How to write a satisfying ending
Do you know the saying ‘first impressions matter’? Well, in this case, last impressions are just as, if not more, important!
Endings are make or break in a story. How many movies or books have been ruined for you by an unsatisfactory ending? A great plot and characters can be completely derailed when the ending doesn’t play fair. Your ending is what ultimately leaves a lasting impression on your reader. If your beginning is what gets a reader to read your book, your ending will be what sells the next one.
So, how do we write a great ending? Let’s first look at what the endings of our stories are for. They are…
The place to address unanswered questions left over from the plot
A resolution to your character’s arc and to reflect their growth
A space to allow the reader breath and reflect on the journey they’ve taken with your characters and world
A final moment of reflection for your character, to look back on everything they’ve achieved, how things have changed, if they got what they wanted, etc
A final moment in which the theme of your story is reflected
A moment to touch base with other really important characters that featured elsewhere in your story, but were not present for the climax
It’s worth mentioning that our endings are NOT the climax of our stories. You know, the huge moment of action where your character battles the big bad, or the secret is revealed, or the lovers get together for good. The endings are what comes after. It’s the denouement, the final stretch of path the leads to the finish line. It’s the time to resolve the journey of your characters and your story.
But what if you want to set up the next book? What if this isn’t actually the end, and there’s more story still to tell? Of course, you can leave some questions open, again with the promise to the reader that they’ll find their answers in the next book, but you still need to resolve the plot of this story, the arc of your characters, in this one. Just like you’re promising to deliver answers in your next story, you need to deliver on the promise in your current one.
What is this ‘promise’ I keep hearing about?
I’m so glad you asked!
The ‘promise’ that you need to deliver on in your story is the ‘promise of the premise.’ In other words, the theme of your story. You know, the overarching concept of what your story is about? Your ending needs to be related to the theme of your story and make sure that it’s remaining true to that.
That’s how you play fair with your readers. If you promise them a cute, fluffy romance novel, and then the ending is nothing but heartache and angst, you’ve broken your promise.
If your promise them a ‘found family’ story and your character winds up all alone still, you’ve broken your promise.
If your promise them a tragedy but end with every character getting exactly what they wanted and living lives of luxuries and joyousness, you broke your promise.
Get the idea? Whatever the theme of your story is, whether it’s that ‘Hope is the meaning of life,’ or ‘Good triumphs over evil,’ or ‘pineapple on pizza is good and everyone needs to just admit that and move on,’ you need to make sure that your ending is playing fair with theme.
This isn’t to say that you can’t subvert your reader’s expectations still, provide them with an ending that they didn’t necessarily see coming, but you need to do this while still playing within the perimeters of your theme.
In other words, don’t promise a sweet, feel-good romance novel, only to have the characters get together and then the main love interest dies. But instead, you could build up to the climax where the love interest turns out to instead be that secondary character who had been on the side lines throughout the whole story, and overall was a much better fit for your main character.
You are still delivering on your promise, but playing with the reader’s expectations.
What are some different types of endings?
There are LOADS of different ways that you can end your story. Here are just a few to consider:
Returning to the status quo: You end your story with a closing image- the mirror image. This can be both literal or in a more symbolic way. For example, if you story starts with a character standing on a cliff edge, staring out into the ocean, it will end with a character standing on a cliff edge, staring out into the ocean. In a more symbolic sense, your story may start with a character looking at a photograph, and end with them tearing it in half. The ’return to the status quo’ ending has a nice sense of completion. It feels full circle. Thematically, this is returning to the status quo of your character’s life, but everything has changed for them within the journey they’ve been on.
The Hollywood ending: The happily ever after. Everybody is happy, celebrating. Your character has achieved what they set out to do and arrived at the place that is the end result of their goal. This can be exactly what your character wanted, or it can be different from how they envisioned it being, but ultimately what they needed it to be. They are in the place they want to be and are happy and fulfilled.
Cliffhanger/Twist ending: this is where the rug is pulled out from under the reader at the last minute that leaves things open ended. This will usually happen immediately after the climax. The characters and reader are left feeling as if things have been resolved, they’re ‘catching their breath’, and then something terrible happens to change everything.
*This is a dangerous technique, especially in a standalone (a once-off story) as it runs the risk of making your reader feel cheated. In a series, if done well, it can work really well by adding interest for the next book.Epilogues: A jump forward in time that feels different to what’s happened before in the book, but it lets the reader know how everything worked out. This is often done with the narrator relaying how things turned out. Since it’s separate to the rest of the book, it can have a different tone. A time jump can work, even without an epilogue, if it works for your story’s ending. Sometimes though, this technique runs the risk of feeling rushed by trying to transmit too much information about too many characters in a short span, as epilogues are only a few pages long.
The bittersweet: This ending provides a resolution, and some of it is good, some of it isn’t. Maybe we’ve lost some characters along the way. Maybe things have been resolved, but your character has been changed by the events of the story, and not for the better. These endings give a sense of completion, and there are good things that have happened. However, it comes with a price, some kind of payoff for that happiness.
What are some things to keep in mind when writing my endings?
Understand the purpose of an ending: It’s the resolution. Stuff needs to be resolved. The conflict needs to be resolved.
Like all writing, every scene/chapter needs to be moving the plot forward. Same as the resolution to your story. The plot is not ‘finished’ until it’s been resolved.
Destination: Know what the purpose of your ending is. Is this book a standalone? Then this ending needs to finalise accordingly. If this is one book or story with others to follow, then you need a resolution, but some new problems may present themselves.
Series are not a green light to leave your reader hanging. You still need the conflict of your story resolved, with another problem introduced or ongoing to give the reader incentive to read on.
Tie up your subplots. This doesn’t need to be done in the resolution, but should be done BY the resolution
Look at your beginning. If you’re looking for a way to end your story, then looking to your beginning can help. It could be a mirror to, or an antithesis to, the beginning of your story. It can show, in some way, your character’s growth. The comparison of this, from the start to the end, highlights this. Look at the ‘Status Quo’ example above for how to utilise this.
You don’t need to be overt with this. You don’t need to be explicit. There should just be a contrast here.
Remember your theme. Is your story about found family? Is it about leaving a legacy? Is it about good vs evil? Whatever point your story is trying to make, this is your last chance to make it. You resolution should support your theme.
The ending of your book needs to wrap fairly fast. You resolution is there to wrap up your story, answer some questions. Epilogues are for showing every detail of the aftermath, but they’re very short. Only usually a few pages.
Workshop your endings. Endings are subjective, because all readers will have their emotional experience, meaning they’ll bring in their expectations and their thoughts on characters and feelings on matters. Critique partners or writing groups are great to get an overall idea on if your readers feel like the ending works for your story.
Your story ends when your character’s journey ends. Once they have changed, whether for good or worse, once they have achieved their goal, or they have been handed the consequences, their arc is now over and thus the plot has now reached its end.
How do you feel about writing endings? What are your favourite kinds of endings in stories? Leave a comment below letting us know your thoughts!
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