gave some insight on the indefinite nature of endings, as every ending provides each reader with a different resolution.
“Endings are often the measure of a writer’s true power,” said Dermont said, “yet it’s ultimately the reader that writes the story.”
penned a couple books? come on, cougar.