Story endings: Don’t cheat your readers
One facet of writing I struggle with, especially when dealing with short fiction, is writing an ending to a story that doesn’t cheat the reader. I’m sure many of you have read a story or novel, gotten to the ending, and said, "Hey, that ending really sucks!" So how do you prevent this unfortunate circumstance from infecting your own writing?
Since I still struggle with endings, it’s difficult to write advice that gives a clear remedy to the problem. But I have found a few ways that can help reduce your chances of a bad ending.
Plan ahead
This one is simple: Plan your story out in advance, including the ending. This will prevent you from writing 90% of a story and then getting stumped because you can’t think of a good way to end that sci-fi/romance (for example) you’ve been working on for the last six months.
Of course, a crappy ending is still a crappy ending, no matter how much planning you do. However, with this method, you at least are thinking of an ending to your story while the idea is fresh and exciting in your mind. Sometimes while writing a particularly long or difficult piece of fiction, by the time you get to the ending you are worn out and just want to get the stupid thing done. Planning ahead provides you a road map for the times you are worn out.
Get a second, and even a third opinion!
There have been countless times when I have finished a piece of fiction, thought it was perfect, only to find that the ending had major holes in it. These "holes" were found by others who had proofread my story for me. I never would have found them on my own, yet when the holes were pointed out, they seemed so blatantly obvious.
Having a second, and even a third and fourth pair of eyes looking checking your work should be a part of any serious writer’s regimine. Endings aside, this kind of proofreading will also prevent other embarrassing errors that would make any writer cringe (hey, we all make mistakes, it’s part of being human).
Read, read, read!
While this is not a short, quick-fix to the challenge of writing a satisfying ending, it will make you better at it through sheer osmosis. I have always firmly believed that the more you read, the better writer you will be.
Reading a vast and varied amount of fiction will give you an idea of what kind of endings work, and what doesn’t (even published fiction can still suffer from the occasional bad ending). You should never flat-out copy an author’s particular ending, but you can still learn by absorbing all that you read.
Yes, reading has all sorts of benefits for a writer, and this is only one of them. Reading is the one activity that will greatly contribute to your long-term education as a writer, not to mention the hours of entertainment it provides.
What about you?
Okay, I’ve given some of my tips for ensuring your story doesn’t have a crummy ending. What about you? What tricks do you use so that you don’t cheat your readers at the end of you fiction? Let us know in the comments below!
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