Help! My story has no ending!

There’s probably nothing worse than writing most of a short story, then, when it comes time to end the story, your mind goes completely blank and you end up just tacking something on to finish the damned thing. Am I right? Or am I the only one who has this problem from time to time?

Before tackling the issue head-on, it might be good to look at this from a reader’s perspective. They take the time to read your beloved story. They make an emotional investment in your main character and take great interest in the plot. Let’s pretend, just to be more dramatic, that the reader has stayed up all night reading your story (it’s a long story) and they near the ending just as the sun is starting to peak over the horizon.

The reader gets to the last paragraph, only to realize the entire thing was a stupid dream. How lame is that? While the "it was only a dream" ending has its place, it can be overused and is often a symptom of a writer who couldn’t think of a good ending. The result is a reader who is disappointed and will probably never read another word written by that author ever again.

Seriously though, there’s nothing worse than coming to the end of any piece of fiction and then being disappointed because the author dropped the ball and just tacked something on because he/she wanted to get the story finished. I think we can all sympathize with that scenario, right?

Now the question becomes: what’s the cure for this can’t-think-of-a-good-ending-itis? The problem might not be with the ending, but what comes before. In other words, it might do you some good to take a look at the entire story you’ve written before the point where you become stuck.

Maybe there’s something in the plot that can be tweaked. Maybe a specific scene needs to be changed, or deleted altogether. Maybe your main character is two-dimensional, so any ending you write will seem contrived and out of place (this appears to be a common problem with writers just starting out in fiction).

A good and simple way to remedy this problem, and I’ve suggested it before in previous posts, is to put the story away for a while and let it sit. Go work on something else. Get some fresh air. Clear your head. When you do come back to the story, it will be fresh, and more often than not, an appropriate ending will seem more obvious than before. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our work, it actually clouds our imagination and thinking, preventing us from coming up with new ideas.

Another good solution is to have someone read your unfinished story (with the understanding it’s not only unfinished, but a very rough draft). Ask them where they see the story going. Ask them what they think an appropriate ending would be. You don’t have to take their suggestions word-for-word, but hearing ideas from others can really get your juices going and give you the inspiration to finish the story.

A more time consuming way to fix this problem, but still just as effective, is to write several endings. Mix things up and write endings that are completely different. Some should be so crazy you’d have to be insane to use such an ending. Others should be more inline with your story. Then do one of the above suggestions, let the story sit or have someone read it. See which ending works the best. A combination of all three of these techniques would probably work well, if you have the time and patience for it (I don’t).

Finally, if you have tried all the techniques I’ve suggested, and you still can’t come up with a decent ending for your story, then you need to go back and re-evaluate what you’ve written because something isn’t working. A total re-write might be in order (I know it sounds scary, but sometimes that’s what it takes).

Then again, you could be sitting at your desk, agonizing over a story ending, and then suddenly wake up – realizing the entire ordeal was just a bad dream.

Related posts

• Story endings: Don’t cheat your readers
• Easy Story Ideas in 5 Minutes or Less
• When do you give up writing a piece of fiction?
• History of the Short Story
• Is the short story dead?

Read More: Writing Tips