Last topic of discussion for the Building Blocks of writing project is conclusions!Ready to dive into the last topic?
Here we go!
your Theme
There's a reason my blog post on themes was right before this one. It's because they need to correlate. The conclusion is the embodiment of the theme as a whole. It's what is built up for the story and what needs to be shown as it ends. This is so the readers can see the point of why the theme you chose is there.
This is also why the theme is so important. It lets the writer know what is the starting point and what the stopping point should be like.
For example:
Let's say the theme of your story is overcoming fears. Now let's pretend the main characters fear was a fear of dogs because they were attacked by one when they were little. You have to explain how they got over that fear.
Maybe they were attacked again but they were able to protect themselves or someone else this time.
Maybe they got into a situation where they had to adopt a dog and while taking care of one, they overcame it.
Either way, it's explained how the character development changed from the starting point to the ending.
Don't be scared to answer questions!
Now I know not every single ending will answer every single question perfectly. But any good story has to address the biggest plot points in the story. If it directly influenced the plot, readers will expect it to be explained by the end of the book.
For example:
Imagine you read a book about a girl who starts off the story looking for her brother. By the end of the book, you better believe readers are going to want to know what happened to him.
When you pose a question in a stories plot, it's important to make sure your readers get an answer. If they don't, then that means the story will have a loose end. Unanswered questions lead to more until the only thing they can think about isn't the actual story, but the unanswered question. That's how plot holes form.
Now some may argue that this is acceptable in mystery. I say this applies to an extent. A mystery is a lot like a puzzle. You get all the pieces and it's the readers job to figure it out. But if they don't have all the pieces, how are they supposed to come to a conclusion? Having an open ended conclusion to a story should only be used when the content before the end gives enough implications.
There are very good books with open ended conclusions, but a lot of the time instead of it being thought provoking, it can feel like the author just didn't know how to end it and bank on the fact readers would over analyze it as something deeper.
Only if the theme itself is an open ended question should the conclusion ever be not fully told.
Don't be underwhelming!
Lots of beginning writers suffer from this. When you have tension and climax in your story, it should occur when all the main points of your writing come together. This normally happens in between the middle and end of a book. But the rest of the story beforehand should always be leading up to that climax.
For example:
Let's say the identity of your antagonist has been hidden throughout the book. But there are heavy implications that the main character has a twin. Then you reveal that the villain was the twin all along.
It's not very impacting because everyone saw it coming.
In order to keep that heightened sense of tension, you have to be very subtle with your foreshadowing if that's the route you decide to take. Instead of someone in the story flat out saying, "you may have an evil twin." Make it more vague. Make it known that not all their family records are available so it could be ANYONE in their family. An aunt a cousin, they could even suspect their dead parents of not actually being dead. Just make sure when it comes to a culprit or and unknown event, you have to let your readers have reasonable options that aren't limited to one outcome.
And this of course doesn't just apply to plot twist endings. In more traditional endings you want the biggest problem to be resolved. How to keep that interesting is making your characters overcome it in a difficult way.
Instead of your characters trying to cross a regular river make a it a dangerous river. Throw some poisonous animals or monsters in it. You could even make them have to cross during a storm!
All you have to do to make sure the ending has weight is make sure that the characters have to work for their ending. Make it difficult. If it's an internal struggle they probably have break downs or loose some friends in the process. Just let your characters experience sacrifice. And be sure to show if all that sacrifice was worth the hardships or not. Because THAT is what defines an ending.
The simple question of "Was it all worth it to make it this far?"
And that concludes the very last post of the building blocks of writing project before the complied story!
Thank you to everyone who participated this far and ed the projects progress!
Did you enjoy it? Not enjoy it? Leave a comment and let me know!
Also feel free to check out the other posts!
Original post: Click here!
Setting post: Click here!
Flaws post: Click here!
Conflict post: Click here!
Theme post: Click here!
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