This is the end. The end of my notes from the Writer’s Workshop with Ilona Andrews and about writing the end.
Why do you read a comfort book again?
It makes you feel a certain way.
Screw up the end, you ruin the feeling.
Compelling ending. (50% of impact of novel is how you end it)
End of the novel…
Protagonist and antagonist into direct conflict…
No more maneuvering. They must fight in some way.
Emotional confrontation.
Resolution
If you’ve done the beginning and the middle, the resolution will be wonderful.
You are the reader at that moment.
Cinderella is good historical romance, but Fairy Godmother is God in the Machine. Resolution comes unexpectedly.
Don’t resolve unexpectedly.
Write your big finale and then write the end in a way to make yourself happy as a reader.
Girl is hero, rewarded at the end.
Don’t cheat the reader.
Don’t cheat the reader out of the emotion.
Originally ending of Cinderella was very different. She had her sisters dancing in red hot shoes at the wedding. Revenge.
Old fairy tales “they went there.” We don’t go there any more.
Stephen King doesn’t want a happy ending and that works for him.
Avoid where your ending doesn’t match the readers’ emotional state.
Make sure your protagonist and antagonist make reasonable choices throughout.
If readers are not committed to your character, they won’t keep reading.