When I was a newer writer, I bought a drink for a famous old novelist at the hotel bar after a long conference day. When he’d consumed half of it, I asked him for advice on crafting good, satisfying final chapters.
He snapped, “Your ending depends on your beginning and middle!”
Yeah, no kidding. Even I had that much common sense. He did add, “Thanks for the drink.”
But I wasn’t asking simply about “endings.” A last line can comprise an ending. Short stories are great for oneliner endings:
He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided.
—“The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell
“Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed!—tear up the planks!—here, here!—it is the beating of his hideous heart!”
—“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
On the other hand, endings can consist of extensive sections or chapters that present one or more climactic moments, then however much of a wrap-up the author feels is necessary.
Although exactly what constitutes “how it ends” varies from book to book, all you really need to take care of are two basics:
• Wrap up your main plot elements.
• Show your characters experiencing the comfort or discomfort they deserve. “Just deserts” for everyone.
(By the way, note the spelling of deserts, just above. It’s not desserts, as in cherry pie after dinner, but deserts, meaning what is deserved.)
Those two basics can be shortened into climax and denouement. Climax being the highest, most intense point in the story, and denouement being the outcome.
Last chapters are special and important. There’s something about them
