By Mel Blue

So, here's the thing. Some writers out there have a love affair with the Never-Ending Story. And I don't mean the book or the movie. No, I mean the writer who has just written Part 354 of the story they've been working on for a year, or the third sequel to its sequel.

You know, there is an art to telling a good story. Yes, it involves thinking up a good plot (or in the case of a PWP, some good sex), understanding your characters, understanding the language you are writing in, and using that language coherently and effectively. It also involves some natural talent, of which some have more than others. There are writers who can write brilliantly without much effort. Some of us have to work harder than others. That's life.

A part of this art is another talent which is often overlooked. As well as beginning a story, one also has to know how to end it.

Some people have trouble beginning a story. (Although if you're anything like me, you wake up with the first sentence resounding in your head, usually at 3 in the morning, and you don't sleep EVER again until you've written the whole damn thing.) But more people than I thought possible simply don't know when to end one. (Eventually even Days of Our Lives will end, people... I hope.)

There are writers who start off so well. They write an absolutely fantastic story, which ends, and I think... God! That was great! Then they write a sequel. I read it and I think... Well, that was pretty good. Then they write another one, and by the one after that I've lost the buzz, I'm disappointed, I've stopped reading and I'm thinking... Why did they bother?

You see, writing good sequels is also an art. Part of it involves setting up interest for a sequel in the previous part so that the reader retains that interest. So it involves a PLOT! If you are going to write a long, long story, you REALLY need one of those, and it needs to be interesting. And you still have to finish it eventually. Don't keep writing the same story just for the sake of something to do. And please don't fall into the trap of pandering to those readers who think that the best form of feedback is to ask for endless sequels. (Those people have their own problems, which probably involves an addiction to Days of Our Lives.)

The thing to remember is that writing is actually a selfish art form. As much as we want people to read our work and pander to our egos, it's important to write the story how you damn well want it. (And yes, I do realise that for some people that involves writing a Never-Ending Story.)

But, if you REALLY want to be a writer, as opposed to a creator of interminable drivel, you need to get into that groove where the story just flows through you to its natural conclusion, and then you write...

THE END.

See, it's simple.