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I have a problem with beginnings... and endings... and middles. But I don't know what else I would do. I find it very, very difficult to write. It takes everything; it's physically and mentally and emotionally exhausting for me. And my neighbours. And my dog.

— Miriam Toews

Sentiment: NEGATIVE

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✓Similar Perspectives

Endings are the toughest, harder than beginnings. They must satisfy the expectations you have hopefully generated in your reader - not frustrate them, leave the reader grasping at elusive strings.

— Jeffrey Thomas

I knew I wanted to write novels, but I could not finish what I started. The closer I got, the more ways I'd find to screw it up.

— Steven Pressfield

Writing is an extremely rewarding and humbling process, and I've learned to go with it, that even if it feels absolutely impossible, I will find a way to tell the next story.

— Marie Lu

Life is not so much about beginnings and endings as it is about going on and on and on. It is about muddling through the middle.

— Anna Quindlen

I usually start with an ending, then outline high points of things that happen, and kind of make up the rest as I go along. Occasionally, the characters surprise me, and I wonder how we got here. Other times, the characters are stubborn and won't do something I want them to in the story.

— Julie Kagawa

I don't have problems starting writing. I have problems stopping. I'm one of the last dads to arrive at school to collect the kids, because I want to get this paragraph just right.

— David Mitchell

Everything you write makes you better. But if you really need a tip, here's one: a good story begins in opposition to its ending. That means you work out how it finishes first, and then begin the story as far away from that point - in terms of character development - as you can.

— Chris Wooding

I like to tell stories that have beginnings, middles and ends.

— Eric Kripke

✗Opposing Perspectives

I tend to write my beginnings and endings first - as a cartoonist and storyteller, I couldn't sit down every day if I didn't know where the story was headed.

— Jeff Lemire

My own way of writing is very meditated and, despite my reputation, rather slow-moving. So I do spend a good deal of time contemplating endings. The final ending is usually arrived at simply by intuition.

— Joyce Carol Oates