{"id":3848,"date":"2012-02-16T07:28:15","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T13:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=3848"},"modified":"2012-02-16T12:47:48","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T18:47:48","slug":"the-ending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2012\/02\/16\/the-ending\/","title":{"rendered":"The End(ing)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Graphic novels are one of my favorite things in the world. Words combined with pictures — and all that happens in between the panels — is an amazing thing.<\/p>\n

Some days I’m not sure there’s a more perfect medium.<\/p>\n

Fairly recently, I reviewed Craig Thompson’s Habibi<\/a>, which — to me — is the perfect graphic novel.<\/p>\n

Scott recently won a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association award<\/a>, which is usually reserved for novelists. With the win came this essay by Thompson<\/a>, praising his love of books. Near the end of the essay, Thompson sums up what I love about great books in a way I’ve always known, but never thought to put into words or examine that deeply.<\/p>\n

What’s in an Ending?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It’s often the ending of a good book that leaves me sitting on the couch with a head flooded with thoughts long after finishing the last words and closing the book. Everything comes together, and I can’t stop thinking about what I’ve just read.<\/p>\n

As a writer, sometimes I don’t know the ending when I start, but I know it when it finally happens. I do all I can to make sure people feel something when they reach the end of something I’ve written. It may take rewriting an ending many times — sometimes even shifting scenes around — before it’s just right. To me, the effort is worth it because the ending is the most important part of the story.<\/p>\n

In his essay, regarding endings, Thompson says this:<\/p>\n

“Endings are the hardest part, because endings don\u2019t exist in real life. Certainly not in history. Death is an end of sorts, but not really . . . So ending a book means finding the right moment to pull away, to let go of an author\u2019s parental control, and hand the baton to the reader. Because that\u2019s where the story lives: in the relationship the reader continues with the characters after all the words are used up.”<\/p>\n

– Craig Thompson<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I mentioned yesterday that I write because I want to<\/a> — I enjoy the act and the challenge that comes with it. But I’d be lying if I said I only write for myself.<\/p>\n

I’ve always written with an audience in mind.<\/p>\n

Here’s to the Ending<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Maybe others aren’t as floored by what Thompson said about endings as I am; perhaps I should probably think about writing more than I do.<\/p>\n

I’ve always written with an audience in mind, but I never realized the responsibility and trust that comes with deciding when to pull away.<\/p>\n

While I’m the person writing the story, it ultimately belongs to the reader in the end.<\/p>\n

While the book may be closed (or the e-reader turned off), if we do our jobs well, the stories we tell live on forever in those who’ve committed their time to have a relationship with our words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Graphic novels are one of my favorite things in the world. Words combined with pictures — and all that happens in between the panels — is an amazing thing. Some days I’m not sure there’s a more perfect medium. Fairly recently, I reviewed Craig Thompson’s Habibi, which — to me — is the perfect graphic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[35,22,24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3848"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}