Endings

4.21.23

(NOTE: I first published this short piece 17 years ago at the end of my first month writing a personal blog. It has been lightly edited.)

Lots of writers have asked me over the years about the best way to write endings, or kickers, to their stories. This is an especially difficult question to answer when you're telling a sad or difficult story. How can you leave your readers with something other than an utter sense of hopelessness?

And, given the seriousness of, say, global environmental threats, should you even try to do that?

My answer is yes.

As to the how, whenever possible I'd recommend finding a life-affirming aspect to whatever story you are telling, and close with that. It takes some additional reporting and some hard thinking to locate the set of facts or perspectives that may allow readers to absorb all of the bad or sad news and still feel empowered to go on, better informed about dangers, but not necessarily bereft of hope.

Endings are as natural as beginnings. At the very end of my own stories, I like to find something to leave readers with that can encourage them to find even a small piece of inspiration going forward.

It is exactly what is meant by the concept of loving somebody so much that you can actually let them go, in the end, when that's the right thing to do. It hurts, and the pain is beyond intense. But is also is the kind of ending that implies new beginnings -- for both of you.

An ending coated with love really isn't an ending per se, but a transition to a future neither of you can yet envision. When that new stage finally arrives, you'll both feel better for the way you let each other go--not by isolating, withdrawing, and denying, but by embracing, supporting and loving.

At least that's how I see it. :)

(Since first publishing this piece in 2006, I’ve gone on to write almost 5,000 other essays.)

LINKS:

• Large, creative AI models will transform lives and labour markets (Economist)

• The next arms race: China leverages AI for edge in future wars (Japan Times)

• This new technology could blow away GPT-4 and everything like it — The Hyena code is able to handle amounts of data that make GPT-style technology run out of memory and fail. (ZDNet)

• How to worry wisely about artificial intelligence (Economist)

• AI-generated spam may soon be flooding your inbox – and it will be personalized to be especially persuasive (The Conversation)

• Elon Musk threatens to sue Microsoft over using Twitter data for its A.I. (CNBC)

• Fox News Remains an Aberration in American Journalism (NYT)

• Dominion Voting Systems’ decision to settle its defamation suit with Fox News for $787.5 million was one of the biggest stories of the week, yet the right-wing network itself barely made a peep about it. In total, Fox News’ broadcast coverage of the agreement reportedly amounted to about six minutes. [HuffPost]

• After high-flying start, DeSantis hits stumbling blocks on road to 2024 (WP)

• What’s in the House G.O.P. Debt Limit Bill (NYT)

• Republicans finally have a debt ceiling plan. Will Democrats blink? (Vox)

• House Republicans pass transgender sports ban for schools (NBC)

• Biden 2024 campaign announcement coming as soon as next week (AP)

• Suspect who allegedly shot 6-year-old neighbor and her parents in North Carolina has been apprehended in Florida (CNN)

• Semi-automatic rifle ban passes Washington state Legislature (AP)

• Ralph Yarl, Kaylin Gillis and other senseless shootings rattle US (BBC)

• IRS agent alleges Hunter Biden probe is being mishandled (AP)

• Senate invites Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts to testify in wake of Clarence Thomas ethics scandal (CNBC)

• White Tennessee lawmakers speak out for insurrection in honoring Confederate history (The Conversation)

• Alec Baldwin charge to be dropped in movie set shooting case. (AP)

• BuzzFeed News Is Shutting Down, Company Laying Off 180 Staffers (Variety)

• U.S. existing-home prices fall nearly 1% in March, the biggest drop in a decade (MarketWatch)

• Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks (Economist)

• The world could breach a new average temperature record in 2023 or 2024, fueled by climate change and the anticipated return of the El Nino weather phenomenon, climate scientists say. (Reuters)

• Sea level rise could wash away turtle breeding grounds around the world, researchers say (ABC)

• How melting Arctic ice could be fueling extreme wildfires in the Western U.S. (NPR)

• Biden pledges $500 million to curb Amazon deforestation (WP)

• Here's what will happen if Colorado River system doesn't recover from 'historic drought' (ABC)

• U.S. tracking more than 650 potential UFOs, official says (CBS)

• Ukraine refugees face uncertainty and precarity as displacement persists (NPR)

• Taliban may be getting bulk of US aid sent to Afghanistan (Military Times)

• UN chief to convene meeting to work on way forward on Afghanistan (Reuters)

• US Afghanistan watchdog tells Congress he can’t guarantee American aid is ‘not currently funding the Taliban’ (CNN)

• Millions close to hunger after WFP cuts food aid to Afghanistan (Al Jazeera)

• 6.38 million years ago: Satan plants the first cannabis seed on the Asian continent to tempt future Christians. (The Onion)