There are horrors beyond life's edge that we do not suspect, and once in a while man's evil prying calls them just within our range.
H. P. LovecraftRead
The end of a story must be stronger rather than weaker than the beginning, since it is the end which contains the denouement or culmination and which will leave the strongest impression upon the reader.
Interpretation
A strong ending is important in storytelling, as it leaves a lasting impression on the audience.
In this quote, H. P. Lovecraft emphasizes the significance of a compelling conclusion in storytelling. He suggests that a story's ending should be impactful and resonant, overshadowing the beginning to ensure that the audience remembers the narrative vividly. The end is pivotal as it often determines the audience's overall experience and understanding of the story, encapsulating its themes and providing closure.
In practice
In a writing workshop to emphasize the importance of crafting a strong ending.
There are horrors beyond life's edge that we do not suspect, and once in a while man's evil prying calls them just within our range.
I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.
Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places.
The process of delving into the black abyss is to me the keenest form of fascination.
No new horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace.
I am, indeed, an absolute materialist so far as actual belief goes; with not a shred of credence in any form of supernaturalism—religion, spiritualism, transcendentalism, metempsychosis, or immortality.
I think that when memoir goes wrong, it goes wrong from too much memory, too much detail. It's about clearing all that away and just getting to the story.
What I've always tried to find in my books are points at which the private lives of the characters, and also my own, intersect with the public life of the culture.
There is something called the rapture of the deep, and it refers to what happens when a deep-sea diver spends too much time at the bottom of the ocean and can't tell which way is up. When he surfaces, he's liable to have a condition called the bends, where the body can't adapt to the oxygen levels in the atmosphere. All of this happens to me when I surface from a great book.
People often ask me why my style is so simple. It is, in fact, deceptively simple, for no two sentences are alike. It is clarity that I am striving to attain, not simplicity. Of course, some people want literature to be difficult and there are writers who like to make their readers toil and sweat. They hope to be taken more seriously that way. I have always tried to achieve a prose that is easy and conversational. And those who think this is simple should try it for themselves.
Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book.
Is there anything in the world better than words on the page? Magic signs, the voices of the dead, building blocks to make wonderful worlds better than this one, comforters, companions in loneliness. Keepers of secrets, speakers of the truth...all those glorious words.
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