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In this week’s Story Works Round Table, Alida, Kathryn, and Robert discuss dark endings, and how you can play with your reader’s expectations to keep those dark endings satisfying.

VIDEO

AUDIO

SHOW NOTES

What makes an ending dark? And what is the difference between a dark and a negative ending? How do you craft it so that your readers find it satisfying? We explore how some genres rely more heavily on dark endings, and what the difference is between a dark twist and a truly dark ending.

What we talked about:

Have we written dark endings ourselves? Why not? (0:27)

What about when a dark ending is part of a series? (4:17)

What is a negative ending versus a Dark Ending? (5:38)

How does genre expectation fit into this conversation? (8:25)

What is the difference between a dark twist and a dark ending? (11:00)

Does a dark ending rely more heavily than theme? (13:35)

Why do we not get angry when we hit a dark ending? (16:22)

LINKS

Things we mentioned:

Sanditon
Avengers: Infinity War
Ethan Frome by Edith Warton
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Want more about these topics? Check out:

SWRT 33: Endings
SWRT 016 Cliffhangers
SWRT 069 How to End A Story

Have thoughts, questions, other examples? Join the conversation at the Story Works Writers Facebook group.

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