Writing Endings

1. 3 Important Rules for Writing
Endings

2. 1. Respect your readers.
Your readers spend time and effort reading your
words. The least you can do is respect them by
providing an entertaining story—this means
writing your best from beginning to end. In my
flash fiction story, I got lazy. I haphazardly ended
the story just to end it. Fortunately, for me I was
given a second chance to correct that mistake.
Don’t do the same.

3. 2. Fill in all the holes.
• Whenever you’re writing a novel, you want to make it
as thrilling and as well-written as possible. You lay out
the plots and subplots, and you provide readers with
the dramatic questions that’ll keep them hooked.
• But for each question you raise, you are tasked with
the responsibility of providing an acceptable
answer. No one wants to finish an Agatha Christie story
without knowing who did it.
• Unless you’re planning a sequel, don’t leave any
questions hanging.

4. 3. The end must be in line with the
story.
• Deus Ex Machina, or an ending that comes unexpectedly
from out of nowhere, has to be the most frustrating type of
ending I could think of. Avoid this like the plague.
• Your ending must be logical.
• For example, let’s say you’re writing a ghost story where
the protagonist finally aces off with the evil, supernatural
entities haunting his or her little house? Then, in the
middle of their fight scene, the Ghostbusters arrive. Doesn’t
seem logical, does it?

5. • Suddenly providing a quick out will only drive readers away.
• One form of Deus Ex Machina I often see are dreams. You read the
story from beginning to end only to find out that everything was
just a dream. You just wasted your readers’ time. There are
moments when the dream approach works but unless handled the
right way, it will only pull your story down.
• Don’t just throw in some random ending that will magically solve
everything. Work. Don’t shortchange them.
• Writing’s like baking a cake. A proper ending is waiting for the right
time to take the cake out of the oven. If you become impatient and
take it out too early and it may get ruined.