Writing the Best Fiction Book Endings| The Urban Writers

No matter how well-written your story is, a boring, frustrating, or unsatisfying ending can ruin everything. As an aspiring writer, or even if you have already been writing for some time, learning how to end your books is essential.

This is because the ending will make your readers feel satisfied with the story, it will tie everything together, and it should make sense! The best book endings will keep your readers wanting more, and this is exactly what you will learn here.

Creating the Best Book Endings

When it comes to writing fiction, one of the most important things you have to think about is how to end a book. By giving your book an amazing ending, you will keep your readers captivated until the very last line. To help you achieve this, here are some tips for you:

Have an Ending in Mind Before You Start Writing

Even before you start writing your story, you should already have an idea of how things will go from start to finish. It would be very helpful for you if you create an outline, especially if you're a beginner.

An outline gives you an idea of how your story will build and unfold until the end. With an ending in mind, your book will have a clear goal. Then the chapters leading up to the ending are the steps you take to achieve that goal.

Of course, this doesn't mean that you always have to stick with the outline you have created. As you write your story, things can change and characters can evolve. You might even think of a more enthralling ending!

Determine the Perfect Ending to Your Story

Did you know that there are different types of story endings you can use?

Although many stories end with, "happily ever after," you don't have to stick with this tradition. If you're wondering how else you can end your book, here are some examples:

Sad book endings

Ending your book with a huge surprise or twist. You can do this by revealing a new detail that will totally shake up your reader's perspective. Just make sure that you have added some hints throughout your story to support this ending.
Ending your book by going back to the first scene. But this time, the scene would have more depth as your main character would have already learned so much throughout the story.
Ending your book with a lesson or moral. This is very common in children's books, but you can also use this type of ending for older audiences. Just make the lesson open-ended so it will make your readers reflect on what they just read.
Ending your book with a cliffhanger. This works well if you plan to create a series of books. Although you can also use this type of ending for a standalone book, just make sure that it won't be a disappointment to your readers.

These are some of the most common examples of endings you can use. While brainstorming your plot, give different types of endings a try to see what works best.

Don’t Leave Out Your Protagonist!

No matter what ending you decide on, you should place your protagonist (the main or lead character) at the very center of it. Do this whether you have created unexpected, happy, or sad endings to books.

This might seem like an obvious tip but a lot of writers seem to forget the importance of the protagonist. Remember that your readers kept turning the pages of your book to learn more about this character.

From the beginning of your story, your protagonist bears the responsibility of carrying your story all the way to the end. Leaving your protagonist out of the ending, in this case, will do more than just confuse your readers.

It might even make them feel frustrated or disappointed with the whole story. Doing this can even weaken the impact of your entire narrative.

Inspire the Imagination of Your Readers

It's not the best idea to make your ending too final. Usually, readers enjoy stories more when they can still imagine what will come next. Even if you're writing a standalone book, this is a very important tip.

Inspire your imagination

By making things too final, your readers won't have anything to reflect on. Besides, wrapping everything up doesn’t seem very realistic. In real life, after we experience a big event or overcome a huge issue, these are still followed by other events as we continue living.

In the same way, your ending should give your readers the chance to think about what will happen next. Then they will keep thinking of your protagonist, your story, and how things could potentially unfold.

Make Sure Your Ending Makes Sense

No matter what ending you choose, it should always make sense within the context of your story. There is nothing worse than an ending that comes out of nowhere. A confusing ending that doesn't make sense to the rest of the story will only put off your readers.

Your readers have already invested in your story from the beginning. Give them an ending that provides a clear resolution to it.

Write an Ending That Your Story Earns

Many of the best book endings have one thing in common—they have all been “earned” by the story. Even if you create a cliffhanger, a sad ending, or you add a twist, you should present your ending based on everything else that happened in the story—not just because of something that happened coincidentally.

How to Write a Book That Satisfies Your Readers

If you have always dreamed of putting your name out there as a fiction writer, you may consider hiring a professional fiction writer to help you out. The best ghostwriting companies offer fiction packages that even allow you to collaborate with the writer!

Of course, you should still know what your readers want. That way, you can create the best stories whether you write the books yourself or you work with someone else to create your masterpiece. For fiction books, here are the things readers look for:

Give Them Something They Haven’t Seen (or Read) Before

Yes, this is possible.

Even though there are countless books out there, you can still give your readers something new. To do this, you need to do a lot of planning and brainstorming. If you get a great idea, build on that, and create your outline.

Once you have your outline, try to think about a unique, exciting, and thought-provoking ending for your story. Go back to the events of the story you have written and try to see where you can make things more interesting, especially at the end.

Awaken Their Emotions

Learning how to write emotions into your story is essential even for the ending. If you want to make your readers happy, you must awaken their emotions all the way to the end. This means that by reading your ending, they will feel so many different things.

Emotion in readers

Throughout your story, the emotions your characters go through should be felt by your readers. This is the most effective way to get your readers hooked on your story. If you can write this way for your ending too, you will have something great.

Give Them a Feeling of Satisfaction

Many beginners believe that writing the end of a story is one of the easiest parts of the process, but as you now know, the ending isn't as simple as happily ever after. Readers want to feel satisfied after finishing a story.

If you're thinking about how to end a book, consider what will make your readers feel this way. This depends on your genre and the plot leading up to the ending. The good news is, the more you write, the more you will understand your readers.

Getting feedback about your books will provide you with valuable insights into how you can hone your skills. Then, you can start spinning compelling tales that will always leave your readers feeling content.

The Pros and Cons of Happy and Sad Endings to Books

When writing a fictional story, you have to decide what you want your audience to feel when they finish it. Both happy and sad endings to a book are okay, but you should decide what works best for your story.

To help make your decision easier, let's go through the pros and cons of these endings:

The Pros of Happy Endings
- Happy endings are more likely to leave readers satisfied.
- Happy endings usually come with better resolutions.
- Happy endings will awaken positive emotions in your readers.
The Cons of Happy Endings
- Happy endings tend to be more predictable.
- Happy endings sometimes aren't as impactful as sad ones.
The Pros of Sad Endings
- Sad endings tend to be more unexpected and thought-provoking.
- Sad endings inspire more powerful emotions.
- Sad endings sometimes fit more organically compared to happy endings.
The Cons of Sad Endings
- Sad endings might make your readers feel bad about how things ended for the main character.
- Sad endings might make your readers feel frustrated with how the story unfolded. his might even happen to you as you're writing.

Keep these things in mind as you craft the ending of your story. That way, everything will flow smoothly from start to finish.

Final Thoughts: Ending Your Book with a Bang!

Now that you know how important story endings are, you can focus on them more. This is particularly important if you choose a revolutionary genre that you know people will be excited about.

Then, as you think about how to end a book, things will be much easier. As long as you follow all of the tips you learned here and remember the things that readers are looking for, you can't go wrong. Now, all that's left to do is start writing!

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