Ask a Published Author: "How do you write a satisfying ending?"

Jennifer Bosworth was born in Price, Utah. As a kid, her favorite thing to do was roam through the hills and tell herself stories. As an adult, she does the same thing, only now she’s roaming the streets of Los Angeles, her favorite city in the world. Struck is Jennifer’s first published novel.

How do you write a satisfying ending? - readwritedrawflight

I love this question. I love it because of the word “satisfied." Anyone can write an ending, but writing a satisfying ending takes a lot more effort to craft. But I do have to say, when writing a first draft, the most important thing is to get to the end, whether it’s a satisfying end or not. 

Once you finish your draft and let it sit for at least a couple of weeks to get perspective, it’s time to start the refinement stage. If you’ve written an ending you love, you have to go back through the manuscript and make sure you’ve set that ending up. For me, a satisfying ending is one that is simultaneously unexpected and inevitable. When I think about satisfying endings, two come immediately to mind: the ending of the film, The Ring, and the ending of Gillian Flynn’s best-selling mystery, Gone Girl. The ending of “The Ring" is perfect. Everything in that story comes full circle: theme, characters, plot. It is a flawlessly crafted ending.

The ending of “Gone Girl" is not as widely accepted as a satisfying ending, but that’s an emotional response, not a logical one. Everything that happens in the novel leads to a certain resolve. If the resolve were different, the rest of this genius novel would have to be different. We would have an entirely different book.

In regards to satisfying endings, remember to ask yourself these questions before you begin to revise:

Have I set up the ending of this story, or does it come out of nowhere? Have I been too obvious about my set-up, making the ending predictable?
Have my main characters arced? Have they completed a transformative journey?
Does my ending support the theme of the book?

Next week, UK authors Julia Crouch and Sarah Duncan will team up as Head Counselors. Julia is the author of thrillers  Cuckoo  and  Tarnished . Sarah has written five romance novels, including  Kissing Mr. Wrong .

Ask them your questions here!