Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Story Endings

I get the chance to read a lot of short fiction, both published and un-published. The most crucial part of a story is the ending. It's the payoff. Readers read until the end to get this payoff. What happens if your story doesn't have this payoff? I'll tell you: trouble. Readers are not satisfied and editors are not buying. Please make sure your story has a payoff. I concede for every rule there's an exception. A few authors make a good living not including endings (Kelly Link comes to mind).
Here are some tips for satisfying story payoffs:
  • allude to, and resolve--one way or another--the story's major conflict. Notice this means your story must have a major conflict. Actually, this also means your protagonist must have a goal and motivation (and the reader needs to know these). The conflict is what stops him/her from achieving this goal.
  • are a consequence of the protagonist's actions. Notice this means your protagonist must act. Note, too, the protag can succeed or fail, but it must be because of what he/she does.
  • are integrated with the story elements. All the parts of the story should be intertwined, should mesh together. Even surprise endings should utilize story elements--they're a surprise because they alter our perception of existing elements.
  • evoke an emotional reaction in the reader. I admit this is tricky. The idea here is readers become the characters when reading fiction. Authors want the reader to empathize with the characters, to feel what they feel, and to understand them.
  • speaks to the beginning. I like to look at my first page and my last page, and make sure they have some theme, phrase, or other element in common. Some people call this circularity. Some people call it bookending. This works great with novels, too.
  • Your tip here. What do you think?
Posted by at

6 comments:

  1. J.A. KazimerNovember 20, 2012 at 9:09 PM

    Great post.

    Have a plot is a big one that I see. Too many writers, like you stated, don't resolve their conflicts. A story, short, novel-length, flash must have a beginning, middle, and end.

    ReplyDelete
  2. mooderinoNovember 22, 2012 at 11:49 AM

    You make some excellent observations on endings. Very helpful. Have added a link to The Funnily Enough

    Mood
    @mooderino

    ReplyDelete
  3. lesleylsmithNovember 26, 2012 at 9:41 AM

    Thanks for stopping by j.a.kazimer and mooderino! I appreciate the comments. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rohit KaushikDecember 10, 2012 at 10:52 PM

    This is a great website, but I would like to see your sources.

    Thesis Writing Service

    ReplyDelete
  5. lesleylsmithDecember 11, 2012 at 8:53 AM

    Thanks for stopping by rohit. The sources for "story endings" were: my brain. I've been an ezine editor for over seven years at http://www.electricspec.com
    I think about this stuff a lot.
    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  6. HIGSApril 6, 2022 at 3:14 AM


    HIGS will give you the entire details about how to write research paper and the research paper outline. It may be most difficult part of your research, but HIGS will tell the simple procedures that must be carried out while writing your research paper. The real process of writing a research paper is often a messy and recursive one, so research paper writing process must have a clear outline for summarizing, analysing, explaining, and evaluating the entire research work. You must explain and focus on the research paper and your specific purpose must be explained in the research paper. For all these need, you must follow what we are saying here.

    http://higssoftware.com/phd-research-paper-writing-services.php

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)