Writing your final chapter can be tougher than writing the first.
by Anne R. Allen
A new book by Patricia Cornwell, of Kay Scarpetta fame, has had 100s of scathing reviews on Amazon. Not only has she strayed from the mystery genre into scifi, but the book did not come to a satisfying conclusion. Readers were not pleased.
Here are some quotes:
- IMHO, 2 stars is generous, because this book ends with threads untied, the story barely half-told, and all the character-arcs are TBC.
- Be warned this book is a completely unfinished in every way ending. In fact it feels abrupt where it ends with so much unfinished that I am really annoyed by it.
- It really deserves zero stars for having no ending — at a critical point, it just stops, referring us to the next volume.
- Don’t make this your free book choice unless you want to spend $10 on the second book to find out how the story ends.
I should note that the book is a #1 bestseller in three categories, so I’m not sure the bad reviews have slowed sales. But without Cornwell’s highly recognizable name, I think her fizzling ending would have stopped sales dead.
You don’t want to do this. Even though you’re tempted to end on a cliffhanger, don’t. An angry, unsatisfied reader isn’t going to come back for more.
A Final Chapter is Partly Dictated by Genre
Conventions in fiction endings tend to spring from the two classic forms of fiction: comedy and tragedy.
A comedy usually concludes with a party or a feast—often a wedding. A tragedy usually ends with death—then a resolution of some kind.
Jane Austen’s Emma ends with a wedding:
“But, in spite of these deficiencies, the wishes, the hopes, the confidence, the predictions of the small band of true friends who witnessed the ceremony, were fully answered in the perfect happiness of the union.”
And A Tale of Two Cities ends with the doomed Sidney Carton going to his execution:
“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
If you write romance, you want a Happy Ever After Ending, preferably with a wedding or a betrothal. If it’s a more contemporary Happy-for-Now ending, there might be a gathering for toasting the friends who got the heroine through her rough patch with Mr. Right, or a family happily reunited, or a happy couple kissing and fade to black…
***
With a mystery, the final chapter needs to follow a formula too. You don’t have to get Hercule Poirot to assemble all the suspects and dramatically reveal the murderer, but you need a modern equivalent that concludes with the discovery of the murderer. Then the detective and friends retire to a pub or cafe to tie up the subplots over a pint or a plate of scones—a form of the classic comedy “feast” ending.
As in the last line of the Hound of the Baskervilles
“Might I trouble you then to be ready in half an hour, and we can stop at Marcini’s for a little dinner on the way?”
***
If you write literary fiction, you get to do whatever you like with your final chapter. But still, I advise not doing something that will make your reader feel cheated or angry.
With a thriller, you need to end with the world not getting blown up by the evil mastermind, and with domestic suspense, you want a twist, but it needs to be an “ah-ha” moment, not a “WTF?”.
Often epic fantasy ends with a detached historical overview, and other fantasies—especially MG or YA—will end with the protagonist safely home from the adventure, but perhaps a bit wistful, hoping for more adventures in the future. Here’s the last line of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.
“And that is the very end of the adventures of the wardrobe. But if the Professor was right, it was only the beginning of the adventures of Narnia.”
Ending a Novel Can be Tougher Than Starting One.
One of the most memorable scenes in the film The Wonder Boys is when Grady Tripp, the supposedly “blocked” writer, reveals his terrible secret: a closet full of thousands of pages of his work in progress. He’s not blocked: he simply can’t get the novel to end.
I can relate. I had a book like that. It grew and grew and never seemed to come to a climax or a conclusion. That’s because my novel was a series of episodes. They didn’t build to a climax or a resolution. I was writing something closer to scripts for for a long-running sitcom rather than a novel.
So I know first hand that final chapter can be tougher to write than the first. (Not that first chapters are easy: see my post on writing your first chapter.)
But you want to do it right. That’s how you keep your readers. Not by leaving them hanging, but by satisfying them.
As Mickey Spillane said. “The first page sells this book. The last page sells your next book.”
1) DON’T Be Afraid of Writing your Final Chapter before the Book is Complete.
I’ve even written the final chapter first for several of my books. I picture the ending of the book and jot down notes—sometimes including the final sentence—before I start writing the story in earnest.
This isn’t the same as outlining, but it gives me a goal and I have some idea where I’m going, so I don’t stray off the path on too many irrelevant tangents.
So if you’re having problems with the direction of your novel, try writing the final chapter. It gives a lot of clarity.
2) DO Provide a Resolution after the Climax
The final chapter is a kind of closing argument, where you can show your themes and show what your characters have learned from this experience.
You don’t want your final chapter to end with a bloody death with no closure. Make sure there is a resolution of some kind, not just a truncated action scene.
At the end of Hamlet—after all the carnage—Prince Fortinbras enters and orders that Hamlet be buried as a hero. This gives us closure as we’re told that Hamlet is recognized as a good guy, in spite of the fact his plans went terribly wrong.
The most satisfying endings go back to the inciting incident or bring the story around to its beginnings in some way.
3) DON’T Leave Your Readers Hanging on a Cliff—Even in a Series
Cornwell is by no means the only author whose final chapter fails to satisfy readers. It has become more and more common for an author to simply stop a book rather than end it.
I think that’s because we’re all told we need write in a series in order to make money.
And yes, in a series you want your readers to go on to the next book. But stopping on a random scene with nothing resolved and making them pay to know how the story turns out is going to get a lot of angry responses, not fans.
What you want to do is end the major story arcs, but leave one thread to hook them and pull them into the next book. That hook can be an unresolved minor subplot, or an incident that might spark the next installment, such as getting a letter or other piece of news that foreshadows more adventures to come.
Or your hook can be the over-arching storyline of the series, like defeating Voldemort, or ending the Hunger Games.
In any case, you need to wrap up all the major loose ends of this book.
As Jacob Mohr at TCK Publishing says, “It’s bad manners to leave your readers hanging.”
And Joanna Penn addresses the problem of trilogies or serials that want to keep the readers buying books. She says a trilogy should follow the lead of The Hunger Games, where “the first in a trilogy wraps the story up and yet still leads onto the next book.”
4) DO Aim for a Memorable Last Line.
This is where you can show off your writerly chops. If you can tie that line back to the beginning of the story, or you can echo the title, it feels especially satisfying.
A classic last line that does this is from Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. It ties the whole play together and confirms what we have learned in the last scene: that Jack really is named Ernest, he does have a brother, and he’s been telling the truth all along (through no fault of his own.) But he has learned that being honest and well, earnest, is the best policy.
“On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest.
In the final chapter of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows us with his last line that Nick has learned the power—and the danger—of nostalgia and dwelling in the past.
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
5) DON’T Cheat with a Deus Ex Machina or Off-the-Wall “Twist” in the Final Chapter.
Telling us it was all a dream, or a story your protagonist is writing is bound to bring disappointment.
Yes, you can surprise readers with your ending. People like a surprise. But make sure it fits with the rest of the book and you’ve given us enough clues that we can look back and say… “I should have seen that coming.”
But providing your romantic suspense heroine with a sudden rescue by aliens from Betelgeuse or a time-travelling Amelia Earhart is going to infuriate your reader.
If there’s a sneaky twist, like in Gone Girl, make sure it involves elements that already exist in the story. Don’t have them suddenly appear out of nowhere.
6) DO Leave Them Wanting More.
Don’t stay too long at the party. Leave some things up the reader’s Imagination. With my first published novel, I was astonished when my editor drew a big red “X” through my whole final chapter. He said the book ended with the marriage proposal and the rest was unnecessary.
I felt totally tragified. There were happy endings for every single character in that chapter. I wanted to take the reader to visit all of them and see how rosy things turned out for one and all.
Unfortunately that was all terminally boring. The story was over, but I just kept chattering on and on like that last guest who won’t leave the party even though the host keeps yawning and the hostess has gone off to change into her jammies.
Don’t be afraid of being ambiguous, as long as you’re not withholding vital information. You want to leave your reader feeling satisfied, but not burdened with too much information..
It’s like running a good restaurant. You don’t want to send customers away hungry or reaching for the Tums. You want them to leave with memories of a wonderful, satisfying experience they’ll want to come back to again and again.
***
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) November 17, 2019
What about you, scriveners? Do you have trouble ending a novel? Have you ever written your final chapter first? Do you know where a novel is headed when you start out? Do you like reading books that end with a cliffhanger?
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Academic Body, a classic academic cozy by Anne’s mom, the late Dr. Shirley S. Allen
“Move over Nick and Nora Charles, there’s a new crime solving couple in town. We’re not talking Manhattan, the Charles’ turf, here, but the rarified world of academia as practiced in the northern wilds of Maine’s Weaver College.” …mystery author Sue McGinty
Retired theatrical director Paul Godwin longs for the life of a college professor, but can he woo his famous wife away from the New York stage to become part of his academic life in small-town Maine?
Not easily, especially after the dean accuses him of having a fling with a student and then is found dead in circumstances that make Paul a prime suspect in the investigation.
Paul’s efforts to discover the real culprit provoke dangerous reprisals, but he must succeed to save his new career, his marriage–and perhaps his life.
Academic Body is available in ebook at all the Amazons, Kobo, and Nook.
“Don’t stay too long at the party”. Great line and advice, Anne. Going to keep that one in mind. As for Cornwell’s recent work, it sounds like she should’t have showed up at the party at all.
Garry–I’ve given enough parties that had that one guest…:-) It remains to be seen how people feel about Cornwell’s new books after they all come out and people read the whole trilogy. But it does seem like a misstep.
I was dissatisfied with the ending of The Wheel of Time. Robert Jordan died before the series finished, but left copious notes. It was finished by another great fantasy writer, Brandon Sanderson. The ending, however, was less than great. It had the protagonist riding away into the sunset. (Well riding away).
V.M. Sang–It’s always a tragedy when an author dies without finishing a book. I’m not sure any writer who steps in can successfully conclude another author’s vision.
Haha! “If you write literary fiction, you get to do whatever you like with your final chapter.” Love the formulas but, honestly, this was my favorite.
Agreed that there are too many books-with-deadly-cliffhanging-endings out there. You want readers to read your next book but the STOP-END is irritating to me as a reader. This is perfect: “You don’t want to send customers away hungry or reaching for the Tums.” 🙂
Sarah–Yeah. Literary writers get all the fun. 🙂 But they still need to satisfy readers. I haven’t run into that many of the cliffhanger endings, but the few I’ve read make me want to throw the book across the room. Not good when it’s on my Kindle.
Definitely don’t throw your Kindle!
Ahoy Miss Allen,
Fabulous advice, as usual. For me, the best endings manage to balance on two rails: they have to be simultaneously surprising, & inevitable. That’s a tricky thing to do, but it is so very very satisfying.
I don’t want to be that guest!
No one likes cliffhangers. A book needs to be a complete story on its own even if it’s part of a series.
I don’t write the last chapter first, but the ending is always what comes to me first and everything else is getting to that point.
Alex–Holding that last chapter in your head is just as good as writing it down. My problem is I have trouble holding onto anything I don’t write down. 🙂 But envisioning the ending is super helpful when you’re stuck at that 30K word mark and have no idea where to go from here.
Anne—Excellent! Especially the way you point out that the ending has to be *satisfying.” No nouvelle cuisine where the diner leaves the table still hungry. Nor a grand bouffe which leaves the diner overfed and miserable. Finding the right balance between too much and too little is the writer’s job and you’ve laid out a useful road map to the whys and hows.
Ruth–That “Goldilocks” ending isn’t as easy as it seems, is it? New writers often botch that final chapter. But practice makes perfect. (Or a good editor.)
This is a post of tremendous substance, Anne, and you are brave to take it on across all genres. It’s a microcosm of what makes good writing of course, and as Somerset Maugham said, nobody knows what the rules actually are! But you’ve lined up great points here.
I have to kick a little, at least from my own genre. Tolkien’s three books don’t end on cliffhangers, exactly, but there’s no question the story continues. What is that, how do we describe it, I’m not sure. I can tell you I was so absorbed by the time I reached the end of Fellowship, I picked up Two Towers without even noticing!!
As for long happy endings, I sympathize. Honestly, what is better done than the end of “Toy Story 3”, and I often point that out to people. They take eight minutes or so to really explore how everyone is doing, it’s incredible. I guess cliffhangers, happy endings, one-shot endings, all of them can be really well done or really poorly.
And I do recall reading the fourth book of a major series- won’t say who or when- and thinking “this is nothing but a rough draft”. Ending, beginning, all of it. So that happens. I never picked up a book by that author again, and I was a total customer of the genre too. Bbrrr…
Will–Alas, big name authors with popular series often seem to sneak into print absolutely unedited. I just read the 4th or 5th book in a bestselling series, and there were typos in every chapter and plot holes galore. It was a mystery so it had an okay ending, but it was desperately in need of an editor.
Editors can help a lot with good endings, as I found out from my first editor. He was right to cut that last chapter. I’m not sure I’ve seen Toy Story 3, but I think a film can get away with an ending like that better than a book. Still, I like to tie everything up with a big bow at the end. I just need to do it quicker.
I’ve had issues ending most of my books over the years. I have a slushie that had an ending I was not happy with, and it took a couple of weeks (n the midst of a shower) to find the proper ending.
On the other side of the coin, my trilogy, which I do plan on going back some time next year to complete, does have a definite ending attached to it. I plan on recycling the ending to a previously published vanity book (yes, I know, I know), so by the time I get there, all the plot lines will be tied up and I will make sure that there will be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the series will not continue.
G.B. Isn’t it funny how often you get an inspiration in the shower? Apparently that happens to writers a lot. Somebody even invented a waterproof slate and marker to write on in the shower. I went looking for it, but can’t find it now.
My advice on “vanity books”–unpublish, change the title, give it a good edit and republish as a different book. Best of luck with the new ending!
The resolution scene is also called the validation. The scene will have a time jump and may even start with a summary. The entire purpose of it is to tell the reader the story is finished. If you want examples of validation, tune into NCIS. That little scene at the end is the validation.
Linda–I hadn’t heard it called “the validation”–what a great term! I don’t watch NCIS, but maybe I’ll have to check it out. I know a number of mystery shows do that too. A wrap-up of loose ends in the story. That’s always satisfying.
I would swear you were teaching my Endings college fiction class along with me, Anne! In the classroom, I’ve seen students commit every mistake you name. And think they are being clever. Particularly the ending on a cliff hanger. It was Mickey Spillane who said, “No one reads a book to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. Your first page sells that book. Your last page sells the next book.” I live by that rule.
Melodie–Haha. I told you I’d just written a post on final chapters. I’m not surprised our great minds thing alike. 🙂
Excellent post, Anne.
As an avid reader I can tell you there are a few authors I refuse to read, even some Hugo-winning or nominated authors, because I completely dislike the ending of book one.
I do not care if book two or three is better. If I hate book one I am not coming back for the sequels.
The best endings tie the plot trends but hint at more adventures to come.
~Ingmar Albizu
Ingmar–You are not alone. I see FB comments every day from readers who are furious at authors for not finishing a book properly. They always vow not to go back. People don’t like to be conned and manipulated. I wish marketers would learn that. I fear it’s marketers who are telling authors to do this.
Excellent tips as always Anne. And funny, with most of my books I’d drafted the last chapter early in writing a book. My current WIP has been awaiting my return to write the last 2 chapters for over a month now. 🙂
DG–I sure find it saves a lot of time if I know the ending of a book. I don’t go off on tangents and waste valuable writing time on irrelevant storylines.
I totally agree. I’m feeling the pain now, lol 🙂
I’ve been writing a tiny mystery novella trilogy with a romantic subplot. Each mystery is wrapped up, but the will-they-won’t-they of the romantic subplot is hopefully what will carry readers from story to story. Currently writing the second and planning all kinds of plot twists for the third already. 😀
Kessie–That sounds like fun! As I said, lots of trilogies and series use an over-arching plot that holds all the books together, like defeating Voldemort, or stopping the Hunger Games. A single story arc that hold the books together is as important as a story arc for each separate book. So it sounds as if you’re doing it just right!
I have a question about trilogies. The one I am working on first ends with an apparent death, a return of a missing person and the main antagonist escaping. A tragic ending. Is there a suggested order through a trilogy of what kind of endings should be used?
I remember Star Wars ended happy, tragic, tragic fade to happy. Is that like a rule?
Heath–There’s nothing wrong with a tragic ending. They worked great for Will Shakespeare. 🙂 The important thing is to have an ending. Of each book. Ending the last book on a positive note might make your readers happy, but it’s not required.
Such wonderful advice Anne on how to end a novel, especially the parts about writing the final chapter before the book is complete and the memorable last line. Not only did I learn something from your suggestions, but the responses from your readers were amazing, i.e. “Your first page sells that book. Your last page sells the next book” and “the best endings manage to balance on two rails: they have to be simultaneously surprising, & inevitable.” I hope you all are not charging me for this advice!
Seriously, one thing in particular resonated with me–not staying too long at the party sort of when is enough, enough…to end the novel? I couldn’t help but think of my former investigative career when I had to go forth and gather relevant testimony and evidence for a prosecutor in order to tell a story–kind of like writing a book. I discovered many investigators don’t know when to finish or stop this process, turning over stone after meaningless stone…not realizing the story was over.
Bravo for this week’s inspirational post!
Kenneth–That’s fascinating about investigators “turning over stone after meaningless stone” –and I realize that’s true of a lot of people. They hammer way too many nails into that coffin. The subject is dead and ready for burial and they keep going on and on. Everybody needs to know how to make a gracious exit.
Great post that came at just the right time. Not quite finished with book but want to leave my critique group with final chapter while I follow the sun this winter. Wrote it yesterday. Just meh. No wonderful ideas occurred overnight. Got some lovely ideas from you though. Thanks!
Cynthia–I sure hope this helps you change that “meh” ending into a spectacular one. And have fun following the sun!
I agree that some writers of literary fiction use their freedom to end however they want to leave a reader very dissatisfied. Not good. This happens in literary short stories, too.
Speaking of short stories, I believe the advice you give applies there, too. Tying the last line to the beginning of the story can also be used to achieve thematic resonance in short stories, a very good thing indeed.
Thanks for a particularly excellent post. I want to say class instead of post, as that’s what it is.
Tricia–I agree. There can be literary novels–and especially short stories–that end in ambiguity. I suppose the idea is to challenge the reader, but sometimes all they do is make us angry.
All of this does apply to a short piece as well. Also creative nonfiction. Bringing the reader back to the original premise makes for the most satisfying ending.
Many thanks for the kudos. 🙂
All good suggestions. Thank you. All my novels have a satisfying ending, though I make the characters jump through a lot of hoops. I don’t find wrapping up difficult but rather fun. It’s the first chapter that I find more difficult.
Patricia–I’m with you. I find the first chapter harder. But I had several requests for a post on final chapters. And obviously some well known writers have trouble wrapping things up.
In my Wolves of Vimar Series, each book can be read as a stand-alone novel, but all are linked with an overarching plot that covers them all–finding and destoying the antagonist who threatens their country. There is a theme of friendship that runs through all books, too.
As to endings, I know the ending, like you, but am not always sure how we are going to get there. ( I use ‘we’ because I include my characters.)
I have the last line, and indeed the last chapter written of a book I’ve got on hold. It’s also the title.
I hope my readers don’t go away dissatisfied.
V. M. It’s so satisfying when the last line is the title. I love it when a book can do that!
In my first fantasy novel (the second one published) I knew from the beginning exactly how it would end. But in my second fantasy novel (the first one published) I only thought I knew the ending. When I reached it I realized it could not end on that note and I had to invent a more satisfactory conclusion. So I added a chapter that gave the readers a pleasant resolution that might not have expected, yet had a logical basis in earlier incidents.
Fred–I think it’s always best not to end on a sour note. Even if the bad stuff is deserved. Sounds like you did the right thing.
Love d the story ending! I like to accept my anticipation books wed the solid characters from my sentiment composing past, with the twisty, smart plots of my secret composing present.
Loved your blog Anne, this is very helpful <3.
A great ending of a story is one of the bases of a memorable book. Once readers open a book, they tend to anticipate what the ending will be. Check my blog How to Give a Good Ending to Your Book Series Hope this will help. Thank you.
Cheers,
Joab
And ending that drags on and on, I reading this book right now and get a really strong feeling that it should have ended several chapters ago but new characters were added and villains along with info dumps and mote plot lines added. I screaming in my head “END ALREADY DAMN IT!” So I’d say this is the worst mistake as I’ve become an exhausted reader.
J.–I don’t run into the “endless” book often, but you’re making an important point. it can be infuriating. You see all those pages you still need to read, but…the story is over! My editor lopped off the last two chapters of my first book. I was furious, but then I realized the book was better without that slow deflating of the story.