To Start With A Finish ?

[cacian]

Could I get away with starting a story with a specific paragraph then use it, the same paragraph, to end the story?

For example my opening line to this short story I am working on is this

''He rose from his bed thinking it was a dream. That was a dream.''

[Charles Darnay]

Using the same or similar sentence at the start and close has been done successfully, and could be. In Finnegan's Wake the story stars with the second half of the last sentence o the book (establishing a cyclical nature). That is also a novel that takes place over a dream.

However....

Unless you have a new Finnegan's Wake up your sleeve - writing a story that turns out to be "just a dream" is a terrible idea.

[cacian]

Hi Charles.
Thank you for posting.
I am not sure that would be a terrible idea.
Does not the reader or even anyone dream?

[hillwalker]

Bookending a story or novel with the same sentence is fine.

Writing a story then telling us it was only a dream is a pointless cop-out.

We all dream. Many of our stories may be inspired by dreams. Telling the reader it was nothing but a dream is pulling the rug from under their feet for no reason.

H

[Charles Darnay]

Dreams have their place - but they lack consequence, and a story must have consequence as much as it must have conflict.

[Paulclem]

Hi Charles.
Thank you for posting.
I am not sure that would be a terrible idea.
Does not the reader or even anyone dream?

Even GCSE students are told not to write their stories with this hackneyed ending. Even Dallas used it to correct a cul de sac of a storyline - and they were panned for it.

[Charles Darnay]

^ and yet it came back somehow. Stupid world and its lack of ideas.

[Calidore]

Even Dallas used it to correct a cul de sac of a storyline - and they were panned for it.

Although St. Elsewhere did a variation on it quite successfully (IMO).

[cacian]

Although St. Elsewhere did a variation on it quite successfully (IMO).

How do you mean?


Even GCSE students are told not to write their stories with this hackneyed ending. Even Dallas used it to correct a cul de sac of a storyline - and they were panned for it.

I have watched Dallas but I am not sure what you mean about the cul de sac I must have missed it.

[Paulclem]

Although St. Elsewhere did a variation on it quite successfully (IMO).

I'm not aware of the episode, but, even if done well, it shows that the idea is well worn.

[hillwalker]

I have watched Dallas but I am not sure what you mean about the cul de sac I must have missed it.

Back in the 80's (?) one of their main characters (played by Patrick Duffy) died and the series continued without him for about 20-30 (?) episodes before the producers decided they needed him back because ratings were slipping.
How did they get over this rather awkward plot development? They pretended he'd banged his head and that every episode between his 'death' and his 'resurrection' had been a dream he was having caused by the bang to his head.

H

[Burl Bird]

Could I get away ...'

I don't find anything wrong with beginning and ending the story with the same sentence... It's what's between that's important, right? :)

I guess you are going to have a series of false wake-ups in your story, or something like that? I remember the film "Waking Life" centers around a dreaming character, that wasn't that bad... Just try to make it relevant, somehow, anyhow: as others said, making the whole story "just a dream" is usually a huge letdown for the readers.

Personally, I prefer Kafka's method: he starts several stories with MC waking up - just to find the "real world" now functions like a dream (nightmare).

[Calidore]

How do you mean?

In the final scene of the last episode of the series, we see the autistic son of one of the characters (who in this scene is a construction worker, not a doctor) holding and staring into a snow globe containing a model of the hospital in which the series took place. The implication was that the entire show took place within his mind.

Excellent series, too. It's criminal that it hasn't been completely released on DVD.

[xtianfriborg13]

I do that a lot! I think it somehow puts aesthetic effect on my writings! :)