Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Endings

This is topic Endings in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

Here's something we don't talk about muc here, mostly because they require a whole lot more setup, making them much more difficult to discuss. A good ending is supposed to be something that fulfills the implicit promises set up in the beginning ot the story. But I've noticed that a weak spot in many published works is, in fact, the end. Heimlein is my favorite example. He wrote tons of stuff, and I really like his work, but his endings are MISERABLE across the board. When I get to the last page of a book ( I say the last page because they never really END ) I always feel like something is missing.

So being careful and inserting spoiler warning where necessary, let's talk some about endings. What makes (or break) an ending for you? What authors do particularly well/poorly with endings?

Posted by ccwbass (Member # 1850) on :

Would this be a good time to start a flamewar about how the Wheel of Time series is never, ever going to end, and how, even if it does, it will no doubt suck on toast because it'll take another 900 pages just to give all 5 million main characters their own necessary conclusions? Just wondering.

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

LOL...probably not a good time to start that...why don't you start another thread where we divide up into to camps and beat each other senseless about that one?

Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :

With one major exception -- "The Lady, or the Tiger," by Frank R. Stockton -- I generally don't like endings that leave me uncertain as to what will happen regarding the main question of the plot.

It's not as objectionable when the story has a sequel (or series of sequels), but I still prefer some closure to the main plot of the story.

Posted by wetwilly (Member # 1818) on :

Closure is definitely good. One of the main drawbacks of anime, which I generally love, is that the Japanese apparently don't believe in closure. (I know anime isn't books, but it's stills stories.)

If you guys are starting a fight, I'm in

Stephen King generally has very good endings, I think. I'm thinking of "The Dark Half" here, and of course "Shawshank Redemption." He tends to make it feel like the story is really finished, and that big ending that the whole story was building up to is actually big, instead of fizzling out like a lot of endings do.

I think one of the best endings ever was "The Lost Boys" by OSC. I can't really say anything about it without spoiling it, but it was a shocker. Actually, the book didn't really build up to it much at all, and then BAM, there's a super shocking ending out of nowhere.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

I'd more say that you know that something has to give, something has to tie all the strangeness and tension into a resolution that makes sense out of it.

With Lost Boys, you don't see the ending coming, but it doesn't come out of nowhere. It comes out of the unknown in the story. You saw the symptoms, speculated about the causes, but there was this one cause beneath everything...and in the interest of not spoiling anything I won't say what it was.

The key to a good surprise ending (any ending, really) is that it makes sense of the entire story up to that point. Suddenly you see why everything happened. The unknown that before only showed its fin is revealed to be either a shark, dolphin, or little kid with a bit of foam rubber on his head

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

No, The Lost Boys did not break any implicit promises.

Nevertheless, it is my least favorite of all his books, and I say this because of what happened at the end. He drew me through the entire thing, even with his simless descriptions of his own family life (Yes, it was kind of obvious. )

BUT....SPOILER ALERT

I was disappointed because the ending did not have to happen if the idiot parents had paid any attention! I was therefore quite dissatisfied.

Posted by Gen (Member # 1868) on :

I hated the ending of Lost Boys in such a way that I suspect the ending was successful. For me. Do people have different natural closure requirements?

SPOILER ALERT: Fford

And then there's a series I really love, like the Jasper Fforde books-- I finished the second one, and *drop* at the end: we don't know anything beyond the fact that the Earth still exists, and none of the things I felt tense about were really resolved. The central volume of almost every trilogy... our heroes successfully manage to run away. argh.
On the other hand, the ending of _Lost in a Good Book_ convinced me to buy the next book in hardback. Maybe that's success too...

Posted by wetwilly (Member # 1818) on :

Okay, here's an ending that I loved beyond reason. It's not a book, but movies are stories too, so it counts. Now that I think about it, it probably is actually a book, but I've only ever seen the movie. It's the ending of "Fight Club."

IF YOU'VE NEVER SEEN THE MOVIE, READ NO FURTHER, AND WATCH THE MOVIE. SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER!

Ignore the psychosymbolic (you like that word? I think I made it up) killing of the character's other self, which is the actual end of the story. The very last moment of the movie, as they're standing in the window watching the skyscraper burn, and Edward Norton looks over at that chick and says, very calmly, "You met me at a wierd time of my life..."

That one line made the whole ending. For anyone who hasn't seen the movie but read past my warning, you have to see the movie to get it. That was a super-awesome ending line, though.

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

When OSC talks about structure of the different kinds of stories (MICE) in HOW TO WRITE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY, he talks about endings and that a story should end when the question/tension/problem presented at the beginning of a story, depending on what kind of story it is, is answered/resolved.

I hope that made sense. Read the book to see what I mean. I found it extremely helpful in figuring out what kind of ending a story ought to be heading for.