The Ending Conundrum

WerenCole · Dec 27, 2005

As writers our ability to spin a yarn is probably the strength of our personalities. There is almost nothing better than that feeling of the story taking a life of it's own and your ability to mold it and make it want you want, something that represents you and how you want to express yourself to the world.

In my life I have problems with the finale and it extends to my writing. Whether in work or play or my current work in progress I relish the process of the task, no stone unturned no opportunity unexplored but when it comes to the end I balk. The story fizzles out, the reader is upset that an engaging story ends on a dry note. The same could be said of my romantic relationships and my ability to keep a job but that is a different type of problem altogether.

The question is this: How do we as writers stay consistent in our approach to the world and our craft from beginning, middle and end? There are formulas I know, the three act structure and the hook (a dip or swirl if you will) and a variety of other tactics.

Please discuss your approach to the ending, in your writing and in your life.

-W

PeeDee · Dec 27, 2005

It always has to satisfy. It doesn't have to be conclusive, it scarcely has to wrap a damned thing up...but the reader has to put down the book happy that they invested the time to read what you've written.

I usually have an image of my head, at some point while I'm writing, of the very last scene of a book. With short stories, it just puts itself together in my head as I'm writing like a fast-assembled jigsaw puzzle. but with novels, I just have the ending scene. I know who's there, why they're there, and what happens next. I won't tell you what happens next, because the story is done and it's time to close the book.

(That is to say, it's time to close that flap of the book. Perhaps they'll just reopen it and read again from the beginning?)

My endings are all over the board, so I'll leave it as my first sentence. It always has to satisfy.

Linda Adams · Dec 28, 2005

A core requirement for me is that it has to end happily. The hero has to succeed and walk away alive. I've read several books where that wasn't the case, and my response when the hero died at the end was, "You mean I paid $7 for this?"

maestrowork · Dec 28, 2005

Always go out with a bang and satisfy your readers. Remember, you are writing for an audience, and not just for yourself. So when you find yourself fizzling out and becoming disinterested at the end, think about your readers. Give them a finish they won't forget.

Some endings are sad, and some are "happily ever after" -- it all depends on your story. But for cryin' out loud, give your characters a proper goodbye and show your readers a good time, one last time.

In real life too. We want to impress others from the very beginning, but we stop "working" on the relationship once it becomes familiar, and it fizzles out. We need to think about our partners. Imagine it's the very last time you will see them again (like they're going to die tomorrow). Some people may say, oh, what the heck I give up. But I'd say most people would do the best to make the last moments count.

(It's harder to do with a job, especially it's one that you really don't care about... it's okay. Start with your personal relationship first)

The ending means you REALLY do care about your story and your characters and your readers, and not just trying to impress them with first impressions.

One of the methods I use, in writing a story, is learn about the story/character arc. I think Optimus posted that somewhere (found it: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=422646&postcount=7). Anyway, the arc is like a hill, with small peaks and valleys, but it slopes up. Every dip leads to a bigger conflict (build up)... Everything leads to the big peak at the end (then a small dip as the final denouement -- it should be relatively brief, though). So if you keep that "building up" in mind, you might be able to pull it off.

It's sort of like planning a surprise birthday party... you don't want it to fizzle out right before the birthday boy or girl walk in, do you?

(It's okay if your denouement seems a little flat -- most are... it's like smoking a cig after having mind-blowing sex. It's not the cig that is supposed to be memorable. But still, the cig has to be satisfying, and you need that moment to reflect on what just happened)

Shadow_Ferret · Dec 28, 2005

I don't write sad endings, I'd never kill off my protagonist, it's just not my style. But my endings usually are nothing more than a tying of all the loose threads together and then the characters sort of having a beer or coffee or something and discussing their lives.

Not exactly that, but I think you get the point. There is no bang! no sudden end to the roller coaster. It's just sort of drifts off. Is that bad?

maestrowork · Dec 28, 2005

Shadow_Ferret said:
I don't write sad endings, I'd never kill off my protagonist, it's just not my style. But my endings usually are nothing more than a tying of all the loose threads together and then the characters sort of having a beer or coffee or something and discussing their lives.

Not exactly that, but I think you get the point. There is no bang! no sudden end to the roller coaster. It's just sort of drifts off. Is that bad?

It depends on what you're writing. Some stories have that abrupt roller coaster drop at the end. Some slowly walk off to the sunset... That's called the denouement, though, or epilogue. But do you have a climax near the end of your story? Is there any bang there? Even the most mundane literary stuff has some kind of climax. It's probably not a good idea to have a long, drawn-out denouement/epilogue, though. One short chapter is okay. But not 20 pages of characters drinking coffee and talking about their lives afterwards.

SeanDSchaffer · Dec 28, 2005

My stories have to end in a satisfying way, with everything sort of summed up in the last chapter or two, or I'm just not happy with my work. I know a lot of writers like to end with catchy last words or use endings that you don't see coming, but the way I look at it is, if it's the ending of the book, that ending needs to be obviously the ending.

I don't necessarily end my works on a positive note, nor do I necessarily have the main protagonist alive thereat. What I do do, though, is try to make everything 'wrap up' so that the read is a satisfying one regardless of the main character's life and/or death.

citymouse · Dec 28, 2005

When I begin a new story I always write the first chapter and then the last chapter. That way I know in my head where I want to go with it. For my first novel I wrote no less than three endings—each one very different. When I finally felt it was time to put the baby to bed I found that none suited the story I had written! Nonetheless, throughout the process I had an end point to shoot for.

As for happy versus unhappy endings, I prefer bittersweet. Again, my first story ends on a bittersweet note but the book is the first in a series and I want my reader to ache for more. The sequel ends happily as does the third in this series.

I think that a one-off story should balance the mood in an ending; especially if the author expects to write another story with a different slant/character. There’s no need to alienate a readership. Eventually a writer hopes his/her name alone will generate sales.

Michael Halfhill author of Bought and Paid for & Scimitar

www.michaelhalfhill.com

Shadow_Ferret · Dec 28, 2005

maestrowork said:
But do you have a climax near the end of your story? Is there any bang there? Even the most mundane literary stuff has some kind of climax. It's probably not a good idea to have a long, drawn-out denouement/epilogue, though. One short chapter is okay. But not 20 pages of characters drinking coffee and talking about their lives afterwards.

Oh, yes, in my "finished" novel there is the climax, an epic battle involving the storming of a castle by the protagonist-led army to recapture the throne for the princess which ends in a duel between the princess and her usurper cousin and the rescue of another cousin who she's in love with. Then it ends with the other male protagonist, the Elder of another nation who aided her to regain her throne and who is also in love with her sort of hemming and hawing, unsure of what to say to her and then bows out of the picture because neither has actually spoken their love and he's noble like that.

So it sort of ends with him and his right hand man going to a tavern to commiserate, then heading home.

Bufty · Dec 28, 2005

If that was made into a film, how would you feel when 'the end' credits rolled?

Shadow_Ferret said:
Oh, yes, in my "finished" novel there is the climax, an epic battle involving the storming of a castle by the protagonist-led army to recapture the throne for the princess which ends in a duel between the princess and her usurper cousin and the rescue of another cousin who she's in love with. Then it ends with the other male protagonist, the Elder of another nation who aided her to regain her throne and who is also in love with her sort of hemming and hawing, unsure of what to say to her and then bows out of the picture because neither has actually spoken their love and he's noble like that. So it sort of ends with him and his right hand man going to a tavern to commiserate, then heading home.

Diviner · Dec 28, 2005

Endings

It blows me away how confident most of you sound. My endings are the weakest part of my stories. Try as I might, I can't get the story to conform to the story-arc buildup, possibly because my stories are character driven and grow organically. (That means I don't follow my outline but "feel" my way through the story.) If I could be more direct and dynamic, I would, but following my outline just dries me up. Maybe, with more experience, I'll be able to control things better, but my three finished novels are parts of a series. All of them leave the reader knowing there is more to come even though the protagonist is left in a comfortable place.

Shadow_Ferret · Dec 28, 2005

Bufty said:
If that was made into a film, how would you feel when 'the end' credits rolled?

Oh oh! I forgot. There is one more scene where the step-mother and illegitimate queen escapes and she is found (wanton hussy that she is) in bed with the chieftain of a warring nation and she's promising him that she can give him essentially the keys to the throne.

So it leaves it open for a sequel if I feel like it.

As far as how I'd feel, I guess disappointed that the two didn't hitch up, but then if they did, then I'd feel it was a clichéd happy ending. You can't win with me.

loquax · Dec 28, 2005

My protag will die in the end. It's integral to the story.

I'm trying to write it in a way that the reader would be let down if he didn't die.

PeeDee · Dec 28, 2005

When I was younger, I absolutely hated "Of Mice and Men," simply for the ending. When George walks away after shooting Lenny, and he's miserable. The other two guys lean against a tree, one cocks his hat, and says "Huh. Wonder what's up with those guys?"

And then it ends.

I thought this was the greatest literary crime that had ever been comitted. Now, I think it's a fine ending.

Go out with a bang. Go out with a shiver. Or you can do the ending where you keep talking as you bow and slip slowly back through the curtain and off the stage, leaving the audience with the end, so they're too mezmerized to know that it's come.

blacbird · Dec 28, 2005

loquax said:
My protag will die in the end. It's integral to the story.

I'm trying to write it in a way that the reader would be let down if he didn't die.

Precisely what Hemingway did in For Whom the Bell Tolls, which to me has one of the most solidly appropriate and crafted endings of any novel I've ever read.

caw.

PeeDee · Dec 28, 2005

Yes, exactly! For Whom The Bell Tolls is an excellent example.

Your reader may not like your ending. They may be dreading it. That's fine. But it has to sit well with them afterward. They can passionately hate that your character dies...but somewhere, deep down, they know he has to.

Tim Gasolene · Dec 28, 2005

Try to define what your story is about. Then you will see the possible endings. Your initial post here sounds quite confused as to what you want to say - probably your novel is just as confused and that is why you cannot see any endings. Try clarity.

WerenCole · Dec 28, 2005

Diviner said:
It blows me away how confident most of you sound. My endings are the weakest part of my stories. Try as I might, I can't get the story to conform to the story-arc buildup, possibly because my stories are character driven and grow organically. (That means I don't follow my outline but "feel" my way through the story.)

Yes. . . I believe that this is the way I approach it as well. . . the first novel that I wrote had an ending that I struggled with and it is what is keeping me from sending it out, but the second grew from what I percieved to be a long short, or a short novella then spiraled into another 70k of words to bring to a 95k novel, and it was a blast to write. The thing was though since I wrote it in such a short period of time (four months) and the fact that it took on a life of its own (the kind of story that I did not think about a ton while writing it, it just sort of went) now that I am at then ending and I have to think about what they are all going to do I have become stuck. This is perplexing to me because I am usually not the type of writer who gets stuck for long periods of time, but it has taken me four months to consider the ending, a final chapter, when the first 15 or so chapters took an equal length of time. . .

I have built it up to the final scene, all the characters (save one) are in one apartment at the same time and there they are all standing, looking at each other then looking at me going "what do we do now?"

The entire novel has been revised and copyedited a couple times and I consider it as close to a finished product that I can get without an editors comments and my beta readers seem to think that it could have commercial success (given a proper ending) so it makes it that much more frustrating to be stuck. . .

-W

JA Konrath · Dec 28, 2005

Stories are about conflict. The ending resolves the conflict.

Good guy catches bad guy. Woman finds true love. Pet reunited with owner. Child stands up to bully.

If you're having problems with endings, I'm guessing you're having problems with plotting.

Your characters must have goals. The plot involves hindering the characters from reaching these goals. In the end, the goals are reached.

Luke blows up the Death Star. Brody kills the shark. Karras exorcises the demon. Clarice kills Buffalo Bill.

Endings are easy, if your goals are well defined.

In my series, Lt. Jack Daniels has many goals.

She wants a good night's sleep (she has insomnia)
She wants to catch the villain
She wants her mother to get better (she's sick)
She wants a boyfriend

While she may not reach all of her goals, she always reaches the point where she's satisfied them for the time being. After stuggling all book to catch a murderer, you know by the end that she'll catch the guy and then get forty winks.

Don't confuse "character driven" with "nothing happening."

NeuroFizz · Dec 28, 2005

This is what I call the "Saturday Night Live" syndrome. The hilarious sketches frequently ended with a whimper, as if the writers couldn't find a bang-up way to end them. The sketches frequently just petered out.

All comments/advice/suggestions above are good, but I'd suggest the way a story ends is very genre-dependent. A mystery has to be solved, a romance has to be consummated, but in a literary story, it's sometimes enough for the protagonist merely to be changed in some profound way (usually for the good). In fact, in all stories the characters should be changed by their experiences, but that can be the total ending in some types of stories.

If you are having trouble, think of something totally outrageous or unexpected, and just let it flip around in your mind for a spell. You don't have to use it, and it may lead to a more conservative ending. But some readers like a good jolt at the end of the story instead of a tidy bundling of justice and bliss.

maestrowork · Dec 28, 2005

werencole said:
I have built it up to the final scene, all the characters (save one) are in one apartment at the same time and there they are all standing, looking at each other then looking at me going "what do we do now?"

Cut everything after the last major conflict. If your characters are all standing in the apartment pondering what to do next, your story is WAY over already. A lot of writers don't know when to stop -- when the story is already OVER.

Or, if you haven't reached the end of your story, but your characters have nothing to do, then give them something to do -- throw in a monkey wrench, have someone fall over the balcony and die... do something to get to the natural end of your story. What is your story about? How should it end? If it's romance -- boy gets girl. The END. If it's a thriller -- good guy wins. The END. If it's fantasy -- I don't know... they return to the Shire, completely changed, and understand what great lessons they've learned. The END.

WerenCole · Dec 28, 2005

These are great suggestions, thanks for the input.

In terms of clarity and well defined goals of the character I think that in terms of these my main character has already finished his goals. He had amnesia and now he has come to a semblance of who he used to be. I think I have already had the climax as the character recieves a letter from his brother in prison (a brother he did not really know that he had) and he returns home to find his brother in the penitentiary and his mother in her last days battling with cancer.

His goals for the story been to exercise the demons of his past and find out who he was (not necessarily who he was to become) and these goals have been finished, but the story is not. While he is away the people who were responsible for his amnesia have unknowingly befriended his friends and when he returns he walks into an awkward situation where he finds his former enemies and his new friends all in the same apartment. Of the three antagonists, two of them feel that justice has been fulfilled against my main character and could not care less about him but they are after the third antagonist who would really like to see my main character dead. Stuck in the middle are my main character and his friends and associates. I think that the reason this is difficult to write is because I have made it too big, too many people at once but if I were to pull it off it would be a great ending. I suppose it is not the content but more the words that I am searching for and in this particular instance of my novel I think I am just a little bit daunted because I would like to pull it off without a hitch.

Maestro, I also think that you are right in terms of my relationships. It gets comfortable then fizzes out. . . though maybe I have too many self inflicted faults (alcoholism for one) that when the apathy comes I am unable to approach "this could be the last day of ours lives" mentality. Easier said then done.

(aside)
I had a girl friend read this novel once and she said "we are going to make a lot of money off this thing." My response was "we?" She did not last long. :Shrug:

Please share your experiences with endings, I am not just asking for advice, I started the thread for people to have a place to discuss their trials and tribulations, not just my own frustrations.

Thanks folks,

-W

emeraldcite · Dec 28, 2005

Luke blows up the Death Star. Brody kills the shark. Karras exorcises the demon. Clarice kills Buffalo Bill.

Ahhhh!

You just didn't ruin one movie, you've ruined four!

Just kidding. I've seen all those and highly recommend them.

emeraldcite · Dec 28, 2005

Usually, I write the end of my stories or novels in advance of actually finishing the thing. Around the halfway point or so, the end strikes me. Of course, I'll change it as needed, but I like knowing that I have a stopping point.

If you keep on charging toward the end but really don't know what the end is, how will you ever stop?

For me, I need to know that everything is going to connect the way I want it too. I really like a story to have a life of its own, but I don't want it to get out of control. No one needs a gluttonous blob of a story with no structure or form. So I beat it with an oar or other flat-ended object to shape it up.

Diviner · Dec 28, 2005

JA Konrath said:
Stories are about conflict. The ending resolves the conflict...

Your characters must have goals. The plot involves hindering the characters from reaching these goals. In the end, the goals are reached...

Endings are easy, if your goals are well defined...

While she may not reach all of her goals, she always reaches the point where she's satisfied them for the time being... Don't confuse "character driven" with "nothing happening."

Things happen in my stories, but in the series books lots of things are unresolved at the end. In one case, the protagonist survives but is otherwise wiser and has had to revise his goals, deciding that survival is the best he can hope for. In the second book, he will be in a much better place at the end, a hero of sorts.

Renunciation of a forbidden love ends another book. Only the final book will have a spirited and uplifting finale.

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