It's a Wrap: Writing a Satisfying Ending

I was shocked to hear recently that JK Rowling might kill off Harry in the seventh and last Harry Potter book. What a horrible idea, if I may say so. Rowling claims that killing off major characters makes sense: real evil-doers tend to focus on the major players and want to kill them. But it's Harry Potter – Rowling doesn't exactly have to worry about realism. More important is her responsibility to her audience. What note does she want to leave them on? I don't like to think of millions of children losing their hero after wading through all of those thousands of pages.

However, this brings how important "endings" are into focus. Readers take endings very personally, especially when they concern characters we've come to care about. Writers focus so much energy on beginnings, since that is usually what editors see, what sells a book. But I think readers receive the most satisfaction from a good ending, having left those early pages long behind. Though the first chapters are important to hook a reader into the story, the ending is what they'll remember.

Yet of all the questions I hear on messageboards and writing lists, rarely does anyone ask about writing a good ending. Most people say they're happy to be done, thrilled to be finished, but they don't often ask about how to finish well. Maybe because most people know going in that a romance novel is going to end happily, and the hero and heroine are going to end up together, so it's just a matter of getting there?

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Even if a book is wonderful all the way through, if it has a rushed, pat, or otherwise clunky ending, it can ruin the entire experience. Endings should leave a reader (as Jeannie London says) with a sigh.

The opinion of what makes a good or bad ending are probably as individual as readers are, but in my opinion, the worst way to end a book is the quickie wrap up. After all the trials and tribulations, the couple says "I love you" and slaps a stamp on their relationship in three pages or less. This is even worse if there has been some significant conflicts – a hero and heroine who have serious arguments or issues to resolve – that seem to evaporate as soon as someone declares undying love. It's as if the writer said, "That's it, I'm done." Were they on deadline and late? Couldn't think of anything better? Bored and ready to be done? That's always what hits me when I come across a quickie wrap-up.

The best endings are often layered and they take their time making sure everything is rounded out in the story. You can tell the author cared about the ending as much as every other page of the book. They provide an unpredictable, complex or emotional ending. They might surprise you and keep you laughing or sighing or jumping out of your chair up until the last moment. Sometimes they make you cry, or make you wish it never did end. This is difficult to do, of course, but worth it to leave the reader feeling like they've just closed a book that ended well – and eager to find another by the same author.

One of the best endings I recall was from bestselling author Julie Leto, in her Harlequin Blaze, Up to No Good. Leto didn't get her characters together in the end – in fact, they parted ways and came back together later, in an epilogue. Julie says, "When I got to the end of the book, I realized that the characters I created simply weren't ready for engagements and picket fences. They loved each other--they were smart enough to realize that--but they also knew their lives weren't exactly in sync enough to make a real go of it. They both had some changes to make. In the end, this was the most satisfying ending I could give them and readers loved it."

In her Extreme Blaze, Beyond the Edge, Susan Kearney actually has her heroine die in the end – but this doesn't prevent her from fashioning a surprising and dramatic happily ever after. And of course, anyone who reads Stephanie Plum remembers the infamous ending of Hot Six – Evanovich's daring ending made some people stop reading all together, while others danced in suspenseful delight.

These endings are not for the faint of heart, and not everyone can pull them off, but if you do, you've crafted something special that readers will remember. It doesn't matter if you are published or aspiring – you have to write the best ending for your book, no matter what. Writing the last pages should be at least as difficult as the first ones – maybe more so, because that ending will really stay with a reader, for better or worse.

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