The writing domino effect

Today I'm answering a question from Chicory: How do you keep your endings from radically changing when your characters run away with your middles? (I've noticed in writing that if you change one little thing, it tends to have a domino effect on the story.)

The only thing I can figure is that my characters must run in formation or something, because I've never had an ending change after they ran away with the middle. I think this is true because once I've decided on the ending, it's hardwired. Even Tam being completely uncooperative won't change it. So I guess I let them run around in the middle, but steer them back onto the road to end the trip. And to make it even more difficult for them to stray, I have my plots worked out in my head two and three books down the road.

I think if you have the ending set in concrete in your mind, that any road your characters take will end up back where you need them to go -- kind of like they take a scenic detour, but the destination doesn't change. Now if you didn't have a definite ending in mind, I could see where your characters would end up in San Francisco when you were kind of/sort of/maybe thinking about LA. Make sure you let them know where you're going.

So to keep your characters from ending up in Abu Dhabi, my suggestion is to have an ending in mind before you start.

I need questions to answer in my blogs -- email me.
Lisa