Inspiration Station: Ending

Is your novel part of a series and you want your readers to go out right away and buy the next book? Maybe it’s a standalone novel, but you want your readers to check if you have another other novels out or in the works.

Here are some ideas to wrap your novel up with a neat bow…

Tie up any loose ends.

Make sure all your plot points have a purpose. Make sure all questions have been answered. Sometimes it’s okay to leave your readers guessing (especially when there’s a sequel), but you should pick and choose what to leave up to the reader. You don’t want to leave out any huge plot points.

Have the ending to make sense.

Don’t rush the ending. Give the reader as much or as little information as possible about the plot and the characters.

Create a lengthy ending.

If you have a 500-page novel, don’t wrap everything up in a couple of paragraphs. Give it a couple of chapters; let the reader really think on it.

End on an image.

My favorite piece of ending advice comes from Stanley Kunitz: “End with an image and don’t explain.” Explain what you need to about the plot, but let the reader create their own sort of epilogue for the characters.

Endings are difficult because you want to leave the reader satisfied. If you give the characters an ending they deserve, then readers will most likely agree.

If you enjoyed this post or found it helpful, be sure to check out my posts about Beginnings, Middles, and Prologues/Epilogues!