Writers in the Storm

by Ellen Buikema

You’re reading a whirlwind story full of great story arcs and intriguing characters. The plot is speeding towards its climax, and you’re consuming the pages into the wee hours of the morning. Then bam! The book comes to a halt due to a natural disaster, last minute marriage to the wrong character, discover that it was all a dream, or another disappointing end.

There are better ways.

6 Different ways to end a story

1. A Resolved Ending

A resolved ending leaves the reader with no loose ends.

Consider Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. At the end of the story Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy marry. It appears as though their marriage will be a good one, and that the rest of Mr. Bennet’s daughters have settled down. There are no unanswered questions.

A resolved ending isn’t always a happy ending. In Shakespeare’s tragedies major characters often end up dead by one means or another. What matters most for a resolved ending is that all issues have been clearly resolved.

2. Unresolved Ending

Sometimes, the end is not truly the end. The unresolved ending leaves the reader with more questions than answers. Cliffhangers can be frustrating, but can also be satisfying if the story promises more.

Unresolved endings are good choices for a series, because it leads the reader to the next book. For example, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. Some books in this series were published many years apart.

3. Expanded Ending

The Epilogue

This ending expands the story beyond the events of the tale, jumps forward in time, and sometimes changes perspective. Margaret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid's Tale is an example.

Like an unexpected ending, expanded endings can change the readers paradigm.

The epilogue allows the writer to answer questions that might not be possible to answer in the space of the story, like how things turned out years after the main events of the story.

4. Unexpected Ending

The unexpected twist can be earth-shattering, or subtle. The trick to pulling off the big surprise is that in hindsight you knew it would have to happen. This should not come out of this air.

A good ending avoids the heavy-handedness that abruptly resolves all the story’s problems in an unnatural way. So, no previously unknown rich relative appearing from nowhere to give the poor hardworking main character a vast fortune. Good plot twists require clues left along the way. Have a look at The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney.

5. Ambiguous Ending

An ambiguous ending allows readers to come to different conclusions. Of all the endings, the ambiguous one requires the most involvement from the reader.

Take a look at the ending to Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. In the last lines, main character Pip takes the hand of the widow Estrella and says he sees “no shadow of another parting from her.” Is his prediction correct? The ending leaves the reader with more than one possibility.

6. Tied Ending

Sometimes referred to as a tied ending or a full circle ending, a circular ending brings the story “full circle” back around to where it began, with subtle differences showing how your characters have grown. The Hero’s Journey has this type of plot structure.

There are many options to repeat your main theme in the story’s end, people, actions, details.

James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake ends on a sentence fragment that finishes the first sentence of his novel.

4 Story Endings Examples

1. Take Them by Surprise

People are curious beings. Readers appreciate being surprised. Then give them something they don’t expect, but still makes sense for your story.

Maybe the thief turns out to be the narrator’s own husband or even the narrator herself. Maybe the girl doesn’t pick between her two suitors, but instead marries their uncle. Or their plumber.

Agatha Christie, a master of surprise, shows us how it’s done in And Then There Were None. Ten visitors are trapped on a small island and murdered one by one. With no one else on the island, which of them is the murderer?

2. Repeat the Theme of the Opening Scene

Bret Easton Ellis’ novel American Psycho begins with describing a graffiti using the text “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.”

The novel’s ending is perfectly circular.

“this is, uh, how life presents itself in a bar or in a club in New York, maybe anywhere, at the end of the century and how people, you know, me, behave, and this is what being Patrick means to me, I guess, so, well, yup, uh…” Above one of the doors covered by red velvet drapes in Harry’s is a sign with letters that match the drapes’ color that read “THIS IS NOT AN EXIT.”

3. Play on Their Feelings

Milan Kundera uses mood in his The Unbearable Lightness of Being:

Kundera’s story fades like a piece of music, diminuendo. The ending’s all about mood.

“Up out of the lampshade, startled by the overhead light, flew a large nocturnal butterfly that began circling the room. The strains of the piano and violin rose up weakly from below.”

Try to make your reader feel the moment, something ordinary but significant for the tale. Falling rain at the end of a long drought.

4. Leave Open Questions and Create Suspense

This kind of ending can be tricky and sometimes unsatisfying because the reader bought your book so you can show what happened. But if you’ve delivered an action-packed story and if the question is rather vague, it could work.

Consider Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind. It ends with Scarlett O’Hara’s desire to be with Rhett Butler again.

“I’ll think of it all tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then. Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.”

For your reading pleasure, here’s a post on 100 Ways to End a Story.

How do you prefer to end your stories? What is your favorite book ending?

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About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents and a series of chapter books for children with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works In Progress are The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and Crystal Memories, YA paranormal fantasy.

Find her at https://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Top Image by Angeline 1 from Pixabay

Lynette M. Burrows

You can have interesting characters in a striking setting and have a boring book. Plot structure can create tension that keeps the reader engaged and eager to finish your book. But learning how to plot is confusing. Many writers have their own theory on how to create an interesting plot. Some argue the number of types of plot structure and they name anywhere between one (man against man) to seven. Others talk about the elements of or the stages of plot. Those folk teach five, six, seven, nine, or more elements they call stages, or doors, or plot points. They say to use a diagram or an outline or to write freely and figure it out as you go. What’s a writer to do? Learn as much as you can. A good place to start is 7 Plot Structures for Pantsers by John Peragine. If you're looking for a simple and effective tool for creating a cause-effect, can’t-stop-reading plot use the WHAT-BUT-THEREFORE method.

What is Plot?

At its most basic level, plot is the chain of events that make up a story. But a basic chain of events does not make a story. Consider this pared-down version of Rumplestiltskin by the Brothers Grimm:

The miller says his daughter can spin straw into gold.

The king gave the girl a room of straw to spin into gold.

The girl made a bargain with a droll little man.

The girl spins the straw into gold.

The king marries the girl and she becomes queen.

The queen gives birth to a little girl.

The droll little man wants his end of the bargain.

The queen guesses his name, and he goes away empty-handed.

As a plain chain of events, this classic story has no tension. It’s boring. 

A more complex definition of plot is the sequence of events which causes a character to react in a way that affects the next event through the principle of cause-and-effect. With this definition, you can still create an unexciting story. The tension must rise.

The way I make certain story tension grips the reader is to use a What-But-Therefore outline of each scene.

WHAT-BUT-THEREFORE 

The first time I heard about this tool, I believe they labeled it the THEN-BUT-THEREFORE. I have lost track of the person(s) who introduced me to the concept. It may spring from the creators of South Park, though they may not have been the originators of the idea. 

This group of sentences helps you create a causal plot. One act leads to a complication and a decision or new action. Used properly, they can help you build the steps of an interesting plot that shows your theme and compels your reader to turn the page. So let’s examine what those three words stand for in this application.

WHAT

For a scene to compel your reader to turn the page, there must be forward movement of the story. The main character must have a goal that matters. The character must do something, take an action they believe will get them to their goal. Sometimes this may include thinking, planning, or weighing choices, but an effective scene will always include or lead directly to an action. 

BUT

The action taken by your protagonist leads to an obstacle. The obstacle can be geographical, a person, weather, or just about anything else. Whatever the obstacle is, it blocks the forward movement of the protagonist toward her goal. These obstacles are progressive. Each more difficult to get past.

THEREFORE

She must change her strategy, her tactics, her direction. This decision can mislead her or force her to retreat or make her reconsider and change her goal.

Put together it is: WHAT the character does (an action) toward the goal of the viewpoint character BUT something or someone interferes (progressive complication) THEREFORE the character is compelled to do something she wouldn’t at the beginning of the scene (which becomes the action of the next scene.) 

Example

WHAT: The king takes the miller’s beautiful daughter, places her in a room of straw and demands she spin it into gold by morning or die. BUT the girl cannot spin the gold. THEREFORE she cries and pleads for help.

WHAT: A droll little man appears and offers to help for something of value. BUT the girl can only offer a necklace. THEREFORE, the little man accepts the necklace and spun the straw into gold and the king is pleased.

WHAT: The greedy king brings in more straw for the girl to spin into gold or die. BUT the girl still cannot spin the straw into gold. THEREFORE she cries for help again. 

WHAT: The droll little man reappears and offers to spin the straw into gold in exchange for something of value. BUT the girl only has her ring to offer him. THEREFORE, he accepts the ring and spins the straw into gold and the king is pleased. 

WHAT: This pleases the king who gives the girl even more straw to spin into gold and promises she’ll be his queen if she does it by morning. BUT the girl still cannot spin the straw into gold…

You get the idea. 

Rumplestiltskin doesn’t have an ideal plot, but it’s a classic because the plot complications and rewards grow and grow until the girl outwits her opponent.

What I Love about What-But-Therefore

When I make my What-But-Therefore sentence outline, I write fast and make them run-on sentences. Some writers need to follow the rules of grammar. That’s okay. You can write these out any way that works for you. The primary object is to write a series of scenes with cause-and-effect actions that build tension.

The reason I love this method of building an outline is that the words remind me to put the tension in each scene. But I don’t have an outline so detailed that my inner pantser feels restricted. I leave the specifics of the complications and how the characters get into or out of the complications. Therefore, my pantser side gets to play during the writing.

Story is More than One Thing

Can you build an interesting plot using the What-But-Therefore sentences? Absolutely. You can also make it uninteresting. Story is more than one thing. It takes a compelling theme, a set of characters with goals your reader cares about, an interesting plot that creates obstacles and twists, and the right mix of tension and release. 

There is no one right way to create a compelling story. You must find a way that works for you. Study plot structure as taught by Aristotle (Poetics), Gustav Freytag (Technique of the Drama), Joseph Campbell (The Hero’s Journey), Larry Brooks (Story Engineering), James Scott Bell (Plot & Structure), Jessica Brody (Save the Cat! Writes a Novel), Jennie Nash (Blueprint for a Book), or experts you follow. Must you read all those books? No one will force you to do so, but the more you learn and understand, the better able you will be to choose the things that work for you and your stories. 

Whether you use templates like the Hero’s Journey, or Story Engineering, or Blueprint, they all help you build your plot. Without complications and building tension, your plot isn’t compelling. Your story doesn’t satisfy. If you need a quick-and-dirty outline that gives you a flexible outline, What-But-Therefore can work for you.

What do you love about the plot template you use?

About Lynette

Lynette M. Burrows writes action-filled science fiction with characters who discover their inner strength and determination, then make courageous choices for themselves, their family, and their world.

In Book One of the Fellowship Dystopia, My Soul to Keep, Miranda Clarke lived a charmed life… until she breaks the rules. But it is 1961 and America’s a theocracy. Following the rules isn’t optional.

In the recently released book two, If I Should Die, Miranda, the former “good daughter” of the Fellowship, has transformed into a hero of the rebellion but now she faces the question, what do you do when the other side doesn’t want to listen?

Owned by two Yorkshire Terriers, Lynette lives in the land of Oz. When she’s not procrastinating by not doing housework and playing with her dogs, she’s blogging or writing or researching her next book. You can find Lynette online on her website, Facebook, or on Twitter @LynetteMBurrows. 

Image Credits

Top image by Mariana Anatoneag from Pixabay

Middle image by Kamchatka, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Bottom image by Anne Anderson (1874-1930), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

by Angela Ackerman

Summer can be a tough time for writers. Sunshine lures us away from our computers, meaning we’re spending family time at the park, enjoying drinks on the patio, dashing off on camping trips or vacations…you know, instead of adding to our wordcount.

And guess what? That’s okay! We should do these things. Life is short, and we work hard. We deserve to have fun and make memories.

Unfortunately, though, many of us feel guilt when we aren’t writing, especially if we’ve set big goals to achieve by year’s end. As days pass, our internal critic grows loader, grousing about how our lapse in discipline is going to mess up the BIG PLAN. Suddenly we feel bad for diverting time to summer activities and that steals our joy, undoing all the good that comes from making room for fun in the first place.

So how can writers enjoy summer without guilt?

A great strategy is to stay productive by using smaller, irregular gaps of time to tackle other writerly tasks. We all have a ton of little projects we never get to, so right now is an ideal time to knock a few off our to-do list. Doing something that help us prep for the next book, improve our skills, or understand the business of writing better will make us feel accomplished, making it easier to enjoy summer, guilt free.

To get the ball rolling, here are a few areas you could focus on if you wanted to. Feel free to steal these ideas!

Angela’s favorite: Make a list.

Full disclosure, I love lists. They help me stay organized, break down complex projects, and group tasks I want to complete. Often lists are made in a rush to capture ideas so they aren’t forgotten, but you can take your time and really think things through so your list becomes a roadmap on what to do next.

For example, take some time to list out your writing strengths and weaknesses. This will help you become aware of where you are now and choose an area to focus on for improvement. Or make a list of marketing ideas, publishers, or author services you want to investigate. Lists are great when it comes to our WIP, too. If a character or plot is giving you trouble, list out the questions you need to answer to set things right in your story.

Get organized.

Does your home office look like it belongs on an episode of Hoarders? Does your desktop filing system need an overhaul? Let’s face it, cleaning is always something we put off, but we always feel better when it’s done. Use a pocket of time this summer to sort your space so you’ll feel more creative when it’s time to write.

Expand your knowledge.

Is there an aspect of writing you want to learn more about so you can grow your skills? Or maybe you want to know more about book marketing, ads, formatting a book, or the different publishing paths. Pick a topic and use time here and there to learn more about it. There are many great books, blog posts, tools, and resources out there to help make your job easier. If you need a place to start, try this ‘Writer’s Secret Weapon” page. You can dive into many different topics writers need to know about.

Become a spy.

There’s a lot more to being an author than writing a book - we need a website, a way to connect with readers, tools to help us market and manage our business, and more. The problem? We don’t always know how to do all these things. So, do some sleuthing by seeing what successful authors in your genre are doing on their websites, in their newsletters, and online. Pay attention to what they post, how they promote, interact with readers, and the apps or plugins they use on their sites. Figure out if some of these things can work for you, too.

Get to know your characters.

Whether it’s for a story you’re planning or your current WIP, spending a bit of time thinking about your character can be a very good thing. Do you know what they want, need, worry about, and fear? Understanding these can help you better nail down their motivation, backstory, and behavior so it’s easier for you to plot challenges and plan their character arc. So, ask questions about who your character is. Get under their skin to discover their secrets. If you need help, the Character Builder is a great tool for figuring out what makes your character tick.

Master your TBR pile.

Admit it, you have a more than a few unread books waiting for their turn in the spotlight. Well, summer is here, so get reading and feel like a champ for whittling down that TBR pile. (Once you do, reward yourself with a few new ones to take their place!)

Indulge.

We’re all human and need down time. We shouldn’t feel guilty or apologize for it. So do what you need to relax, feel balanced, and refill your creative well. Happy summer!

About Angela

Angela Ackerman is a writing coach, international speaker, and co-author of the bestselling book, The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, and its many sequels. Available in ten languages, her guides are sourced by US universities, recommended by agents and editors, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, and psychologists around the world.

Angela is also the co-founder of the popular site Writers Helping Writers, as well as One Stop for Writers, a portal to game-changing tools and resources that enable writers to craft powerful fiction. Find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Top Image by นิธิ วีระสันติ from Pixabay.