The Town Herald

The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.

The true meaning of Endings

by guest writer, [alexdamien]



What is the true meaning of Endings? Is an ending only the logical conclusion of a story? A way to tie up the loose ends after the climax? The beautiful last scene where your main characters ride off to the sunset?

Hopefully not.

And ending is the thing we, as readers, look up to from the very beginning.
While the beginning tells us a promise of an adventure beyond life and death, and the climax presents us with the greatest battle between the opposing forces in the book, the ending shouldn’t be just that “And they lived happily ever after” it should have meaning, beauty and resonance.

A true ending should leave us with a sense that we are leaving a world we’ve loved, that a door has been closed, but it also should be meaningful enough to stay on our head long after we have closed the book. This is where your book either turns into a memorable jewel or falls apart.

What does a memorable ending is composed of?

Conclusion
The main thing your ending should is, yes, tie up everything into a coherent conclusion. Do the band of heroes defeat evil? Does the hero achieves peace after avenging his family? Tie up every single thread, make sure you don’t forget about important characters that suddenly decided to step off the stage. If you want to leave way for there to be other stories then do so, but your main goal should be to conclude the story you presented in your beginning. This should all be the result of a logical progression of events on the story, not the usual lame “And the hero lifted his magical sword and defeated the evil wizard” just because. Make sure your hero has had to sort out enough obstacles and win enough battles. A cheap, weak ending will only annoy the readers who have stuck with you for the whole story.

Resonance
What matters about your story, about your characters and the conflict that you have presented to the reader? What is important on a human level? What can you give a reader in exchange for his time or money? Is it hope to deal with the hardships of the world? Is it a unique, new view of the world and life itself? This is the thanks you give the reader for having devoted his time to read your story. You say “Here, this is what I can give you, what I know and what I believe in” you are giving something that, like all writing, is intrinsically you, so make sure it’s something worthy.

Beauty
The usual good grammar, spelling, no typos, coherent ideas, etc. But beyond that, how does your writing looks? Do you separate meaningful sentences to give them more impact? Is the meaning of your writing buried under meaningless exposition?

How does your writing flows? Can the writing be read clearly, developing a meaning effortlessly?

How does your ending sounds? Harsh after a brutal defeat of virtue? Soft as the triumph of breathless heroism? Does it end in a hard sentence, or does the most important part of your ending rises, then is softened by the thoughts of your characters?

Theme completion
This is where you complete the theme you sustained throughout your novel. Was it about how loves defeats evil? Is it about courage triumphing any adversity? Just as you tie all the plot ties in the end, you should also tie up your theme and present it clearly through the actions of your characters and the logical progression of your story. DO NOT show it by using full out exposition “War is bad, love is good, princesses are always perfect” don’t.

Please, don’t.

By keeping this in mind, you can create a solid, interesting ending which complements the story into a coherent whole. And don’t expect to write a perfect ending the first time around just by knowing this. The best endings, just as the best writing usually has to undergo heavy editing and polishing, so don’t worry if your ending feels weak when you write it. Once you have finished it and can see the whole story you will be able to see what is lacking in it and what has to go. The only thing you have to do is make sure that you make the story the best you can write. If you try your best you have nothing to be afraid of.



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