Getting back to Falling Down - The beginning to the end

Back in college I had a creative writing class. I loved that class. Every week was a different writing topic. Poem assignments, brainstorm bubbles, free write collections. But one week's challenge was my favorite. One week' assignment has stuck with me. Our project that week was to write a short story. But not just any short story. We had to write an ending. How does one write and ending to a story that has never existed?

I jostled this around for the first two days. I would start something then throw it away. I would run with another just to have it go no where. I had no idea how I was going to tackle this one. Then out of no where, here comes these characters. Not a story, characters. Two of them. I just started writing. I had no idea where these two new friends of mine were going to go or what they were going to be up to. I was just along for the ride. They started out in a bar, went for a walk and stopped at a bridge. And by the time this story found its ending point, so had one of the characters. One of my two new friends didn't make it out of the story alive.  And so my short story ending, Falling Down, was born.

I got an A on that project that week. The assignment was over. But these two new guys were not. Have you ever heard a writer or author talk about their craft? When they write a book, they say that these characters 'lived' inside of them begging to come out. I can safely say I know exactly what they mean now.  They actually pop up in your head.  Their stories go back and forth.  Possibilites.  HOW did they get in that bar to begin with?  Why DOES the one die at the end?  Did these two guys have girlfriends?  How did they meet?  These to characters have been swirling around 'wanting out' for some time now. They just seemed incomplete. I had wrote an ending to a story that had no beginning or middle. I wrote about the death of a character that was never complete to begin with. They wanted their beginning. They wanted their story. I just had no idea what it was. There were different incarnations of their story. At one point it was a screenplay. Then it went to a huge outline project. Then those outlines moved to summations written on index cards. Their story is still untold.

They don't give up. They're still in there. Wanting out. I can't say I blame hem. I'd be frustrated with me, too. I want to finish this story. Well, I guess want to start their story. With all the incarnations and outlines that I've done to this story, I know right where I want to take them. It's all laid out. It just needs done. It needs written. This, I guess, would be my New Years Resolution. Everyone has asked me this year what my resolution is. And I guess, a good start would be giving those two relentless characters a good start. Here's to hoping I don't trip again at Falling Down.