by Anne R. Allen
I’m home from the hospital recovering from pneumonia. But as we come to the final chapter of 2025, I thought I’d post some of my tips from earlier posts on how to end your novel or memoir. If you’re like most writers, you may have trouble getting that final chapter to do what it needs to do. That’s because it needs to wrap up all the loose ends of the story in a way that satisfies the reader. But it also needs–as Mickey Spillane said— to sell the next book.
I’m hoping these tips can help.
1) Your Final Chapter is 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.”
Here are Some Expectations of a Final Chapter by Genre
Romance requires that Happy Ever After (HEA) ending in the final chapter, preferably with a wedding or a betrothal. If it’s a more contemporary Happy-for-Now ending, there might be a gathering for toasting friends, or a happy couple kissing and fade to black…
Mystery: You don’t need 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 final 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?”
Literary Fiction: You get to do whatever you like with your final chapter if you’re a literary author. But I advise not doing something that will make your reader feel cheated or angry. If you kill off a major character, make sure readers are prepared for it.
Thrillers need to end with the world not getting blown up by the evil mastermind.
Domestic Suspense: You want a twist, but it needs to be an “ah-ha” moment, not a “WTF?”
Epic Fantasy often 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 final 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.”
2) Ending a Novel Is Way 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 a series of scripts for for a long-running sitcom 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.
3) It’s Okay to Write 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. (Not that there aren’t a lot of rewrites of that chapter along the way. 🙂 )
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.
4) A Final Chapter Should Give Readers 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.
5) Readers Hate to be Left Hanging on a Cliff
Unfortunately, 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.”
6) A Memorable Final Line Can Sell Your Next Book.
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 final 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 final 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 final 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.
7) Avoid that 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 Robin Hood 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.
8) Leave The Reader 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 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) December 18, 2022
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?
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After giving a band a mediocre review, music blogger Ronson Zolek’s life is destroyed by the vindictive band frontman, Mack Rattlebag. The death threats, doxing and accusations of unspeakable crimes lead “Ronzo” to fake his own death. His only refuge is a California homeless camp. He tries to keep his relationship with Camilla secret, so Rattlebag doesn’t target Camilla as well.
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Themes from the famous deck resonate throughout the story, weaving its way into dialogue, storyline, and character (including a handyman-turned-tarot-reader), even setting as evidenced in the description of a home of a tarot client that resembles the fortress on the Tower card (complete with a rocky cliff and the dangers it brings). I found the Wheel of Fortune to be the perfect card to bring closure to the novel.”….Julie Valerie
I’ve only written one novel (this year’s “Reunion: Coda”). It’s literary fiction, so I didn’t have the limitations of specific genres like romance. Still, ending it was difficult, partly because it concludes a duology, but mostly because it was my first novel and I didn’t want to mess it up!
Alex–Ending your first novel is probably the hardest. It does get easier. 🙂
Hope you’re feeling better, Anne. Let look after yourself.
And thank you for the guidance on final chapters. I will put them to use, if… sigh… I ever get to that point.
Rosemary–You’ll get there! Sometimes endings just fall into place. You may be one of the lucky ones. 🙂
Thank you for this, Anne. Sorry to hear you’ve been in hospital. I hope you are feeling better.
I wrote the ending to one novel soon after the beginning. Now I’m stuck getting from one to the other! ☺️
In my Wolves of Vimar series, the latest book apparently completes the series, but there is a subplot left hanging, and, in fact, the antagonist hasn’t been defeated, as the characters believe. I hope it will encourage readers to read the next (as yet unwritten) book.
Vivienne–I am feeling better today. I’m seeing some light at the end of that tunnel. I totally relate to your dilemma. I thought the last novel was the end of my Camilla series, but then I remembered a couple of characters who are unaccounted for. So I’ve got to write #11. Not a satisfying number. So there will probably be a #12, too.
Glad you are out of the hospital! Hope you are feeling much better.
Alex–Thanks a bunch. Yes, I am feeling better today.
Please take good care of yourself, Anne. We need you!
As a pantser, I usually don’t have an end in mind except for the overarching theme in my thriller series that bad guys get their just deserts although not in an expected way.
I rewrite the last scene many times to capture the right tone and resonance. It usually includes one last surprise, along with personal epiphanies for the lead characters about inner questions/doubts that dogged them through the story. My goal is for the reader to say, “Ah!” with relief and satisfaction.
Debbie–I am taking care of myself. Drinking some lovely tea with honey right now. Thanks for bringing up tone. Getting the right tone for the ending is tough. We want to end on a positive note, but it has to stay in keeping with the tone of the rest of the book.
I’m encouraged to know that you are taking the rest you need to recuperate, and wisely digging out stuff you’ve already written to share with us. Stuff like pneumonia beats the starch out of you.
For those who have seen this post before, it is a good reminder. For those who haven’t, it’s one more tool to add to the tool box.
My second-published novel languished for decades because 1) I didn’t know the premise of the story and 2) I had no clue what the ending should be. After extended noodling and brainstorming, I finally discovered the ending. That enabled me to organize the rest of the story the way it needed to be.
Sally–“Take the starch out of you” is the perfect metaphor for how I feel–totally limp, like a wet noodle. 🙂 It’s so true that you must know the ending in order to structure your story.
Oh, Anne, I hope you’re in top condition soon. All the best for the season and best wishes for a happy and productive 2026.
Kathy–Thanks much for the kind words!
Sending positive, healing thoughts your way, Anne… Please take the time you need to fully recover…pneumonia is NO joke…xx
Harley–Thanks. I’ve actually never had pneumonia before. Bronchitis I’ve had lots of times, but pneumonia is way worse. It’s kind of scary.
Hey Anne,
Great advice as usual.
Thanks again, & may December be good to you.
CS–Many thanks. I think I’m finally on the mend.
Luckily, I wrote a good ending. It came out far better than I thought, too!
Alex–Yay! Now you’ll have some major confidence when you end novel #2!
Very glad to hear you’re on the mend (again, it seems lately that you can’t quite catch that break needed for your health). I’ve had a few issues with ending my stories. I do know that with one of novellas I did not like the ending I had written (tidied everything up but felt…meh) and it took me a month to come up with a new one.
The fantasy series I had finished (and starting the dreaded 2nd draft and beyond next year), I had the small issue of making sure the first four had the proper temporary ending needed to more the story along. But it became a monster to slay with 15 plot lines (for about 18 characters) that centered around one main character that I needed to bring to a successful conclusion. Which I fortunately was able to do.
In general though, I don’t have a lot of issues now with endings. It’s getting to the end of that I often find the most difficult.
GB–Endings of books in a series have their own obstacles. They need to be satisfying and also entice you to keep reading the series. Sounds like you’ve mastered that. Congrats.
I did earn this review on Amazon:
5.0 out of 5 stars A good story with a natural feel
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2025
Format: Kindle
Verified Purchase
A good read! The author does a very good job of telling a story in which the characters feel natural, and the themes are relatable. I was struck by how genuine the thoughts and emotions in the story are; it reads and comes off like the characters are real people, with unique personalities and human thoughts, and aren’t just used as plot devices. A good story and easy read to get lost in.
Alex–Yay! That’s what we live for, isn’t it? Hearing from a reader who “gets” you and your book. It means you’ve really reached another human being with your writing.
Really hoping you are feeling better every day, Anne! Great post – I’ve written 21 books now, and I always write the ending about a third of the way through my writing hours. That way, I see where I’m going. I may jiggle it a bit, but doing this gives me a definite path to 75,000 words, and not 250,000!!
Melodie–I’m fuzzy-brained still, but I am improving. I write the ending first, too. Then I have a goal.
Yikes, sorry to hear you were so sick! Glad you’re home and recovering. I like the idea of writing the last chapter first. When I first started writing I thought it had to be done linearly — start at the beginning and when you get to the end, stop 😅 It took me a long time to unload that impression.
DD–I did that too. Each chapter in its place. Sometimes you can write that way, but often you need to write scenes out of order.
Stay well, Anne! You’re on my Nice list every year.
Anne, another wish for your recovery, and glad to know it’s progressing.
In my three published fantasy novels, I knew the ending when I started. But when I finished the first one, “Prophecy of Honor,” I realized the ending was unfair to the readers, so I added a chapter to provide a satisfactory conclusion.
The last line in THE GREAT GATSBY will always hum in my head…the words a combination of strong and weak, because life is both of those….always.
In my dreams…and purpose. Congrats, Alex.
Indeed, Anne take care…we need your insight.
What a treasure chest of insights, Anne and friends. Thanks for sharing. Perfect health and satisfaction in 2026.
Judy–Yes, lets hope for better health and peace and prosperity in 2026.
I plotted my mainstream literary trilogy Pride’s Children from beginning to end, with the end being the important part, before I started writing.
It seemed almost impossible to reach that end, the one I wanted, the one I was writing FOR – so the whole structure had the ability to react to high winds – the ‘events’ in the story – as they happened, but had to be strong enough to carry that ending to a satisfied reader.
Plot points either contributed to that eventual end and/or got modified to achieve that – or got REMOVED before spending more than some exploratory writing on them. Like stepping stones across a raging river, if there was a gap it had to be connected to bedrock before there was any point in writing the actual story.
I’d say don’t fall in love with your characters until you’re sure they will carry that plot and all those themes to where you want the reader to find them. I really hate having to dump words.
Alicia–I write that way too. I always know the end, and I’m pretty good with the intro, but the middle part is where the catastrophes can happen. We can follow the wrong secondary character and get lost in an irrelevant rabbit hole. Sometimes you can lift that story arc and use it as a short story, but sometimes it just needs the delete button.
I am an odd duck as a writer. In the past quarter-century, I’ve only managed to write the first two volumes of Pride’s Children, but they’re massive – 167K and 182K – and the final trilogy will be about as long as GWTW.
That, and being abysmally slow due to illness means my methods are often quite different. I plot with Dramatica (a screenwriter’s tool), and the middles are as tightly plotted and connected as beginnings and ends. There was no ‘sophomore slump.’ The writing difficulty level is consistent. And each planned scene is written in a similar fashion, edited, polished, and tucked into its place in the whole.
I can only carry a small amount in my head at once, so I need to have the pieces line up and carry their part of the load EVERY TIME. Needless to say, I won’t be writing many books. But it has worked very well for the two books I’ve finished, and the third (after an unplanned bit where I had to do more research) is on the same kind of tight system. It allows me to do what I shouldn’t be able to. And would never be able to do ‘drafts of the whole’ for – can’t keep that much stuff in my head.
I’ve often wondered what kind of writer I would have been had I not contracted ME/CFS 36 years ago at 40, but I’m sure I wouldn’t be this far out.
Alice–It sounds as if you’ve been writing three books in one, so you can say you’ve really written six books or more. 🙂 My heart goes out to you. Dealing with Chronic Fatigue in any of its forms can be devastating. Congrats on getting so much written in spite of it.
I never delete any extraneous material permanently. I save it to another file, just on case I want to revisit the material later.
Sally–That’s very wise. I do it too. An excerpt can turn into a short story, or maybe work in a later part of the book.