Story Endings and Pickle Factories by Heidi Chiavaroli

Heidi Chiavaroli

As I neared the end of my four-mile run the other morning, I was feeling good. Feeling fast. Feeling the burn. Feeling like I had not only enjoyed the run, but that I had worked hard the last three and a half miles. One last hill and then around the corner to my street.

But my satisfying run was about to be ruined. For on the corner of that last stretch is a pickle factory. And boy, were they busy making pickles that morning. Now it's not that I'm not fond of pickles. I like them well enough. The smell from a freshly opened jar doesn't even bother me. But the scent steaming from the vent of this pickle factory was an especially strong smell of a condensed kind. It hit me in the face as I puffed past. It stung my nostrils and soured my stomach.

My run was spoiled.

This is not altogether unlike the feeling you may sometimes get when nearing the end of a book. You may be enjoying the story. You sympathize with the characters. You feel invested in them. You turn each page, wondering what new development will lead them barreling toward the climax. And then...something akin to the stench of a pickle factory wafts toward your nose (or rather, your reader's mind). Something's just not...satisfying. The ending is frumpy, the characters disappointed. The book is soured, just like my stomach on the home stretch of my run the other morning.

It's funny how a bad ending can ruin an otherwise good book and a great ending can redeem a mediocre one.

As I recently wrote the end of my latest novel, I really longed for a knockout ending, but as I wrote it smelled more like mediocre. I'm still trying to figure out possible solutions, and I'm hopeful and determined to fix the problem.

Because truly, there's nothing worse than the smell of pickles at the end of a story.

Have you ever had this experience when reading a book? Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by a book's ending?


Heidi Chiavaroli is a writer, runner, wife, mother, and grace-clinger—not necessarily in that order. Ever since taking her first trip to Plimoth Plantation with her sister, mother, and grandmother at the age of nine, she has been fascinated with history and its significance to today’s people and culture. Heidi is the winner of ACFW’s 2014 Genesis Contest, Historical Category. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, two sons, and Howie, her standard poodle. Learn more about Heidi on her website: www.heidichiavaroli.com.

My Writing Journey by Heidi Glick

Heidi Glick

I’ve been writing since I was 13 years old. I started out writing screenplays and then later began writing novels. I began writing upon the advice of a friend from church.

For some reason, when I started out writing, I had in my head that writers were born and not made. I almost gave up writing because of this belief. Thankfully, someone reminded me that although missionaries are called by God, they still have to acquire skills, for example, in some instances, foreign language acquisition. And so while I felt called by God to write, I still needed to learn more about writing before God would open the door to publication. For example, I needed to learn more about POV; when I first started writing, I didn’t know how to write using deep POV and tended to head hop. Joining a critique group helped me because I received active feedback from other writers. Including several rounds of rewrites, from start to finish, it took me around four years to complete my debut suspense novel, Dog Tags.

During the writing of my novel, I faced several struggles (my dad’s death and infertility). While I do not wish to relive these experiences, I feel like God used them to strengthen me. Also, during these times, I poured a lot of time and energy into writing. I’m not sure I would have done that if I hadn’t gone through the trials and tribulations that I did. Similarly, the characters in Dog Tags face hardships. The heroine, schoolteacher Beth Martindale, has lost her brother, while the hero, former Marine Mark Graham, has lost his best friend and is disabled. My hope is that readers will identify with the main characters and find encouragement from them.

About the Author

Heidi Glick has a B.A. in biology, a minor in Bible from Cedarville University, and a passion for writing Christian fiction. Additionally, she is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and has written two articles for Intercom. When not working, Heidi spends time with her husband, son, and two dogs, Cocoa and Sparky. She attends Grace Chapel in Mason, Ohio.

Dog Tags

Dog Tags
by Heidi Glick

When disabled ex-Marine Mark Graham reconnects with his best friend’s sister, he finds himself falling in love. But Beth Martindale’s presence is a constant reminder of events he’d rather forget. Mark wants to move forward, but the secrets surrounding her brother’s death as well as his own confinement to a wheelchair threaten to tear them apart.When a psychopath who calls himself The Knight fixates on Beth, Mark is determined to give her the protection he failed to give her brother on the battlefield, yet he discovers that a wheelchair isn’t the only impediment he has to keeping Beth safe. Will terror win or can Mark find the strength of mind and body to rescue Beth and find his own redemption? Check out this website for a chance to win a copy.

This-n-That Thursday

How many times have you experienced the satisfaction of completing a manuscript? Once? Five times? Still trying to make it to “the end?”

Writing is hard work. Most—if not all of us—have learned that. Maybe I should re-phrase that. Writing well is hard work.

I just completed revisions on a 91K contemporary romance that I plan to pitch at the American Christian Fiction Writers conference in September. I’ve worked on this story for a long time, but I’m confident that it’s finally ready and worthy to present.

Schedules, time constraints, and editing other people’s projects weren’t the only reasons it took two years to complete the manuscript. 

Although my crit partners fell in love with the hero, they just couldn’t bond with the heroine. I entered several writing contests, and some judges also agreed that the heroine needed to be more likeable. No matter how many times I rewrote chapters, they still weren’t working. The story was based on a theme that was worthy, but it was strangling me in how I needed to present the heroine’s character. 

Then I had an “ah-ha” moment, and I let go of the original theme. By embracing a new message—an even more relatable theme—the heroine grew not only likable, but lovable. I rewrote some chapters and added new ones. But the basic story remained the same. I was set free. Words flowed and the story gained more depth. It all came together and made sense.

It was like hiking up a hill through dense woods on a hot day, stumbling over tree roots, swatting gnats and deer flies. Then suddenly breaking into an opening and discovering a sparkling, clear lake at my feet. Refreshing!

 

Sometimes we need to let go of what’s not working in our stories …

Once I finally stopped holding on so tight to how I believed the story should be written, I allowed God to show me what he wanted. 

Are you struggling with your current manuscript? Is there something you’ve been stubborn about changing? Even though your crit partners and your own gut have been nudging you in that direction?

Has there ever been time when you were willing to try a new direction in your story and it made all the difference?  Please share it with us!

Let’s keep pressing on to “the end.”

Happy writing!

~ Dawn