The Story That Won’t End (or Won’t Begin)
The Story That Won’t End (or Won’t Begin)
A good story is supposed to go somewhere. It’s supposed to build, to resolve, to satisfy. But what if it doesn’t? What if the pieces are all in place—characters, setting, conflict—but the story never truly starts? Or what if it refuses to end, circling itself forever, unraveling before it can conclude?
Your task is to write a story, poem, or narration that plays with the reader’s expectations—setting them up for something that never arrives or trapping them in a loop they can’t escape. Maybe the narrator keeps almost telling you something important but never does. Maybe the plot resets just before the climax. Maybe the story seems to end… but the last sentence loops back to the first.
However you approach it, this piece should make the reader question what they expect from a story—and why they expect it.
The Illusion of Progress – Give the reader the feeling that something is about to happen. Just… not yet.
Play with Expectations – What does a reader want? What happens when you deny them that?
Structure as Story – Is your piece a loop? A setup without payoff? A story that restarts just as it gets good?
Frustration, Humor, or Suspense – Decide what emotional response you want. Will the reader laugh at the absurdity? Feel trapped? Keep turning pages, hoping for something that never arrives?
What is the reader waiting for? How long can you keep them waiting?
If your piece never “begins,” does it still feel like a story?
How do repetition, false starts, and digressions create meaning?
What does this experiment reveal about how readers interact with stories?
If on a winter’s night a traveler (Italo Calvino) – A novel where the protagonist keeps starting new books but never gets to finish them.
Waiting for Godot (Samuel Beckett) – A play where two characters endlessly wait for someone who never arrives.
House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski) – A novel where the text itself seems to collapse, restart, and reframe itself.
“The Garden of Forking Paths” (Jorge Luis Borges) – A short story that suggests all possibilities exist, but none can be truly completed.