Ask An Author: "How do you escalate conflict, and then wrap up the plot and subplots towards an ending?"

Each week, a new author will serve as your Camp Counselor, answering your writing questions. Michael David Lukas, our final counselor, is author of historical novel The Oracle of Stamboul:

How can writers steer the conflict to escalation where it’s “hitting the fan” and then wrap up the plot and subplots to an ending? — Anonymous

This is a big question. So as not to get overly vague or surpass my word limit, I’m going to focus my answer on the second half. How can we wrap up the plot and subplots?

Ending a novel can be difficult because it involves a shift in speed. For much of the novel you’ve been increasing tension, putting your foot on the gas. And then, when you begin wrapping things up you have to slow down and decrease the tension.

There are many ways to end a novel. But no matter how you decide to bring your book to a close, it’s important to make sure that you have addressed the big question(s) you set out at the beginning. Did she find the magic necklace? Did he come to terms with his brother’s betrayal? Did they defeat the aliens? Think of the ending as a chance to answer all of the remaining questions your reader might have.

It is also the place where you can impose a sense of moral order on the universe of your novel. It’s your chance to dole out rewards to your favorite characters and to punish those you don’t like. Alternately, the ending can be an opportunity to expose the utter chaos and disorder that is life (i.e. the sweet and thoughtful recent college graduate ends up getting passed over for the job she wants more than anything else in the world or the evil warlords continue to wreck havoc on the simple villagers).

Finally, I would urge you to try to avoid the Hollywood style ending that jumps from resolution to resolution. Although you want to give your readers a sense of closure and let them know where various characters ended up, they don’t need to know whether the main character’s mother’s dog succeeded in catching that bird.

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