How To End A Novel

The ending to your novel is equally, if not more, important as the beginning. Similar to how your opening scenes will make a first impression on readers and hopefully entice them to continue, your ending will make a lasting impression – the one readers will carry with them after they put the book down. Whether your ending is happy or sad, whether he gets the girl or gets dumped, if the quest ends with a great treasure or it turns out to be a trick, your ending should always be satisfying and well rounded. Of course, satisfaction is subjective, but here are some elements to consider when writing an ending that will help your story remain with readers and hopefully get them excited for whatever you write next!

Readers are interested in good, satisfying writing, not incomplete writing …

The Resolution

No matter if you end on a cliffhanger or tie up your story with a nice neat bow, a necessary element to your third act is the resolution. This is the time and space where you show what the characters’ lives look like after the main conflict of the narrative is resolved. A good rule of thumb to know if your resolution is working or not is to consider whether your story feels complete. Going back to the cliffhanger, even if you end your story on an unknown, the main premise of this novel – whether it’s a standalone or the first, second, third, etc. one in your series – should achieve resolution.

A common misconception is that when you’re writing a series, the first book does a lot of set up and plot threads don’t have to find resolution because they’ll be answered in the next book or the book after that. Even if you’re planting the seeds of a through line for your series at large, each individual novel has to find some kind of resolution to the main plot. Readers are interested in good, satisfying writing, not incomplete writing.

Testing the Message

Every story should have a theme, or as I look at it, a point. You should know the purpose your novel is going to serve at least by the end of the idea phase. Of course, once you get into the writing, sometimes the message grows and changes, but setting out with a clear message will help guide your focus. This message is teased out as the characters undergo their experiences, and it should be accentuated in the third act, usually around the climax and in the fallout after.

I refer to that period of time from the climax to the resolution as testing the message. A basic example would be a story about an addict. The story is spent with them quitting and recovering from their addiction. What will accentuate the lessons they learned, maybe the self-worth that they find, and however they grow through that journey will be a moment near the end of the story when they face a trigger and have to apply their new knowledge to either stay strong or relapse. That moment will test the message, and whether they succeed or fail depends on the story you’re writing.

Don’t Preach

Something important to keep in mind is that you never want to preach your message. Your ending should not be some blatant obtuse monologue about how at the end of the day you just have to do your best and then you’ll be your best or she had to love herself first before someone else could ever love her. If you reach the end of your story and feel like you have to sum up the point, then that means the message isn’t strong enough throughout the plot as a whole to speak for itself – which means you have some revising to do.

The End of the Arc

Additionally, when you’re testing the message, think about your plot arc. Whether your novel is character driven or plot driven, someone or something should have transformed and grown – for better or worse – over the course of the story.  Your resolution should highlight the shift between who they/it were/was in the beginning versus now.

How To End A Novel With Emotion

Going back to the idea of last impressions, how you end your novel is how your readers are going to feel when they put the book down. When you approach your end, ask yourself how you want readers to feel. That emotion should be at play in the narrative itself. If you want readers to feel happy, then your ending might look like a neatly wrapped present. If you want readers to feel sad, then maybe someone dies or the character tests the message and fails. Whatever you decide should feed the takeaway for your story.  

Essentially, if your ending doesn’t evoke an emotion from your reader, then the narrative isn’t going to stick with them. If your reader puts the book down and they still feel something from the ending, that means your narrative resonates. One way to look at it is that the longer your story stays with a reader, the greater chance there is of them talking about it with someone else, and then maybe that someone else will go out and buy your book, too!

I’d be happy to work with you on your novel! Visit me at Good Story Editing for a full range of editorial services.