It’s a tricky one! Ending a manuscript in the right place always poses a conundrum. How to do it? Where to stop? Well here are fifteen suggestions to help you on your way. I was going to do fifty? But my brain cannot hold fifty endings in my mind and still work, apparently.
- Tie up the all the loose parts.
- Execute massive showdown.
- Offer an epilogue.
- Slam down mystery.
- Bring it full circle to highlight what has changed!
- Explosively end with explosions.
- Chuck in some murder/death/underworld exploration/postmortem examinations/etc etc.
- Let new hope shine.
- JUMP INTO SOME TIME TRAVEL.
- Be inspired by Hamlet.
- Host a little silent puppet theatre.
- Show that it was all just a dream inside a dream inside a dream.
- Let there be change… and light … and change.
- Give everyone severe memory loss.
- Reveal that the protag and antag are actually the same person. OMG. I know.
But seriously, even if my brain cannot hold onto them, there must be a billion ways to end a tale and each one of them is awesome. If you end your manuscript and it feels very different? That could be good different. Don’t go searching for a neat and tidy ending because you want to fit in, be exciting. Be yourself. Shine like the sun.
Do you have any excellent go to endings? I think one of the brilliant things about endings is that you can do so many. If you want explosions and time travel and a mystery it can be done! Awesome. I think it’s ok to write past the ending and then retrace your steps back to it later.
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Love the list! My favorites are probably #9, #12, and #14.
My go-to ending is to kill all the characters in a nuclear war.
But really, I usually just go with some kind of big twist of an ending, which sometimes takes a while to figure out, but they're always worth it! 🙂
Great list! I always have trouble finding my ending; usually my stubborn characters demand more than their 15 mins of fame and want their entire life-story told!
hehe love number 15. i'm a fan of writing multiple endings. options. don't readers like options? oh, wait, i actually CHOOSE one of them myself…eventually. christy
lol! I love 12 and 15–very funny. 🙂
I always have trouble with endings. Finding the right one, deciding whether or not it was epic enough, wondering OMG WHAT IF MY READERS HATE THE ENDING?!
Yeah…endings. Fun stuff.
Nice post! And still loving the graphics!
"Tie up the all the loose parts."? But that's what makes my novels brilliant. 😛
I'm still working on creating a brilliant ending. But one thing's for sure, mine are always happy <3
One thing that I've done a couple of times recently after quite complicated end points for the main ones is cut to one of the minor characters and show their ending.
I'm with Tina, happy endings are the best!
Here's an idea for a go-to ending: the unicorn ex machina. You know, where a horned horse shows up out of nowhere, followed by trails of sparkles and rainbows, and *poof* all the problems go away and everyone lives happily ever after? Yeah. Bestseller material right there. 😛
Thanks for sharing, that's inspiring! I truly enjoyed the visit. 🙂
Seriously, I'm going to use #14 for the ending of my current WiP (once I get there…eventually). Should be rather mildly interesting to say the least.
And yes, explosions are always a nice way to end with a BANG.
~TRA
http://xtheredangelx.blogspot.com
Endings. Oh, we have a love/hate relationship we do. They love to torture me and I hate having to figure out how to do them 🙂
Fun list!