On Endings: You Won’t Have a Second Chance at a Last Impression

Here we are, a day away from the new year. I’m still not sure what happened to the previous 364 days.

Approaching a new calendar year seems a good time to think about one of the most important parts of any book: endings. (We’ll tackle beginnings in a few weeks.)

Why the End Matters

The End. Two words that close many a novel of yore. The conclusion of the story. The end of the conversation you get to have with your reader (at least for now).

The last words of your story are naturally memorable without even trying. No other words come after these. By luck (good or bad) of their position, your reader is likely to remember the end of your book without you having to perform any special word magic. How you leave your reader is what they are most likely to permanently connect with your story.

If you flub a scene in the middle of the book, you still have a chance to make up that slip with your reader—provided they keep reading. If you lose the pace a little in the middle of the book, your reader may forgive you. But you don’t get a do-over on the ending.

You want to knock the end of your book out of the park.

Let that reader connection be one of your choosing. Your end arises from what you’ve written before and should form a natural conclusion to the events/people/ideas you’ve already illuminated. Leave your reader with questions because you WANT them to question certain things. Leave your reader thoughtful because you WANT them to be thoughtful. Don’t let them get away from you confused or second-guessing the journey you’ve just led them on.

Endings: What Not to Do

DON’T

• introduce any new material. I repeat: DO NOT INTRODUCE NEW MATERIAL.

But what if I’m writing a sequel? you ask.

New material (including teasers and clues for sequels) should come in the body of the book and then naturally lead to the end. If you want to write a sequel or a series, you need to prepare your readers for this before The End.

• try to summarize everything you’ve written in earlier chapters.

People have different levels of preference about what to summarize or repeat. Rule of thumb: summaries are most successful when they remind readers about earlier content without being repetitive.

• insist that you tie up every storyline with a neat bow.

A natural conclusion can leave things open-ended. If your story lends itself to wrapping certain plot lines or discussions up, great. But don’t force it. A feeling of continuation can be very satisfying to your reader (and drive them back to your writing).

• tell the reader what to do, think, or feel.

Do you want them to think or feel or do certain things? Yes! Of course!! That’s your job to do, not to lecture your reader about doing. If you have to tell them they should be happy, you haven’t done the job right in the rest of your book.

• make them wonder if there are pages missing, because sentences stop but the ideas don’t come to a rest.

The book doesn’t just end where you decide to stop writing. No race simply stops at the finish line—we can’t go from high speed to zero in the blink of an eye. Prepare your reader for the approaching end before they get there. Your ideas and your story have a natural arc and we should be at the end of at least the main ones. (If you’re writing a sequel or a series there will naturally be continuing material, but something needs to come to an end in this book.)

Endings: One Side of a Two-Sided Coin

Remember that your book beginning and your book ending “talk” to one another. They are literally your story’s bookends.

If you are writing nonfiction, make sure the ideas you introduce in the beginning come to a natural rest in the ending.

If you are writing fiction, make sure the narrative arc and character(s) you introduce in the beginning are anchored again at the end.

A beginning and ending that don’t share the same backbone are a red flag.

Bottom Line

It’s hard to perfect your ending until you have the basic shape of the book. This means endings are a second draft/revision task.

If your book were a performance, you’d want your reader to cheer you back for an encore bow. Spend some time thinking where you want the story to end up. Your job as the director is to get us there.

== ==

Want help with how your book lands? Let’s get together for a book structure intensive (the end is connected to what came before it).

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter & receive instant access to How to Find an Editor: a Resource for Independent and Self-Publishing Writers, plus all blogs delivered straight to your inbox, plus any upcoming local events and indie publishing tidbits I share.