Some Tips for the Ending of Your Story

Once the goal has been reached and the purpose of your story fulfilled, you need to tie off loose ends fairly quickly.

You know the story of Cinderella? Have you ever wondered what happens to her nasty step-family? Me neither! We don't care, because the story is about Cinderella – the only thing that matters is that good has triumphed over evil and she has her prince!

Allow your readers to sigh in satisfaction as your hero revels in their success at the end of your story – then leave them on that high note as they close the book.

You don’t need a chapter on what happened to the evil step family after the wedding. Imagine if you finished with that – how would you feel, going away from the story, with that your mind?

Riding into the sunset after the wedding is so much more appealing for readers!

Equally, we don’t need a chapter with the honeymoon and the happy couple going back to the castle… unless you are planning on a sequel about Cinderella’s life as royalty!

Here’s an example of a good ending for a children’s novel - A Pennyworth of Peppermints, published by Dernier, by Mary Weeks Millard.

This book is set  in WW1. The penultimate chapter is the one in which the  final battle occurs - finally, Ben, Vera and Sid catch the spy! 

In effect, the story has ended.

But we still need to tie off a few things.

The final chapter of P of P included these three things:

1. Ben, Vera and Sid have their photos taken for the local newspaper. Nice!

2. They get the good news that Ben’s dad, who had been missing, presumed dead, in the trenches in France, had been found. He was a POW and would be home soon.

3. Lastly, there is a fire at the munitions factory where Ben’s mum had been working, and Ben is relieved, because it had been affecting her health. But Ben gets to help at the local shop, so will have wages of his own to help his mum, which will be a help.

The last page finishes with Ben running to the shop with a penny to buy peppermints, humming his favourite blessing song that his dad taught him. This closes off the theme of the book, too, which is trusting in God, whatever the circumstances.

It’s actually a very relevant book for right now. You might like to get copies to give your church children – with the war in Ukraine raging as I speak, it will give your children the opportunity to talk about their fears and learn to trust God, as Ben did through the pages of the story.

Of course, you will need to consider the age of your readers, when you write your ending – but whatever age your are writing for, you do need to make sure you close off the loose ends.

We go into endings of stories in a lot more detail in the Write for a Reason Academy – do take a look at the course details if you think you could use a bit of extra help with the ending of your story. I'd love to be able to help you further in your writing. :-)

But that’s at least a little bit about endings, which I hope you have found helpful. 

If you’d like  more free writing tips, hop on over to write-for-a-reason.com, where you will find lots more resources and encouragement to help you write excellent, relevant, fun novels and get them into your readers’ hands.

Transcript

Welcome to the Write for a Reason podcast. My name is Janet Wilson; I'm a publisher of Christian fiction for young people with Dernier Publishing. If you are a Christian, and new to writing stories for kids and teens, stay tuned for encouragement, creative writing tips and actionable strategies you can implement immediately to become a better writer. Thanks for coming over, now let’s jump straight in to today’s writing tip. Today I’m going to be giving you a few hints about ending your story.

So once the goal has been reached and the purpose of your story fulfilled, you need to tie off loose ends fairly quickly or simply leave them to your readers' imaginations.

You know the story of Cinderella? It finishes with the heroine riding off into the sunset with her prince. Have you ever wondered what happens to her nasty step-family? Me neither! We don't care, because the story is about Cinderella – the only thing that matters is that good has triumphed over evil and she has her prince!

One sign of a good writer is knowing what can be left out. Allow your readers to sigh in satisfaction as your hero revels in their success at the end of your story – then leave them on that high note as they close the book.

You don’t need a chapter on what happened to the evil step mother and those awful ugly sisters,after the wedding, for example. Imagine if you finished with that – how would you feel, going away from the story, with that the last thing in your mind?

Riding into the sunset after the wedding is so much more appealing for readers!

Equally, we don’t need a chapter with the honeymoon and the happy couple going back to the castle… unless you are planning on a sequel about Cinderella’s life as royalty! Don’t open up a new story arc unless you really need to.

Here’s an example of a good ending for a children’s novel - A Pennyworth of Peppermints, published by Dernier, by Mary Weeks Millard.

This book is set in Dorset on the south coast of England in WW1. The penultimate chapter is the one in which the last and final battle occurs. So all through the book, Ben, Vera and Sid have been searching for an enemy spy. Bit by bit they have got closer and closer, but in this last chapter, they get caught in his lair – an underground tunnel. It’s a very close thing (of course!) but the children manage to get the better of the spy, tie him up and get the police.

Phew! So that’s the last, big, dangerous conflict, when it seems that all has been lost – all sorted and finished!

In effect, the story has ended.

But we still need to tie off a few things.

The final chapter of P of P included these three things:

1. Ben, Vera and Sid have their photos taken for the local newspaper and they become local heroes for a few days. Nice!

2. They get the good news that Ben’s dad, who had been missing, presumed dead, in the trenches in France, had been found. He was a POW and would be home soon.

3. Lastly, there is a fire at the munitions factory where Ben’s mum had been working, and Ben was relieved, because it had been affecting her health. But Ben gets to help at the local shop, so will have wages of his own to help his mum, which will be a help.

The last page finishes with Ben running to the sh op with a penny to buy peppermints, humming his favourite blessing song that his dad taught him. (Count your blessings.) This closes off the theme of the book, too, which is trusting in God, whatever the circumstances.

It’s actually a very relevant book for right now. You might like to get copies to give your church children – with the war in Ukraine raging as I speak, it will give your children the opportunity to talk about their fears and learn to trust God, as Ben did through the pages of the story.

Of course, you will need to consider the age of your readers, when you write your ending – but whatever age your are writing for, you do need to make sure you close off the loose ends.

We go into endings of stories in a lot more detail in the Write for a Reason Academy – do take a look at the course details if you think you could use a bit of extra help with the ending of your story. I'd love to be able to help you further in your writing. :-)

But that’s at least a little bit about endings, which I hope you have found helpful. 

If you’d like lots more free writing tips, hop on over to write-for-a-reason.com, where you will find lots more resources and encouragement to help you write excellent, relevant, fun novels and get them into your readers’ hands.

If you haven’t yet done my free course, Gripping Beginnings, you can sign up and start immediately. This will help you grip your readers from the very first page of your story.

Don't put it off – today is a gift to use wisely! Only you can write your book, and if you have been called to write, someone's waiting for it.