Tag Archives: Endings

Chapter Ending? Read On!

For novelists, chapter endings can be tricky. If you’re agonizing over how to end a chapter, read on to see what I’ve learned.

For readers, the end of a chapter seems like the end of a lap in a race. They enjoy a brief feeling of accomplishment having reached a milestone marker, but the moment passes upon realizing how much more remains to be read.

For writers, a chapter ending serves two purposes. First, it must close out the chapter. That seems obvious, but I mean it in a deeper way. The writer called that section of the book a ‘chapter’ for a reason—perhaps a single scene, a particular setting, a character introduction, a revelation, a unit of time—and that reason must conclude. Whatever held that chapter together must wrap around and bind the other end.

Second, the end of the chapter should entice the reader to keep reading to the next one. Yes, it’s 1:37 AM and the reader has to go to work tomorrow, but the way that chapter ends compels the reader to keep going.

How do you accomplish those goals? Any number of ways. This post by John Matthew Fox at Bookfox and this one by Sacha Black offer many fine ways to end chapters. If handled well, new conflicts, surprises, jokes, mysteries, cliffhangers, and questions can all serve as chapter endings that springboard to the next.

In particular, I like Fox’s advice: don’t overthink it. Chapter endings, while important, don’t deserve as much of your time as the first sentence, opening paragraphs, and final words of your novel. Your book spans many chapters, and you must write an ending for each one. Ending each one the same way would bore the reader, so vary your ending method.

I also like Fox’s suggestion to examine the chapter endings used by your favorite modern authors. Analyzing the techniques of successful writers could result in approaches that will work for you. As always, don’t plagiarize. Imitate a technique, don’t copy words.

I’ll offer this test you can use to see if your chapter endings work. As you write your first draft, and as you edit each subsequent draft, do you stop writing for the day at the end of a chapter? Or do you feel an irresistible urge to start the next one? If you stop writing or editing at the end of a chapter, it’s likely readers will stop reading there. They might even stop reading your entire book.

Just as all novel chapters must end, so too with all blogposts. Well, come to think of it, if anyone could find a way for a blogpost to go on forever, it would be—

Poseidon’s Scribe

August 28, 2022Permalink

End of the Story

…and they lived… Well, how exactly does the story end? Some time ago, I discussed rules for writing endings, but today let’s explore various ways stories can end.

I did a little research, and writers agree there are only five or six possible story endings. However, they each have their own categorization methods, so there may be well over six, even after counting for overlaps. (In each case, I’m simplifying their lists for brevity.)

For example, author C. Patrick Schulze categorizes endings by the protagonist, the goal, and the protagonist’s state of mind:

  1. Attains goal (happy)
  2. Attains goal (sad)
  3. Doesn’t attain goal (happy anyway)
  4. Doesn’t attain goal (sad)
  5. Realizes goal was flawed (doesn’t care)

Scott Francis categorizes in terms of the protagonist, the goal, and things greater than the goal:

  1. Attains goal (happy)
  2. Doesn’t attain goal (sad)
  3. Attains goal, but loses something greater (classic tragedy)
  4. Sacrifices goal for something greater
  5. Ending is ambiguous or bittersweet (literary fiction)

A blogger known as NDRW postulates these five more plot-centric endings:

  1. Happily ever after
  2. To be Continued…
  3. Learn something
  4. Deux Ex Machina
  5. Sorrowfully ever after

Dean Elphick’s six endings are different, but also plot-based:

  1. Resolved Ending
  2. Unresolved Ending (to be continued)
  3. Implied Ending (ambiguous, often unsatisfying)
  4. Twist in the tale (surprise)
  5. Tie-Back (ending foretold at beginning)
  6. Crystal Ball (months or years later/epilogue)

The Write Redhead cites writer Michael Orlofsky’s six ending types (mostly character-based):

  1. Death Ending
  2. Recognition Ending (learn something)
  3. Framing with Recognition (cyclic, return to beginning)
  4. Surprise/Revelation Ending
  5. Journey Endings (protagonist starts a new journey)
  6. Response to Theme (need to balance emotional and intellectual power)

These various bloggers and writers may differ in how they categorize ending types, but they do concur that endings must flow naturally and logically from the story.

I also think they’d all agree you should spend a lot of time getting the ending right. Take the same effort you did in coming up with the perfect beginning hook, to make sure you’ve ‘nailed the landing,’ as Michael Orlofsky put it.

If you’re unsure how to end your story, look over the list above, read the blogs I’ve linked to, and write a few different endings. Your optimum story ending should emerge from that effort.

Now, with the perfect ending to this post, I’ll close with my characteristic sign-off, as—

Poseidon’s Scribe

January 17, 2021Permalink

8 Rules for Writing The End

Writing the ending of your story can be as difficult as coming up with its opening lines. After all, the ending is the part that will (or should) linger in your readers’ minds. It’s important to craft an ending that satisfies, intrigues, and leaves readers hungry for your next book.

The EndWhat should you do to create a memorable and striking ending? Here are 8 rules to follow, distilled from great posts you should also read by Dee White, James V. Smith, Jr., Brian Klems, Crista Rucker, Joanna Penn, and the folks at Creative Writing Now and WikiHow:

 

  1. Resolve the story’s main conflict(s). Even if the external conflict isn’t fully resolved, the protagonist’s internal conflict should demonstrate growth in that character.
  2. Ensure the final events result from the protagonist’s actions and decisions. For better or worse, the hero must bring about the ending, not stand by and watch it happen. Do not allow a Deus Ex Machina.
  3. Strive for an ending that’s inevitable, yet unexpected. I’ve always found Beethoven’s music to be like that. “Yeah,” you’re asking, “but how do I do that?” Take the expected ending and give it a twist; that’s how to give readers something they don’t expect. The way to make that ending inevitable is to go back and drop foreshadowing hints into the story. If these hints are subtle, then your ending can be both inevitable and unexpected.
  4. Allow only a brief resolution after the story’s climax. The end should be a rapid relaxation of tension as I depicted here.
  5. The end should refer to story’s theme, but not be preachy like a morality play.
  6. If you’re unsure how to end your tale, write several draft endings and either choose the best one, or combine elements from two or more of the best. You may end up with as many drafts of the ending as you wrote for the beginning hook.
  7. You needn’t fully wrap up all the story’s loose ends (except those pertaining to the protagonist and the main internal conflict), but they should be addressed or hinted at.
  8. The end should reflect back to beginning, but in a spiral manner, not a circular one. By that I mean that things can never be as they were in the beginning of the story; too much has changed. By referring back to the beginning, that will emphasize this change to the reader.

Adherence to these rules should help you end your stories in a manner satisfying to your readers. At last, riding off into the sunset on his amazing rocket-powered pen, goes—

Poseidon’s Scribe

March 20, 2016Permalink