Abigail Fredrickson

Before jumping into today’s post, I want to wish all of you a wonderful autumn season!  I would also like to thank the person who requested today’s topic: Finishing up the story.

This is a very good subject, in my opinion, and yet not one that’s very often touched upon.  People tend to ask how they can get the story started more often than they wonder how to finish it. Yet, the ending is just as important.  It won’t matter much how incredible your characters are, how outstanding your writing is, if your ending leaves readers unsatisfied or confused.

That said, there is no one, perfect, tried and tested way to wrapping up your story and putting a nice little bow on top.  Why?  Because there’s an INFINITE number of stories, following thousands of different plot lines, with unique characters involved in each one, all of which are told in drastically different styles.  Which, while a beautiful thing, does sometimes make it difficult to pick a common template and stick to it.

Some books will end on cliffhangers (perhaps books in a series), some may be left open ended, inviting the reader’s imagination to fill in the blanks (an example may be the Wingfeather Saga), some are neatly tied up with ribbons and an age old ‘and they lived happily ever after’ (at least half of all fairy tales ever).  Some stories end there, others continue on.

I’m going to share my own process, my own train of thought, when it comes to ending stories and books.  This may not necessarily work for all of you. Some of you may need to tweak it. Some may do something ENTIRELY different.  But it is a method that I believe should be applicable to most.

My first concern is the main plot line.  The protagonist’s personal dilemma.  Discard the side plots for now and focus on this.  This is the plot line that remains consistent throughout the book, from the beginning, to the very end.  It’s also the one that you are going to want to wrap up in this story/book.  It’s what your readers have been rooting for all this time.  If you are able to wrap this up, you could leave several of your side plots (even major ones!) unfinished, and the ending would still work, because the main issue has been solved.  (NOTE: I would not advise leaving major side plots unfinished unless your intent is to continue the story in a sequel or series.)

Once you’ve determined what you’re doing with your main plot, THEN you can consider your side plots.  Which ones do you want to wrap up?  Which ones don’t necessarily need it?  These questions are key.  It is possible to finish a book with every single issue wrapped up, yes, but keep in mind that doing so leaves your readers with nothing to really imagine afterwards (unless they’re the creative sort and already are writing fanfiction in their minds, like I do more than half the time).  Sometimes readers like it when there’s one or two loose ends because it mirrors real life and implies that even if the book is finished, the story continues in that fictional universe.  That it didn’t just end, and all the characters they grew attached to ceased to exist. Others enjoy seeing everything figured out at the end.  If tying up all your loose ends is what you want to do and works for your story, by all means do so!  But do not feel pressured into it if you’re struggling to accomplish this, or if it just feels wrong.  It’s okay to not wrap the story up in perfect shiny wrapping paper with an even more picture perfect bow.

Personally, I enjoy leaving some plot points unfinished, because I enjoy writing series, and it gives me more to work with throughout said series than if I just fixed everything in book one. The other books would feel like add-ons and disjointed or unnecessary if that was the case, which, may be perfectly fine if I was the sort of person who could achieve writing a single book and then letting it be. (Unfortunately, my mind just won’t stop thinking up more!)

If you’re struggling with writing the ending so that it’s not awkward, that’s okay too.  You can try different ways if you need to, don’t worry about getting it right on the first try.  And again, remember that there’s no one way to end a story.  There’s no perfect formula to getting it right, and often an ending that isn’t awkward depends strongly on the specifics of that story.  All I can say is don’t be afraid to experiment, or to rewrite different bits, or even the whole section.  I would save previous parts so you can look back on them, make notes about what you liked and what didn’t, and compare them to what you have now.  Writing is a growing process, not only for the characters, but for the author and the reader as well.  By the time you’ve finished a book, you will be different than you started, even if not necessarily by a lot.  It’s a journey every time.

What’s some tricks or advice that you have regarding finishing up stories?  Are there some of you who are working on wrapping a book up right now?  Share your experiences; I’d love to hear them!  What’s your favorite ending to a book you enjoy?  Or even one that you’ve written? (Just be sure to give a warning for spoilers first if you go into detail!)