How to End a Story: 4 Tips for Writing a Memorable Ending

When planning an ending for your own story, keep a few considerations in mind.

1. 1. Know your ending before you start writing. When you know the ending of your story in advance, you can seed all kinds of foreshadowing and subplots that will make the ending as satisfying as possible. If you don't know where you are headed, you may end up with an abrupt ending that feels unworthy of the story you just told.
2. 2. The ending may be the thing your reader remembers the most. An ending is the button on a story. It is the final impression you will make on your reader. With this in mind, invest as much hard work into your ending as needed. Even if you're eager to finish the storytelling process, the ending will need as much attention as the rest of the story if not more.
3. 3. Different genres need different degrees of resolution. If you are writing a heightened piece of genre fiction, such as a crime thriller or a fairy tale, your audience may seek a clear, resolved ending that ties up loose ends. If you are drafting a work of realism or artistic literature, your audience may appreciate a certain amount of ambiguity at the end of the story. Match your ending style to the type of readership you imagine for your book.
4. 4. Don't give away the ending early in the book. A satisfying ending is one that feels earned but not overly foreshadowed. Accidental spoilers early in your narrative can defuse what would otherwise be a riveting ending. Monitor your story at all points to make sure you are laying the groundwork for a great ending without giving too much away.

There are many ways to write a satisfying ending to your story.

1. 1. Resolved ending: In a resolved ending, character arcs come full circle, the fates of main characters are clear, and any loose storylines or subplots are wrapped up. Resolving your whole story does not mean you must reach a happy ending. Some books make the reader feel sorrow and despair on the final page; nonetheless, they complete their story arc.
2. 2. Unresolved ending: An unresolved ending does not wrap up a novel, novella, short story, or film. It leaves questions unanswered. In many cases, the final chapter of a book can serve as a cliffhanger for future stories. Books that are part of a series may end with suspenseful last lines to inspire readers to get the next book.
3. 3. Twist ending: Sometimes a book ends with a plot twist that rapidly resolves a thorny situation. A totally unexpected ending can shock and delight a reader, but it can also irritate them if the resolution feels unearned. Many mystery books, such as those by Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Arthur Conan Doyle, create satisfying endings from brilliant plot twists. Other twist endings are known as a deus ex machina; these endings invoke a sudden, and often all-powerful, outside force to propel a story ending. The technique dates back to ancient Greek drama, but when clumsily applied, a deus ex machina can spoil an otherwise great story.
4. 4. Ambiguous ending: In some cases, a reader or viewer reaches the end of the story, and the author chooses to withhold a full resolution. Authors ranging from Charles Dickens to Vladimir Nabokov have used ambiguous endings in novels.
5. 5. Tied ending: In a tied ending, the story resolves where it began. This type of ending is central to the classic hero’s journey, a type of story construction common to many myths and folktales in which the main character returns home transformed. Many works of literary fiction feature more conceptual tied endings. James Joyce’s famously beguiling Finnegan’s Wake, for instance, ends on a sentence fragment that completes the very first sentence of the novel.
6. 6. Expanded ending: A great ending can sometimes extend beyond the realm of the main story. A brief epilogue may push the story's themes forward even after the main action has resolved. Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace ends with an essay rooted in Tolstoy's personal philosophy rather than the fictional world he created.

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