How to finish your story

The last thing you want to do is create an ending or denouement that struggles with its conclusion. Ultimately, the ending of a story should wrap up the plot and theme of the story in a way that is satisfying to the reader. According to Ansen Dibell, author of Elements of Fiction Writing: Plot, successful endings come in two basic forms: 1) circular, and 2) linear. In a writing workshop I recently participated in, Patrick Rothfuss, author of The Name of the Wind, demonstrated two types of hand endings: for the first, he clenched his fists in front of him; for the second type, he bravely opened his hands towards his audience. The type of ending you choose for your story will depend on the type of story you are telling: one that reaches the climax or one that returns home.

circular endings

The beginning and the end connect in a circular story. In such a story, the end and the beginning are much more alike than the middle. This is because the end reflects the promise of the beginning. Framed stories use the same technique, except the beginning and ending “frame” are more like bookends, supporting the story from the outside and made of a visibly different structure (eg, styles, etc.).

Circular endings, and their circular stories, are often the form that quest and adventure stories take. The main character goes on a quest to find, learn, or achieve something, goes through trials, and ultimately succeeds in his mission and returns home with his prize to share (often insight or wisdom). Ultimately, the protagonist grows/changes/achieves and then brings that wealth home to alter his pre-existing daily life. full circle. The beginning and the end mirror and contrast each other.

Circular endings should do the job of showing the hero’s “homecoming”, how he changes through the turning point in the middle of the story, and what he has brought to the ordinary world to change it.

linear terminations

Linear stories and their endings run more like an uphill marathon, with slides, diversions, and hard climbs, all the way to the pinnacle and climax (the highest point of conflict and resolution). Once the outcome of the conflict is achieved, the story comes to an end. Most direct adventure stories are of this type.

reflexive vs narrative ending

Roy Peter Clark, author of Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer, muses that “grand finales bring the whole story back.” He cites the “reflective ending” to The Great Gatsby, in which the narrator reflects, piecing together important narrative threads like a master knitter, to come to meaningful conclusions.

“A powerful alternative,” adds Clark, “is the ‘narrative ending,’ a final scene that caps off the action.” Both types of jobs end when handled masterfully. The first is essentially “tell” and the second is essentially “show”. You choose. They both work.