Post 30 – All’s Well that Ends Well
Posted on | January 5, 2010 | 4 Comments
This is my penultimate post in Connie Green’s 30 day challenge (I’ll end with 31 posts. I’ve always been an overachiever. Okay, a teacher’s pet. You can say it.) Because of this, and because I’ve already covered Beginnings and Middles, today I’ll talk about endings, and use Mr. Shakespeare’s title without compunction or permission.
What is an ending? That is where the ultimate consequence or result of what is set in motion in the middle is realized. (The ultimate consequence can be implied rather than explicitly described.) Again, simple.
Endings, however, in life and in stories, can be varied and can be confusing. They can be unsatisfying and they can be thought provoking. They can be trite, they can be abrupt, they can be sentimental. Some are happy, some tragic, some, contrived. Like in life, some are perfect, some are messy. Some stories, The Lady or the Tiger by Frank R. Stockton is a prime example, end by very consciously not ending. Don’t be fooled. Even that influential story has an ending, it is just rather enigmatic.
Endings can also be circular, where they lead back to the beginning. They can be the beginning, as in Pinter’s play Betrayal or Christopher Nolan’s movie Memento. In both these examples, the beginning explains everything.
Often, stories will end at a new beginning. The hero will come home, look around at his life, then look out his door at the new possibilities and adventures awaiting him. (Hollywood loves this kind of ending, because it leaves the possibility of a lucrative sequel wide open.)
Many writers, notably O Henry and Guy de Maupassant, end their stories with a completely unexpected twist. This is a very satisfying, but not easy, technique. A twist that makes no sense is worse than a cliche ending. A twist has to make sense, given everything that has lead up to it. If you can master that, however, you will be a master story teller.
Some writers, especially beginning writers, will often be tempted to resolve every issue in the story, and resolve them completely. The cliche way to say this is “tie everything up with a neat bow”. This is unnecessary. It is also rarely satisfying to the reader. Resolve your main conflicts if you must, but you can resolve them with a question rather than with an answer. This can leave the reader thinking.
Just because the ultimate consequence of what is set in motion are realized, it doesn’t at all mean that it is all necessarily resolved.
I’ll end this essay about ending with a quote from novelist Jerry Pournelle. “And meanwhile, the storytellers like me and Anderson, Silverberg… we tell stories. People like them. They want to know how it comes out, they want to know what the ending is.”
If your reader wants to know how things come out, in the end that’s a good story.
~Geoff Hoff
Co-author of the how-to guide On Writing a Short Story.
P.S. Listen to the replay of our tele-seminar on the process of writing – go to http://CreativeWritingStrategyTips.com/
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January 5th, 2010 @ 11:37 pm
Hi Geoff, though this post 30 would be the end of your blog challenge…. BUT, now I’m exited to see how ir really ends!!
Claus D Jensen´s last blog ..Why you should consider Joint Venture Marketing
January 6th, 2010 @ 9:33 am
Hey Geoff…. The challenge has been fun and I will continue to watch for your posts and re-tweet you. Thanks for your support. Today, my blog is finished and I’ve written about the challenge.
I’ll look forward to your post tomorrow.
Thanks again.
Kathy – Insightful Nana´s last blog ..The Word “Challenge” Is A Verb As Well As A Noun
January 6th, 2010 @ 9:57 am
How apropos!
It has been fun to do this challenge with you. I appreciate all of your support.
I have looked forward to coming to your blog every day. It has made me look at things I have not paid attention to for a long time. I’d have to say that it has been an experience…literally. An experience of ideas and feelings I have not been aware.
Signs of a great writer?
I am a big fan of the short story. I like being able to read for awhile every night. The short story gets to the ending fast and I can move to the next story. Currently reading Eudora Welty.
Thanks,
Sheila
Sheila Atwood´s last blog ..Internet Marketing Workshops and Seminars 2010
January 6th, 2010 @ 10:16 am
Claus – I am also excited to see how it ends! :-0
Kathy – I first looked at your blog quite a while ago when I saw a post from you on the Milagro forum. I think I even commented. I love your practical take on life, kids and crafts. Thanks for coming here so often these past 30 days.
Sheila – I am so glad you also decided to drop by as often as you did, and to take some of what we suggested here to heart. I don’t know about the great writer bit, but certainly I’m a passionate one.
Eudora Welty is a good thing to be reading.