How to End a Story 3 Tips and Tricks From Professional Editors

How to End a Story 3 Tips and Tricks From Professional Editors How to End a Story: Tips from Top Editors Whether you have the final scenes of your book worked out from the moment you put pen to paper or it comes to you somewhere along the way, there’s one thing every author needs to master to leave a lasting impression on readers: how to end a story.Writing the ending can be a source of anxiety for a lot of authors. After all, you don’t want to finish a great story with a weak ending and disappoint your readers. To help you determine how to effectively bring your novel to a close, this post will cover six popular types of story endings in literature, and provide tips from top professional editors on how to get yours just right. Six Ways to End a StoryThe ending of a story has the biggest impact on how readers will remember your book in years to come. If they are dissatisfied at the closing of the final chapter, they won’t be likely to read it again or recommend it to others. While the start of your story might convince people to read your book in the first place, how you end your story is what will determine whether or not they turn from a reader into a fan.The most effective type of ending for your book will depend on a few things, such as:genre,story structure,target audience, andwhat you want readers to take from your book.With that in mind, let’s look at a few different ways to end a story. Six different ways to end a story. What are they? 1. Resolved Ending I am hunted by humans.Instead of going into great detail, Zusak uses short chapters that feel more like sneak peeks into her life. Additionally, it serves the purpose of joining Liesel, the main character, with the narrator, Death, and allowing them to have a conversation on more equal terms.When might you use an expanded ending? If you need to tie up loose ends but were not able to do it within the actual story, then this is the ending for you. However, it should not take the place of a traditional ending or be used to compensate for a weak ending. Instead, it should give further insight into the characters and give resolution to the readers.Now that we’ve covered six popular methods for writing your story’s denouement, let’s cover a few tips to ensure that it leaves a lasting impression.3 tips on how to end a storyWriting the end of a story is a tricky but essential part of your writing process. We turned to our top professional editors for tips to help you wri te yours. We asked our editors: "how do you end a story?" Here is what they said 1. Completion goes hand-in-hand with hopeLiterary agent Estelle Laure explains that a great ending is one that gives the reader both a feeling of completion and hope: â€Å"You have to assume the character has gone through hell, so let them see something beautiful about the world that allows them to take a breath and step into the next adventure. Even your ending should leave your reader dying for more. They should close the book with a sigh, and that’s the best way I know how to get there. This is, after all, a cruel but wondrous life.†2. Make sure it’s really finishedTo create a satisfying ending, end your book with purpose.As Publishing Director of Endeavor Media, Jasmin Kirkbride’s biggest tip is to make sure you follow the rule of Chekhov’s Gun: â€Å"Every subplot and all the different strands of your main plot should reach satisfying, clear conclusions. If they are meant to be left ambiguously, ensure your reader knows this, and create somet hing out of that uncertainty.†3. Come full circleEditor Jenn Bailey says that a good ending brings the book’s internal and external story arcs to a rational conclusion: â€Å"You need to come full circle. You need to end where you began. You need to take the truth your main character believed in the beginning of the story and expose it as the lie that it is by the end. In your ending, the main character doesn’t have to get what they want, but they do have to get what they need.†As we have seen, there are many methods for how to end a story! However you decide to finish your novel, there is one thing that you should always keep in mind: take account of the story that came before and give it the ending that it needs, not the one you think readers want, and it will be satisfactory for all.What is your favorite way to end a story? Or do you have a favorite closing passage? Tell us in the comments below!