How To End A Story

Whether you have the final scenes of your book worked out from the moment you put pen to paper or it comes to you somewhere along the way, there’s one thing every writer needs to master to leave a lasting impression on readers: how to end a story.

Writing the ending can be a source of anxiety for a lot of authors. You don’t want to finish a great story with a weak ending and disappoint your readers.

Six Types of Endings

The ending has an enormous impact on how (and if) readers will remember your book in years to come. If they are dissatisfied at closing the final chapter, they won’t likely read it again or share it with others. While the start of your story might convince people to read your book in the first place, the end is what will determine if they turn from a reader into a fan.

There’s no universally right or wrong ending. Art is subjective, and every reader will like different things. However, writers must consider reader expectations — and whether their story is best served by meeting or subverting those expectations.

A few things to consider when trying to determine reader expectations are:

• Genre
• Plot structure
• Target audience
• Theme and overall message

In genre, for example, many people don’t consider something a true romance book until it ends with a happily ever after (or at least a “happy for now”). If you’re following the Hero’s Journey true to form, your protagonist will end up back in the same location they started at, but transformed by their experiences. Children will have quite a different set of expectations from a book than adult readers. And your theme and the takeaway you want readers to have will determine whether subverting or meeting their expectations is likely to go over well.

1. Resolved Ending

Wrap it up and put a bow on it. A resolved ending answers all the questions and ties up any loose plot threads. There is nothing more to tell because the characters’ fates are clearly presented to the reader.

When might you use a resolved ending? This conclusion is common to standalone books — especially romance novels, which thrive on ‘happily ever afters’ — or the final installment in a series.

2. Unresolved Ending

This ending asks more questions than it answers and, ideally, leaves the reader wanting to know how the story will continue. It lets them reflect on what the hero has been through and pushes them to imagine what is still to happen. There will be some resolution, but it will, most likely, pose questions at the end and leave doors open.

When might you use an unresolved ending? Because it can create anticipation and excitement for what comes next, use an unresolved ending if you are writing a series of books. Who doesn’t love (and hate) a good cliffhanger?

3. Ambiguous Ending

An ambiguous ending leaves the reader wondering about the “what ifs.” Instead of directly stating what happens to the characters after the book ends, it allows the reader to speculate about what might come next — without establishing a right or wrong answer. Things don’t feel quite unresolved, more just open to interpretation.

When might you use an ambiguous ending? If you want your readers to reflect on the meaning of your book, then this is the ending for you. While a resolved ending may satisfy readers, it probably won’t give them much pause. However, by trying to unpick an ambiguous ending they get closer to what you as the author are trying to say.

4. Unexpected Ending

If you have led your readers to believe that your book will end one way, but at the last possible moment you add a plot twist they didn’t see coming, you’ve got yourself an unexpected ending! For an author, this ending can be a thrill to write, but it must be handled with care. Handled poorly, it will frustrate and infuriate your reader. An unexpected ending must be done in such a way that, while surprising, still makes sense and brings a satisfactory conclusion.

When might you use an unexpected ending? These ‘twist endings’ are the bread and butter of mystery novels. Just know while fans of the genre will expect a twist — they won’t want one that comes entirely out of nowhere. To execute a flawless unexpected ending, you must lay groundwork throughout your book, so the reader can reflect on the plot and go, “ah, but of course!”

5. Tied Ending

Much of storytelling is cyclical. Sometimes it’s a metaphorical return home. In other cases, the cycle is quite literal — the story ends where it began.

When might you use a tied ending? More common in literary fiction, a tied ending can help give you a sense of direction when writing your book —, you are ending as you began. But don’t think this makes writing your ending easier. It is up to you to give greater depth to those repeated actions and events so that, by the end, they have a completely different feel.

6. Expanded Ending

Also known as an epilogue, this ending describes what happens to the world of the story afterward, so it hints at the characters’ fates in the future.

When might you use an expanded ending? If you need to tie up loose ends but could not do it within the actual story, then this is the ending for you. However, it should not replace a traditional ending or be used to compensate for a weak ending. Instead, it should give further insight into the characters and resolve the readers.

Seven Tips to Craft the Perfect Ending

Now that you understand what kind of endings there are, let’s start thinking about how to create them for yourself!

1. Find your ending in the beginning

While your story may contain several threads and subplots, all books will have a central question raised by the opener. Who killed the boss? Will our star-crossed lovers end up together? Can a rag-tag group of heroes save the world? Is there meaning to a middle-class existence? Can this family’s relationship be saved? Your central question is the driving force of what will happen in the plot, so settle it by the time the book ends.

2. Completion goes hand-in-hand with hope

A great ending gives the reader both a feeling of completion and hope. You have to assume the character has gone through hell, so let them see something beautiful about the world that allows them to take a breath and step into the next adventure. Even your ending should leave your reader dying for more.

3. Keep things fresh

This is good advice for every stage of writing, but perhaps nowhere is it more important than the ending. While there are certain genres where a type of ending is expected (romances should end with a happily ever after, mysteries with identifying the killer), you don’t want people to see everything coming from miles off. So even if the payoff from the big resolution is expected, as the writer you’ll want to think hard to keep things fresh and interesting. To achieve this, try to dig deeper than your first impulse because, chances are, that’s also going to be your audience’s first impulse.

4. Make sure it’s really finished

To create a satisfying ending, close your book with purpose. Every subplot and all the strands of your main plot should reach satisfying, clear conclusions. If they are meant to be left ambiguously, ensure your reader knows this, and create something out of that uncertainty.

5. Last impressions matter

In some ways, the final line of a story is even more important than the first one. It’s the last impression you will make in your reader’s mind, and the final takeaway of the whole book. Hone in on what kind of emotions you’d like your reader to feel as they close the book, and ask yourself what kind of image or concluding thought would best convey that. Often the final image is the summation of everything your theme has been building.

6. Come full circle

A good ending brings the book’s internal and external story arcs to a rational conclusion: You need to come full circle. You need to end where you began. You need to take the truth your main character believed in at the beginning of the story and expose it as the lie it is by the end. In your ending, the main character need not get what they want, but they do have to get what they need.

7. Leave some things unsaid

There’s a balance to endings — too little resolution and your book will feel rushed and unsatisfying, but too much and the denouement drags. In general, though, you want to keep things brief, especially if you want room for an epilogue. It’s okay to trust your readers to conclude on their own, rather than spending whole chapters making sure every question you raised is answered. But, if do you really want everything tied off, consider moving the resolution of some of your subplots to just before the climax. This avoids jamming everything into the last five pages, allowing your subplots space to breathe.

As we have seen, there are many methods for ending stories! However you finish your novel, there is one thing you should always remember: take account of the story that came before and give it the ending it needs, not the one you think readers want, and it will be satisfactory for all.