TWIST IN THE TAIL – WHY MY FICTION SHORT STORIES HAVE ABRUPT ENDINGS

TWIST IN THE TAIL

WHY MY FICTION SHORT STORIES HAVE ABRUPT ENDINGS

Musings

By

VIKRAM KARVE

A recent “fan” of my creative writing commented: I like the way you end your stories suddenly with a “twist in the tail”.

The young lady was being polite.

What she wanted to know is: “Why do my stories have abrupt endings?”

Here is the answer:

WHY MY FICTION SHORT STORIES HAVE ABRUPT ENDINGS

If you are a writer you will have your own individual writing style. 

I too have my own signature style. 

Many readers have commented that one of the aspects they do not like about my writing style is that my stories always have abrupt endings.

I agree.

I will make a conscious effort to correct this aspect.

But let me tell you how I developed this writing style of having abrupt endings.

I started writing fiction short stories 25 years ago in the early 1990’s – when I lived in the hills of Girinagar – a beautiful verdant green forest in the back of beyond below the mighty Sinhagad Fort and overlooking the placid blue waters of the Khadakwasla lake near Pune. 

From Monday to Friday – during the daytime – I would be busy with my work. 

But even on those working days – every morning and evening – I took long walks in the hills of Girinagar – thinking interesting thoughts – and by Friday – the plot for my next story would be ready in my mind.  

Then – on Saturday morning – I would start writing the story.

Yes – I did all my creative writing on weekends. 

I would write a short story every weekend in long hand – which my darling wife would then type on her portable typewriter during the week.

(Yes – those were the days of the pen and paper – when you actually wrote with your pen on paper – and later your story had to be typed on a typewriter in the prescribed format) 

Then I would then send my “double-spaced neatly typed story” by snail-mail (by registered post) to magazines which published short fiction like Citadel – a magazine published monthly from Pune for which I was a regular fiction writer – or to the Indian Express for its Thursday literary magazine called Citizen – or to other magazines like Femina, Savvy, Debonair, Caravan, Women’s Era etc that carried fiction.  

I preferred to have an atmosphere of solitude to write on weekends.

So – on every Saturday morning – I would drop my wife and kids at the Khadakwasla bus stop – and they would be off to spend the weekend in Pune City with their grannies. 

Then – in my glorious solitude – I would to start writing. 

I love writing – so once I start writing – I transcend into a state of timelessness.

I would write the entire Saturday and Sunday – and time would pass off in a jiffy – as I would be lost to the world – in a state of blissful timelessness.

Suddenly – I would hear the shrill ring of the phone – and I would realize that my two days of creative bliss were over.

It was already Sunday evening – and my wife was calling to tell me she was starting from Pune – and they all would be reaching Khadakwasla bus stop in an hour. 

(The Bus Journey from Pune to Khadakwasla took one hour)

The moment this dreaded phone call came, for me – panic would set in. 

Now – I had just one hour left to finish my story. 

(I had to complete the story I was writing otherwise it would spill over to the next weekend – and I did not want to breach my self-imposed target of “one story per week”). 

Therefore – I had no choice but to finish off the story with an abrupt ending – coup de grace...!!!  

Maybe this developed into a habit – and old habits die hard.

I will have to change my writing style and I will try my best to see that my stories have more unhurried, relaxed, satisfying, happy endings that leave a pleasant smooth aftertaste. 

But how can I do this? 

Nowadays – I blog. 

And – I try to write a blog a day.

Yes – I write one blog post per day.

I get up early and go for a long morning walk which ends in the park on the banks of the Mula River in Wakad near Pune.

During my morning walk I think interesting thoughts about what I am going to write on that day.

I start writing around 9 AM in the morning after my wife goes to work.

I love writing so much that I lose all sense of time – and sometimes I do not even have lunch.

Suddenly – I realise that it is 4 PM – and I know that my wife would be arriving in an hour.

So I have to quickly finish off whatever I am writing – and post it on my blog.

That is why even my blog posts have abrupt endings.

It seems that I just cannot escape from “Abrupt Endings”.

Or can I ?

And so – Dear Reader – you will have no choice but to “suffer” my “twist in the tail” stories...

VIKRAM KARVE

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Disclaimer:

All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the story are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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Revised Version of Article Written by me Vikram Karve in the year 2011 and Posted Online Earlier many times, including at urls: http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2011/04/why-my-stories-have-abrupt-endings.html  and  http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2012/05/abrupt-endings.html  and  http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2013/01/my-writing-style-abrupt-endings.html