The Last Page

While working on an idea for a short story and thinking about endings, I decided there are only three endings in most all fiction. Happy, Sad or Book #2 coming soon, that’s about it. Within the three an author can do a limited number of things. I have never been a fan of sad or unhappy endings, but overly happy can be a bit much also. As I contemplated, while weeding the garden, I came up with this.  No matter if a book ends happy, or sad, there needs to be something to the last few pages. Writers talk so much about a great first page or great start, not so much the last few pages. This is what I have found.

Not Too Many Weeds In This Part Of The Garden

Book Endings

A fiction writer can end a book after the big event the book pointed at throughout and leave it at that. (Most books fall into this category).

An Author can finish the story and then tell the reader what became of the people afterward. (Romance and some historical fiction like this type of ending, with much of my reading I like this one also).

The book can end mysteriously, with readers screaming - WHAT Kind OF AN ENDING WAS THAT!!! (I see a few of these, drives me crazy).

One type of ending I do not care for is one I call the, I am out of words, ending. This one has the reader reading on and on and then in one or two pages the author tries to bring it all together, and it just ends.

What do you think? What kind of ending do you like or see most often?

A Book, Like A Day, Deserves A Great Ending

My Next Book

Maybe I will write a book on how to write a great last page. Probably not, but one thing I have found is that writing the end, for me, is easier than writing the start of a book. 

Keep reading and keep writing.