The 10 Dos And Don’ts Of How To End Your Novel

Are you near the final pages of your book? If you’re looking for a quick list of tips to end a story, use the 10 Dos And Don’ts Of How To End Your Novel.

The 10 Dos And Don’ts Of How To End Your Novel by James V. Smith Jr.

Don’ts

1. Don’t introduce any new characters or subplots. Any appearances within the last 50 pages should have been foreshadowed earlier, even if mysteriously.
2. Don’t describe, muse, explain or philosophize. Keep description to a minimum, but maximize action and conflict. You have placed all your charges. Now, light the fuse and run.
3. Don’t change voice, tone or attitude. An ending will feel tacked on if the voice of the narrator suddenly sounds alien to the voice that’s been consistent for the previous 80,000 words.
4. Don’t resort to gimmicks. No quirky twists or trick endings. The final impression you want to create is a positive one. Don’t leave your reader feeling tricked or cheated.

Dos

1. Do create that sense of Oh, wow! Your best novelties and biggest surprises should go here. Readers love it when some early, trivial detail plays a part in the finale.
2. Do enmesh your reader deeply in the outcome. Get her so involved that she cannot put down your novel to go to bed, to work or even to the bathroom until she sees how it turns out.
3. Do resolve the central conflict. You don’t have to provide a happily-ever-after ending, but do try to uplift. Readers want to be uplifted, and editors try to give readers what they want.
4. Do afford redemption to your heroic character. No matter how many mistakes she has made along the way, allow the reader—and the character—to realize that, in the end, she has done the right thing.
5. Do tie up loose ends of significance. Every question you planted in a reader’s mind should be addressed, even if the answer is to say that a character will address that issue later, after the book ends.
6. Do mirror your final words to events in your opener. When you reach the ending, go back to ensure some element in each of your complications will point to the beginning. It’s the tie-back tactic. Merely create a feeling that the final words hearken to an earlier moment in the story.

By James V. Smith Jr., author of You Can Write A Novel, Writer’s Little Helper, and Fiction Writer’s Brainstormer.

Source for Dos and Don’ts: Writers Digest

If you enjoyed this post, read:

1. 13 Ways To Start A Story
2. The Importance of Inciting Moments
3. The Two Types Of Inciting Moments
4. How To Write A Beginning And An Ending That Readers Will Never Forget
5. Start Here: 3 Things You Need To Do At The Beginning Of Your Novel
6. The Sense Of An Ending – How To End Your Book
7. 14 Points To Consider Before You Write The Ending
8. What Is A Denouement?
9. 7 Extremely Good Reasons To Write The Ending First
10. 5 Things That Happen After You’ve Typed THE END