The Importance of a Good Ending

Two years ago as I prepared to teach a Fiction Writer’s workshop, I did a reader survey, asking them to tell me “The 3 Things That Matter Most to Fiction Readers.” I gave them a list of 7 things to pick from. The third-highest vote-getter was: “Must have a Satisfying Ending.”

A good ending was definitely on my Top 3 list. My wife's list, also. It would be safe to say we both HATE bad endings in our books and our movies. This brief equation would sum things up for me:

 

A Good Story + A Bad Ending  = A Bad Story

It spoils the whole thing for me when a writer hasn’t thought through how to create a satisfying ending to their story. And I never, recommend a book or a movie that has a lousy ending. Which is another good reason to learn how to write a solid ending…it’s good business (i.e. it helps increase sales). The late NY Times bestselling crime novelist Mickey Spillane said it this way:

“Nobody reads a novel to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If the ending’s a letdown, they won’t buy anymore. Your first chapter sells your book. Your last chapter sells your next book.” 
                                                                                        ―Mickey Spillane

Armed with the results of my survey, I set out to do some research and create my outline on “How to Write a Satisfying Ending.” But guess what I found? Almost nothing. That's right. I have collected about a dozen how-to books on writing fiction well. To my surprise, only ONE had any chapters on writing a good ending. I couldn’t believe it. Maybe that’s why I’ve read (and watched) so many stories that begin well and end poorly.

So, I dug deeper and eventually came up with some great tips to share about how to write a satisfying ending to a novel. I can only share a brief overview in this blog post (compared to how much time I had teaching the workshop). I'll share a few things now and next month share some more.

Are you writing a Comedy or a Tragedy?

How many of you have ever seen the Happy/Sad Masks of Comedy and

Tragedy? During the days of Classical Theater, people used to ask this question: “Is this story a comedy or a tragedy?” What they were really asking about was the ending.

Does the main character achieve his/her goal? Will they solve their main problem, overcome their biggest challenge? If the story is a romance, will they get the girl (or will the girl get the guy)? If the answer was “Yes,” then it was a Comedy (even if it wasn’t funny). If the answer was “No,” then it was a Tragedy.

In the classical sense then, I am clearly an advocate for the Comedy. In my books I always shoot for a Happy Ending. Notice I said happy (not sappy). I’m not talking about everything ending up all unicorns and rainbows.

Remember how all the old Disney stories used to end? “…And they lived Happily Ever After.” I’m not sure we can write stories that end THAT happily anymore (not the way people are wired today). Having said that, I think a lot of the stories coming out today are WAY too dark, and the endings often leave the reader stuck there in that darkness.

In part, I can understand why. Life is hard and for many people, it’s been hard for a long time. For many writers, a happy or hopeful ending comes off as fake or forced because, let's face it, we all know “life just doesn’t turn out that way.” They view dark endings as just being “realistic” and “relevant.” 

I do think it’s important for our stories to depict honestly and accurately the difficult and harsh realities of life. The dark days. But I also think good fiction can lead people from that dark place to a place of hope.

In my books, I show life as difficult and as hard as it really is. I just choose not to have my stories END AT THAT PLACE. I keep writing until HOPE is born. I am a Christian, after all, and have been for over 40 years. This really has been the story of my life, and the life-story of hundreds of people I have known. 

I thought I’d end this post with a quote from a movie my wife and I watched this week called “Fugitive Pieces.” It’s based on an award-winning novel by Anne Michaels published in 1998. The story is filled with tragedy but also with hope. At one point, a wise old man encourages a young boy to write, as a means of helping him cope with his dark experiences. The boy seems puzzled about how this could possibly help.

The man says, "There is an old saying: the greatness of wood is not that it

Finding Riley pic

burns, but that it floats. Meaning, there is a good and bad side to everything. You can choose to see what destroys something or what saves it."

I instantly resonated with this advice and realized... this is what motivates me to write the kind of stories I write (Warning: Blatant Book Plug coming)…including my newest novel, Finding Riley, which JUST RELEASED THIS WEEK. It’s my 17th novel, Book 2 in the Forever Home series (sequel to Rescuing Finley but can easily be read as a stand-alone). And to top it off, it’s also a Christmas novel (my 5th).

You can check it out by CLICKING HERE (available on Kindle or print).

TWEETABLES

Good fiction can lead people from that dark place to a place of hope.~Dan Walsh (Click to tweet)

A Good Story + A Bad Ending = A Bad Story ~Dan Walsh (Click to Tweet)

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Dan Walsh is the bestselling author of 17 novels, including The Unfinished Gift, The Reunion and When Night Comes. He has won 3 Carol Awards (finalist 6 times) and 3 Selah Awards. Three of his books were finalists for Inspirational Book of the Year (RT Book Reviews). Dan is a member of ACFW and Word Weavers. He lives with his wife, Cindi, in the Daytona Beach area where they love to take walks and spend time with their grandkids. Click here to connect with Dan or check out his books. 

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And They Lived

Dan Walsh is the award-winning and bestselling author of 10 novels, including The Unfinished Gift, The Discovery and What Follows After. He has won 3 Carol Awards and 2 Selah Awards. Three of his books were finalists for Inspirational Book of the Year. Dan is a member of ACFW and Word Weavers. He lives with his wife, Cindi, in the Daytona Beach area where they love to take long walks. You can connect with Dan on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest through his website at www.danwalshbooks.com, or get a sneak peek at all his books. 

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You know what comes next, right? They lived…happily ever after.

Growing up as a kid in the late 50s and 60s, I got used to stories ending this way. Certainly, every Disney movie did. All the other family-oriented movies did also (and there were plenty of those in the theaters). Most of the love stories ended happily, too.

It’s one of the reasons people read books, watched TV and went to the movies. To be encouraged and entertained, occasionally inspired. Back then, just like now, life was hard. Even though some of the best stories depicted hard times, we could always count on the storyteller leading us through to a happy ending. Before that last page turned or the credits rolled on the movie screen the guy would get the girl, the runner would win the race, the crime got solved, the bad guy is killed or captured, and the world gets saved.

This conveyed a basic message: There is always hope for a better tomorrow.

By the end of the 60s, certainly throughout the 70s, things began to change. Under the banner of realism―and, perhaps yielding to the new air of cynicism brought on by the Vietnam War, Watergate and a series of tragic assassinations―it wasn’t uncommon to find books and movies ending sadly. If not sadly, then vaguely. As if the writer’s message was: “Now, go home and think about that.”

In recent years, particularly in secular storytelling, I’m starting to see a resurgence of this same air of cynicism and commitment to “gritty realism” that we saw back then. The plots are often very dark, the hero or heroine are more than a little flawed; they’re almost as bad as the villain. The endings often seem as dark as the rest of the story.
In my writing, I try to combat this trend when I can, especially in the way I end my books.

I make no apologies. I believe in happy endings.

I said “happy” endings, not sappy (a distinction I heard my friend, Allen Arnold, make at a conference a couple of years ago). Maybe a better word than happy is satisfied. I don’t believe all our stories should end with unicorns and rainbows. But as I said, I think a lot of what’s out there today is way TOO dark, and the endings often leave us stuck feeling frustrated and unsatisfied.

In part, I understand why. Life is hard and, for many people, it’s been hard for a long time. For those who don’t know the Lord, the outlook is often bleak, even hopeless. I think our books need to reflect some of that to remain relevant and connect well with readers. After all, conflict is the essence of good fiction.

But this is also where I think believers can make a real difference. We have a real message of Hope to offer, not a fictional one. I believe one of the goals of Christian fiction should be to lead people from that dark place to a place of hope. God’s ways are all about redemption; through Christ He offers us a “narrow way that leads to life.” We have to include the "narrow" part, but we should also conclude showing how it "leads to life."

I’m a firm believer in writing what I call “Romans 8:28 Endings.” “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.”

I think that’s part of my calling as a Christian fiction writer, to reveal at least some of God’s ways through stories that accurately reflect those ways. And His ways, or plans for us are filled with hope and, I think, even a measure of happiness.

That happiness doesn’t come overnight. But in time, it does come. I’m simply suggesting we keep writing our story until we reach that part, the part where hope is born, where faith in God and His goodness is seen to be a credible alternative to the bleak, despairing outlook offered by writers who have no such hope.

Take my latest novel, What Follows After, for example. The same exact story written just the way I wrote it would have had a dramatically different feel if I'd ended it 2 chapters earlier. Or if I hadn't included an epilogue-style last chapter that brought us back to the present. But I kept writing because one of my deliberate goals is to end my stories a certain way.

You know what I want my readers to experience when they finish one of my novels? I'm hoping for a contented sigh, perhaps the need to reach for the tissue box. Maybe for them to experience a fresh appreciation for life, love, or their families and friends.

Apparently, I’m not alone in this desire for satisfying endings. Last year, I did a survey of fiction readers laying out the 7 components of every novel, asking them to tell me the 3 things in a book that matter most to them. One of the Top 3 responses was...A Satisfying Ending.

How about you? In the books you read and movies you watch, how big a deal are Endings for you? For writers, how much time do you put into crafting your ending vs the time you put in writing Chapter One?

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When the world wants happy endings

I write books.


And often those books deal with weighty issues: sexual abuse, spousal abuse, hypocrisy, trauma. Why would I write about such things? Mainly because injustice angers me. And part of the reason I write is my attempt to right the wrongs in this world.

Problem is, that kind of book doesn't sell. The world wants happy endings. Everything tied up. The hero getting the lady. The championship won. The marriage saved. The strained relationship restored.

I like happy endings too, particularly in my own life. And I like books where you see radical redemption. But I also appreciate truth-filled books, books that make me aware of an injustice I didn't know about. Books that teach me that humans made in the image of God can destroy or restore. Those books challenge me to think, to pray, to consider my own life.

I write this with a pained heart. A few weeks ago, I went to a conference in South Africa where I met a man from Iraq. Today he fears for his life simply because of his faith. His is a painful story, but one that needs to be told.

What I wrestle with as a novelist is this: do I bow to the market that longs for always happy endings, or do I continue to hit the hard issues? I understand that many of us read to escape this painful world. I get that. But my slot in this writing realm doesn't seem to be to write for escape. Others have been called to that, but not me.

So I'll write. Not to amplify my voice, but to tell the stories of those who are crying to be heard.

How about you? What are you called to write? Have you run away from that or bowed beneath it? Why?

Mary DeMuth is the author of nine books. Find out more at marydemuth.com

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