How do you write a decent, lengthy, action-packed denouement?

starrystorm · Oct 12, 2018

I'm finishing up the second draft of my novel, but I need to rewrite the denouement.

What can a denouement be? Every time I try to write one, it's just my MC going on in her head about how thing have changed. I'm telling more than I'm showing, but I don't know how to show things that have happened in the month between the climax and the last chapter. Originally she just walked around and ran into the characters and described what has changed with them. It felt too telltale. But is that what a denouement is?

Another problem is that it turns out short. My first attempt was only 440 words. That's maybe two pages? Is that too little? I don't know what else to add without launching into a deep summary that changes nothing. I just want to show that my MC's life is back to normal, except some friendships have been ruined and she has a different opinion of herself, and there has been some changes in the MMC's life. There isn't another book, so I can't hint at that.

I just don't know what to do.

Will Rogers · Oct 12, 2018

Can you perhaps show off your characters and what's happened to them in different mediums (if your setting allows for it)? At the end of my WIP, my MC is sat drinking in a bar (this in itself is something that tells a story about her state of mind four months after the climax of the novel). She then sees her old partner giving a press conference on a TV screen in the bar, which is a springboard for the MC to talk a bit about what's happened to that character since then. It feels more organic and less contrived than having them bump into each other in person. Another tactic might be to end your climax in such a way that what happens to some characters in the following months is obvious (or of no consequence) so you have fewer stories to wrap up in the denouement.

As for length, that's tricky, but perhaps it doesn't need to be longer? As long as your reader feels it works, that's the main thing. Have you run it past any beta readers?

starrystorm · Oct 12, 2018

I was thinking something like that. Like she gets interviewed and mentions other characters...

BethS · Oct 12, 2018

starrystorm said:
Another problem is that it turns out short. My first attempt was only 440 words. That's maybe two pages? Is that too little? I don't know what else to add without launching into a deep summary that changes nothing. I just want to show that my MC's life is back to normal, except some friendships have been ruined and she has a different opinion of herself, and there has been some changes in the MMC's life. There isn't another book, so I can't hint at that.

The denouement can be as short as a sentence or three. Or it can be longer. It does not have to be action-packed, but it does have to be meaningful. It's not a summary or a reflective look back. It is a coming down and a wrapping up. The final flourish to the tied bow, the last and definitive swirl of icing on the cake. It finishes things.

In your case, maybe think about creating a scene that shows (doesn't summarize) the change you want to show.

angeliz2k · Oct 12, 2018

How much do you have to wrap up? How many questions need to be answered, keeping in mind that you can't and don't want to answer *every* question? If you don't have a lot left to address after the climax, then you can have a short denouement. Sometimes, the climax resolves a lot--characters are dead, goals are achieved (or not), and secrets are revealed. Sometimes, you want to leave some questions for your reader to answer. Tying everything off too neatly can give a sense of falsity because life isn't tidy.

Harlequin · Oct 12, 2018

If your denouement is feeling cumbersome, with too many reveals jostling for space, it could be that some of those reveals and wrap ups need to come earlier.

Michael Myers · Oct 12, 2018

At the end, is she anywhere near an ocean?

starrystorm · Oct 12, 2018

BethS said:
It's not a summary or a reflective look back. It is a coming down and a wrapping up. The final flourish to the tied bow, the last and definitive swirl of icing on the cake. It finishes things.

In your case, maybe think about creating a scene that shows (doesn't summarize) the change you want to show.

Well, there's my problem...(in bold). I thought that's what it was...I'll just have to find a special scene I can show to wrap everything else up with.

angeliz2k said:
How much do you have to wrap up? How many questions need to be answered, keeping in mind that you can't and don't want to answer *every* question? If you don't have a lot left to address after the climax, then you can have a short denouement. Sometimes, the climax resolves a lot--characters are dead, goals are achieved (or not), and secrets are revealed. Sometimes, you want to leave some questions for your reader to answer. Tying everything off too neatly can give a sense of falsity because life isn't tidy.

Good point. I shouldn't tie everything up. But what to leave out? I know I've read epilogues that tell me who married whom, who died years later (things that ruined the story for me). But I can't just cut after the antagonist is defeated. That would feel too short.

Harlequin said:
If your denouement is feeling cumbersome, with too many reveals jostling for space, it could be that some of those reveals and wrap ups need to come earlier.

I have the opposite problem. For the most part things are tied up. The guy gets the girl, the monster is banished..the only thing the readers would be wondering is if the MC gets her job back.

Michael Myers said:
At the end, is she anywhere near an ocean?

LOL. Sadly, no.

MaeZe · Oct 12, 2018

it's just my MC going on in her head about how thing have changed. I'm telling more than I'm showing, but I don't know how to show things that have happened in the month between the climax and the last chapter. Originally she just walked around and ran into the characters and described what has changed with them. It felt too telltale. But is that what a denouement is?

It sounds like you are describing an epilogue rather than a denouement. You might need to sit back and think about what your main character's inner goal is. What was your story about? Not what happened but what changed in your character or failed to change?

I didn't describe my character's inner goal completely until I got to the end of my book. I knew what she thought was wrong, I had an idea that she would make a change in her world, but it took to the end for me to find what that something would be.

Take a look at Lisa Cron's Wired for Story or peruse her blog entries. There's a lot of other offers on her web site that I know nothing about so don't take this as a recommendation to pay for her coaching, though it might be great. The book was useful for me.

It also took a good eye in my critique group to help me distill my character's inner goal. My ending was a bit different in that it was an action ending. You might also read some blog entries on endings. Those helped me a lot.

MaeZe · Oct 12, 2018

The guy gets the girl, the monster is banished..the only thing the readers would be wondering is if the MC gets her job back.

Maybe your ending needs to be here and the other ending is a loose ends chapter or an epilogue.

jmurray2112 · Oct 12, 2018

Does time have to pass, and do you feel like you need to spell it out for your reader? I'd have to agree that it sounds more like an epilogue than a denouement (full disclosure, reading this thread showed me I needed to define the difference in my own mind, so research happened and thank you). Is there a way for you to structure your climax so that showing how your MC was changed by the experience takes your reader from "But I wonder if she got her job back", to "Her MC so decisively kicked ass and everything else that of course she got her job back, duh."?

BethS · Oct 13, 2018

starrystorm said:
I have the opposite problem. For the most part things are tied up. The guy gets the girl, the monster is banished..the only thing the readers would be wondering is if the MC gets her job back.

Sounds like the external struggles have been resolved. What about the internal, emotional arc? That needs to be tied off, too.

starrystorm · Oct 13, 2018

Thank you all. I've taken into consideration of what you fellow writers have said and decided that, yes, it sounds like an epilogue, so I scraped the jump forward into time, and I've finally decided to extend the final chapter (the climax) and show the after-mass. Her, realizing she's about to get her job back when everyone starts cheering for her, although she still runs into a few people she's hurt along the story's journey, she proves she's different and wants to help. This isn't to say it's pretty. It's pretty ugly, but I can smooth that out. And I've also taken into consideration her internal journey.

It's only 380 words, but I can't think I can make it better by making it longer, and now that it's not it's own chapter, I feel better about it being short.

:hi:

Thanks.

benbenberi · Oct 13, 2018

A technique that Patrick O'Brian used in many of his books, which I think worked very well and isn't common enough, is to just stop. Skip all the wind-down and table clearing at the end. At the point where the outcome action of the story (internal/external arcs) becomes clear, even if there are still a few messy bits in play and you haven't quite put everything to bed and tucked it in, just write "The End" and leave it. Readers don't have to be led by the hand.

Scythian · Oct 13, 2018

One of my favorite endings is in one of Len Deighton's 1960's Harry Palmer spy novels--"An expensive place to die".
The action is over, and suddenly the POV shift from 1st person to total cosmic omni, including a hedgehog on the beach which is sniffing around the dunes for anything tasty, and catches a glimpse of the seagulls above it and thinks for a second about flying, before returning to its task at hand.

So maybe a similar shift (similar in the sense of implied emotion, not so much in the sense of suddenly having ladybirds muse about stuff)--the protagonist is back at her job, or on the way to it, and suddenly does something a bit out of character, like I don't know, stopping and feeding some ducks or something, showing that everything is back to normal, but she's changed in subtle ways... Catharsis, readers are wiping their eyes, etc.

How do you write a decent, lengthy, action-packed denouement?

starrystorm

Will Rogers

starrystorm

BethS

angeliz2k

never mind the shorty

Harlequin

Eat books, not brains!

Michael Myers

Take a chance. Amaze yourself.

starrystorm

MaeZe

MaeZe

jmurray2112

BethS

starrystorm

benbenberi

practical experience, FTW

Scythian