Exercises on ENDINGS

To tie in with critiques and discussion

Ansen Dibell’s Plot (Writer’s Digest Books)

“It doesn’t seem fair, but an ineffective ending can invalidate, for a reader, an otherwise fine story. If an ending is bad, the whole story can become a letdown, even though the opening was involving and the middle was entirely satisfying...

“If the last bite of the [story-apple] makes us notice that half a worm remains, we’re not going to say to ourselves, ‘Well, the first three bites were nice.’ We’re going to toss away the apple in disgust and remember the worm.

“It probably isn’t fair. But it’s true.”
 
This book provides abundant examples in discussing both circular and linear endings, as well as noting pitfalls to avoid. For example, in your ending, DON’T:

• add new characters or plots
  
  
• fail to provide a climax, or Big Scene
  
  
• stop short at the conclusion of your Big Scene (needs resolution)
  
  
• change the focus (your main character must not only be present, but determine the story’s outcome)
  
  
• use gimmicks or introduce an improbable, “out of the blue” (deux a machina) resolution
  
  
• indulge in too much closing exposition, interior monologue, or dithering—stop when the story that needs to be told is done

Jordan E. Rosenfeld’s Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time (Writer’s Digest Books)   

Especially helpful chapters for our weekend theme: “Epiphany Scenes,” “Climactic Scenes,” “The Final Scene,” and “Scene Assessment and Revision” (a comprehensive checklist to apply to your own novel).

Rosenfeld defines epiphany as “a moment when awareness or a sharp insight dawns suddenly on your protagonist as a result of interactions that have driven him to this moment.” In character development, “Epiphany is synonymous with change.”

... “People don’t usually just wake up with insight—it is earned through experience. Very often a dramatic scene (in which hot emotional intensity is elicited), or a suspense scene (in which information has been withheld) comes just before an epiphany scene.’”

Read the aforementioned chapters to learn about:

• five types of epiphanies (removing blinders, realizing a suppressed desire, accepting the limitations of oneself or others, experiencing identity epiphanies, undergoing a rude awakening)
  
  
• five types of openings for an epiphany scene (protagonist’s fear or anxiety about the future, protag under pressure or stress, protag takes an unusual action or behaves oddly, protag expresses conflicted feelings, setting details or images are symbolic and hint at the kind of epiphany to come)
  
  
• four ways to drive your character toward epiphany (threat of loss, cracking through denial, injuring a loved one, danger)

Epiphany Scene Muse Points (quoted directly)

• An epiphany should cause a protagonist to change.
  
  
• Open this type of scene with your character anxious about the future or under stress.
  
  
• Exert pressure and generally up the ante on your protagonist mid-scene to drive him toward epiphany.
  
  
• End your scene just after the epiphany to let the reader and the protagonist digest it.
  
  
• The epiphany should cause a change in the protagonist’s outlook and direction that will be demonstrated in future scenes.

Nancy Kress’s Beginnings, Middles and Ends (Writer’s Digest Books)

Exercise: Adapted for our workshop

Choose at least one manuscript from our “master class” group, and (without peeking at the synopsis) read the first page or two. List all the expectations you’ve formed about the story, regarding such elements as style, characters, situation, conflict, outcome and world view. You may want to give a copy to the author, and keep one for yourself to refer to during workshop critique sessions.

Then, identify the climax. Where does it start? End? What forces, stated or implied, come together to form the climax? How has each one been developed earlier in the story?

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