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Writing Excuses Season Two Episode 29: How Not to End Your Book
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2009/04/26/we-talk-about-how-not-to-end-books-with-the-goal-of-helping-you-fix-them/
Key points: good endings go beyond the reader expects. You need to fulfill promises that you made in the first part of the book. Get help identifying promises that you have made. Avoid the third act Hollywood wimpout -- big action set pieces are not automatically good endings. A book in a series should fulfill its promises while opening up new problems for the future. Make your plots fit your books first. Bad endings usually mean bad foreshadowing. Revise to fit.
( the meat )
[Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. Writing prompt?
[Dan] Write an ending in which everybody dies and it works.
[Brandon] Start your book with an ending where everyone dies. This has been Writing Excuses. Thanks for listening.
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2009/04/26/we-talk-about-how-not-to-end-books-with-the-goal-of-helping-you-fix-them/
Key points: good endings go beyond the reader expects. You need to fulfill promises that you made in the first part of the book. Get help identifying promises that you have made. Avoid the third act Hollywood wimpout -- big action set pieces are not automatically good endings. A book in a series should fulfill its promises while opening up new problems for the future. Make your plots fit your books first. Bad endings usually mean bad foreshadowing. Revise to fit.
( the meat )
[Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. Writing prompt?
[Dan] Write an ending in which everybody dies and it works.
[Brandon] Start your book with an ending where everyone dies. This has been Writing Excuses. Thanks for listening.
