1. Always keep in mind what is expected in the genre you’re writing. If you’re writing a category romance, then the hero and heroine must unite at the end. If you’re writing a mystery, you must solve it by the end.
2. Avoid the dreaded deus ex machina. I previously wrote about deus ex machina. In most cases, you should not take the character(s)’ destiny out of their own hands. Force them to make the tough choices.
3. Think more in terms of appropriate ending rather than satisfying ending. I know some (maybe many) will disagree with me, but I LOATHE the term “satisfying ending.” It’s a story, not a Snickers bar. You need to write the appropriate ending for the story you are telling. It may end up disturbing your reader. It may even make them mad. That doesn’t mean it’s not the right ending.
4. On the other hand, don’t be a jerk and write a miserable ending for your characters to no real purpose. Stephen King, I’m looking at you. Sometimes he writes endings that negate about 90% of what transpired in the book.
If you have to do something like kill off a beloved character, or not bring the romantic couple together, or have the hero not attain a goal—make sure there are very, very good reasons for doing so, ..
5. Struggling to find a way to end things? Compose an event that brings most of the characters together. A battle, a wedding, a birth, a trial, a funeral…any event that would make most of the characters congregate is often a good way to end things.
6. If you’re REALLY struggling to find a way to end things—go back to the beginning. I can’t tell you how many times I was unhappy or unclear about how a story should end. I almost always found the answer by going back to the early part of the story. OR, I would go back and rewrite part of the beginning to help me compose a better ending. It’s a bizarre phenomenon, but sometimes writers unconsciously lay out the groundwork for the ending in the early part of the story...
7. When the story is over—STOP. You’d think this should go without saying, but some writers don’t know when to stop... Few things are worse than a story that keeps on going after it has pretty much ended.
8. On the other hand, beware of too much build up with too quick a resolution. One of my biggest beefs with the
Twilight series was endless build up to confrontations that were then too easily and too quickly resolved. If you keep promising the reader an epic confrontation, then you should follow through with it.
9. You don’t have to tie up every little plot string, but tie up most of them. Everything doesn’t have to be neat and pat—in fact, that usually annoys readers—but don’t forget to deal with all major points.
10. Epilogs: I kind of like them. I generally can’t stand prologs, but epilogs are a different matter. Prologs usually end up as a way to front-load a lot of exposition. Epilogs are a way to give readers a peak into the future of the characters.
Are they strictly necessary? No. But ...
This is an abridged version of the original article which you can read by clicking on the title.
