Kay Kenyon on Lousy Endings...

[deborahjross]

And some suggestions on how to make them better (the whole article is here):

• Connect the ending to the stakes of the story. What possible outcomes were in play in Act 2? Why did they matter? By the end we should care very much.
• Make the climax resolve, deepen and reflect the MC’s (Main Character) story arc.
• The outcome may in general be inevitable and obvious, but plan for it to happen in a surprising way. Work hard at this. Reverse expectations to extent possible. Make the resolution emotionally creative. Try:
•  The MC wins but loses something.
• A supporting character reverses loyalty.
• Plant the seeds of the resolution in Act 1. When we see it in Act 3, we will reconnect with the whole story all over again.
• Be devious, ruthless, original, emotional. But you know, subtle!
• Make sure the MC fails at exactly this same thing earlier. How else will she learn, if not from failure? Don’t make this explicit in narrative. The reader will get it if you dramatize it well.

Comments

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I find that satisfactory endings very often go back right to the start of a novel, as in the first page - not necessarily the plot, but an emotional challenge. If the character wonders how to balance her relationship and magic, the book answers that question. If a character feels alone and useless and disconnected from his family, he forges new relationships. In that manner, the book poses a question very early on, and provides a satisfactory solution.

(This was first pointed out to me by Mary Gentle, and I've found it to be true surprisingly often.)

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think that's exactly right. Even if you write the book "by the seat of the pants," what revision is for is getting all the pieces right and in the right and necessary places. Chekhov pointed out that if a gun is on the wall in the first act, you'd better fire it by the third. But at the same time, if you're going to fire it in the third act, it had better be there in Act I, Scene 1.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I particularly like the symmetry of wrapping up the emotional plot by bringing it up early - we don't need to know what the character will face (in fact, bringing up the action plot too clearly too soon makes it boring - I *want* to be surprised by a book!) but we need to know what kind of person the character is right away *anyway*, and this unspoken question - 'how will they overcome this/evolve from it' can provide a guiding thread through the book, whatever strange turns the plot takes..

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

Yes, it doesn't have to be specific circumstances, but the opening is a promise to the reader -- it's this kind of book or that variety of reading experience -- plus, here's the setup (relationship/character-personality/problem/setting/etc.) that's going to come to a clashing climax after many exciting twists and turns.