Writing Tip #01:
10 Ways of Ending your Story
- The Cliffhanger Ending: Ending the story in such a way that leaves the reader at the edge of their seat, either due to being in the middle of a dilemma or a shocking revelation (Ex: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan)
- The Circle Ending: Ending the story in such a way does comes back full circle to its beginning. The reader gets a chance to compare the before and after, offering both the opportunities for irony or satire, and the contrast, whether bitter or sweet, is plain to see.
- The Dialogue Ending: Ending the story with dialogue from the characters. This ending allows the readers to feel a stronger connection to the characters since it is them sharing the end to their story instead of the author.
- The Emotional Ending: Ending the story in such a way that leaves readers feeling emotional, whether happy or sad, for the characters in the story. Before attempting to write an emotionally engaging end, you have to first understand why it is important for your readers to be engaged.
- The Humor Ending: Ending the story in such a way that leaves the reader laugh at either a line or even an inside joke from the story. Before attempting this ending, first think about your own personal sense of humor and how you'll be using it to produce a humorous ending.
- The Image Ending: Ending the story in such a way that puts the classic "show, don't tell" rule to good use by describing a scene.
- The Moral Ending: Ending the story in such a way that you show the character's growth and how far they've managed to come. This ending helps even the reader learn a lesson through the characters. The difficult part about this ending is figuring out what the moral of your story will be. Think of your characters, their goals, objectives, and how all of those have developed in the story.
- The Question Ending: Ending the story in such a way that leaves readers think about what will happen next. This ending is effective when you want the culmination of your story to be remembered. Play around with different questions and see what would work better!
- The Surprise Ending: Ending the story in such a way that takes the reader to the place least expected. When done right, these endings will live, and haunt, the readers' memories for years. A surprise ending may have the reader question heir perspective of the preceding events. It could also introduce new conflicts that changes the story's context. A subtle misdirection is key to achieving this kind of ending.
- The Reflection Ending: Ending the story in such a way that the character looks back on everything they've experienced, achieved, or even failed at. Everything they've gone through in their journey. This conclusion gives the character a chance to think/feel more deeply about what occurred in the story. It gives them time to explore their deepest feelings and even possibly come up with fresh or surprising insights.
