Alida, Kathryn, and Matt discuss what goes into a solid ending for a story, both short and novel-length works. There’s some heated debate about the terms resolution and validation, including a foray into parking garages, and the ever (un)popular ambiguous ending.
If you haven’t already, check out the sister post: Openings.
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Show Notes:
Are endings hard? What makes a good ending, and how do you make it surprising and inevitable? How do you resolve a book differently if it’s a short story, versus a novel, versus a novel in a series? And how can you create that satisfying ending for both you and the reader?
What we talked about:
Are endings hard? What is “surprising and inevitable” and do you need them both? (0:30)
What is resolution and what does it mean for the ending of your book? (3:53)
What is validation and is it just another word for resolution? Our debate begins. (4:22)
Two types of endings: resolved or ambiguous. (5:18)
What is a satisfying resolution to a story? And do you need to have a satisfying resolution at the end of a book? (8:57)