I'd like to throw out a question out to the group.
When evaluating stories among all other stories, do you notice a pattern in what makes a 'story ending' resonate for you as a reader?
I started to think about how stories end. I've looked at a lot of my favorite stories (both TG and non TG) and wondered why I liked or disliked the ending. Not necessarily a random pondering, I've been working on the ending to The Squad for almost 6 months--longer if I include the original ending.
Most of the ending of the stories that I've loved usually depend on the character...
In my head, I usually ask... Does the protagonist deserve a 'happily ever after'? The other question I ask is Did the events matter?
I generally apply this to stories I read. I love endings where the journey has left its mark on the protagonist. Tragedies, feel more powerful when the 'hero' feels the effects to the events both physiology and psychologically. Bad thing happen in stories, they have to, no pathos--no story. But the endings that leave the protagonist unscathed, fall short in my eyes. Stories that ignore or neglect the events, they seem hollow to me.
I also feel myself judging the actions, reactions and resolutions of the protagonist's arc. Did she get the ending she deserved? In romance stories, I ponder, did the MC and their counterpart stumble into love or struggle to earn it?
So I guess the question should be... When an ending 'feels right'... what is it, for you as a reader, that resonates, comes through, or stands out?
Comments
Story End
I wish that author's would put finis or the end when the end a story, sometimes I am not sure it is the end.
Casablanca
Probably one of the best story endings ever. To be honest story endings are like pornography, I'll know it when I see it and you'll know it when you write it. If you think about it too much it won't be right. It may be technically better but it won't satisfy you or the reader.
Commentator
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Endings are the hardest thing to get right
Far too many authors seem to go on until they run out of steam and bring the story to an abrupt (or that is what it seems like) end.
Hollywood and its use of script writing teams don't help either.
Very rarely do I know the end of a story before I write it. Sometimes I have an idea for the ending but often I have no idea where the plot will take me.
I hope that my endings are not too sudden but fit in with the gait of the story but it is hard.
Samantha
Casablanca: Alternate Ending
According to my sources (see YouTube clip)
this is the ending Warner Bros tried to tack on to Casablanca
back in 1942: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o8FLdIIVeg
and which is being used in the upcoming Michael Bay remake.
More and more my own story endings tend to be punchlines.
Not sure what that says about me, except maybe I've realized my limitations.
~veronica
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
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I love the simpsons!
LOL you got me!
I love The Simpsons...
Thanks for making my smile :)
Huggles!
Leila
I love Casablanca!
The ending for me was really good! It did feel right as an ending to the movie. It struck the right cord and obviously not the ending I was expecting when I watched it for the first time.
Hugs,
Leila
Resolves the issues
To me the best ending are open ended ones which resolves the issues which the writer has brought up. I want to know how the situation is resolved. At the same time I do not want it to be a neat ending, I want new issues to come about. Every beginning comes from something ending. Plus even if the writer never gets back to writing more about those characters I can imagine where the story would go.
Hollywood Endings
I watch a LOT of movies. When someone tells me that one of my stories has a Hollywood ending, I'm baffled.
Old movies just seemed to peter out. While I love Casablanca as much as has been noted, perhaps my favorite ending is Some Like It Hot (Nobody's perfect!).
I agree with you that the best story are those that show a positive change in the hero. I'm not so sure that the change has to be part of the final chapter. I prefer to see strong sustained growth throughout the last several chapters.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Feel good endings...
Kinda... feel good. And I don't think there's enough of that on this site.
WD said, "Always leave them shouting for more."
It certainly beats putting a gun to your head!
Hero's Journey, man
Unless the hero is offered the chance to turn away from their path, the story doesn't have an ending. Whether they choose to do so or not is up to you. But without that choice the hero can't show that they've changed over the course of the story.
I don't really think that
I don't really think that there is a right answer to this. Unless one is going for a postmodern thing, I always like to see at least SOME resolution to the main story thread... even if that resolution is only implied. The key component for an ending for me is that it fits... and not some focus-group happy-happy way. I fondly remember debating the ending to the movie Witness. I fall firmly in the camp that their parting of ways at the end was so much more real than a focus-group kind of ending. Just to true to your heart when writing... not to what you THINK others might want to see.
In TG, when the main thread is likely to be the transition itself, then it happening... or an inner-acceptance of anything that falls short... would fit for an ending.
A romance might have the two characters connect clearly... or, again, an inner-acceptance of the situation, with maybe a nod towards a future of possibilities.
I like "twist" endings, but in small doses. One of the best twist endings was with a second Bob Newhart series. I'll bet that many reading this may already be smiling. Bob Newhart and his wife of the series, ran a small New England inn. In the last scene of the last episode, he wakes up in bed next to his wife... Susanne Plechette from an older of his series! I truly enjoyed the Twilight Zone, though the expectation of an inevitable twist had me focused more on figuring out what that twist was going to be... which became a distraction.
Then there's the idea of no ending at all. I love Maddy Bell's "Gaby" series, which is like a wonderful soap opera in that one simultaneously craves an ending... but would be devastated to have it actually come to an end. Leslie Moore's Wildcats came to an end... but left open enough of a hope that this too could continue!
Oh... I don't like stories where EVERY loose end get tied into a nice little bow at the end. BORING!!!
There are many on either side of the debate about the sudden ending; like a Sopranos, where