Writing Process

By writing the novel from the first person point of view of a writer attempting to finish her novel, the author is able to explore the complexities of the writing process. At the start of The End of the Story, the narrator is in search of an end for her novel. This search, therefore, acts as the impetus for the narrative itself. However, only 10 or so pages into Davis's narrative, the narrator identifies the ending as her experience drinking a "bitter cup of tea" at a bookstore after stalking her ex-lover's last address (11). Davis's narrative, therefore, seems to come to a close, to locate its resolution, before it has even begun. However, in the course of this same passage, the narrator then says: "Then, although it was still the end of the story, I put it at the beginning of the novel, as if I...