 Drama: June 28, 2017 Issue [#8344] |
  Drama
This week: Writing the Ending Scenes Edited by: Joy  
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“In the planning stage of a book, don't plan the ending. It has to be earned by all that will go before it.”
Rose Tremain
“The best endings resonate because they echo a word, phrase, or image from earlier in the story, and the reader is prompted to think back to that reference and speculate on a deeper meaning.”
James Plath
“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.”
Frank Herbert
“If I were writing a novel I would end it here: a novel, I used to think, has to end somewhere, but I'm beginning to believe my realism has been at fault all these years, for nothing in life now ever seems to end.”
Graham Greene, The End of the Affair
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. This issue is about writing the ending scenes.
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
Note: In the editorial, I refer to third person singular as he, to also mean the female gender, because I don't like to use they or he/she.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
You may have a good reason to be disappointed when you finish reading a book and think that the author got tired of the story and wrapped up the ending too quickly. Quite a few novels, even though their beginning and middle structures may be strong, can have weak endings. This is because their writers didn’t pay enough attention to the ending scenes.
A weak ending is a problem that can easily be corrected in a re-write if the earlier structuring is sound, and one way to write the best last scenes is to know which kinds of scenes work well at the end of a long story, novel, or play.
Depending on the genre and the theme of a long story or a novel, still a good amount of action takes place in the end scenes. These can be the scenes of resolution, twist, triumph, epiphany, crisis, suspense, plus the transition scenes in between.
Of the above, suspense, epiphany, and twister scenes can be successfully used as passages from the last part of the middle story to the ending as they will have more action than the quieter contemplation scenes that might have come earlier.
For example, an epiphany scene, in general, can empower the main character who learns something about himself and others. When an epiphany scene is in the ending of the novel, its action is faster and full of meaning and intensity; on the other hand, the kind of the epiphany scene that is used toward the last part of the middle is usually more suggestive, subtle, and contemplative than the strong and direct epiphany scene at the end.
Suspense scenes at the end give the novel or script high energy and fill the readers or the audience with excitement. Twister scenes are suspense scenes as well, for they shock surprise or re-route readers’ expectations. As an example from the film industry, the last scenes of Stephen King’s Carrie comes to mind.
Triumph scenes are the typical markers of Hollywood as endings, only because they leave the audience satisfied and feeling good about life. Such a triumph scene becomes the high point of dramatic action or the last fight between the hero and the villain, showing the hero as brave and victorious.
If the story ends in a resolution scene, it shows the main character transformed and adjusted to a new situation. Resolution scenes work well in tying up plot and subplot threads, and they show a changed protagonist, but they are much calmer. Ending a story in a resolution scene doesn’t work well if you are writing several novels in a series.
When writing a series novel, it might be a good idea to end it with a climax scene. This way, you can tie up the major plot threads but leave a question or two, possibly about secondary characters.
It is also a good idea to echo the theme in some way inside the ending scenes, with keeping in mind that the theme in end scenes do not need the subtlety of the beginning and middle scenes. You might, for example, have the character or a secondary character give voice to the main theme inside a dialogue section. For example, "Everything is going to be fine," he said. "A true friendship never dies."
If your story is character oriented, some things about the actions of the protagonist at the ending scenes usually are:
• The character faces the final confrontation with his shadow and/or the antagonist.
• The character is ready to take new action or is finalizing his work in reaching the main goal.
• The character acts with more resolve and boldness and influences the action through his determination.
• The antagonist has become stronger.
• Emotional stakes and intensity are raised.
• The character demonstrates his internal changes or maturity, gaining new insights and relationships.
The most important thing is being aware of your character's emotional-state sequences throughout the story so you can integrate all aspects of the plot and give the ending scenes the depth that they deserve.
Until next time... 
Beginning Scenes: "Drama Newsletter (May 3, 2017)"
Middle Scenes: "Drama Newsletter (May 31, 2017)"
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 This Issue's Tip: One way to highlight the theme of the story is to add a same or similar set of images or symbols in the beginning and the ending scenes. That image or symbol can be the shadow in the beginning and the light at the end.
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Feedback for "Middle Scenes & Deeper Characterization"
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StephBee 
Great NL about the middle, Joy! It's always a pleasure to read your newsletters.
Thanks, Steph. I am happy you like them.
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brom21
Thanks for this helpful newsletter. Your seven points kind of oriented my story to make things clearer. So does metamorphosis or epiphany have to come in the middle or can it be at the end?
Thanks for the feedback, Brom21.
The epiphany or rather the hint of it can come toward the end of the middle scenes. It is when the character suspects or gets the first ideas of the truth, but the clear-cut, strong epiphany usually is placed somewhere in the ending scenes.
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Azrael Tseng 
Thank you for featuring my story in your newsletter. As an exploratory writer, I often sacrifice pacing and plot for what I think is realism to my character and the situation, especially in my middle scenes. In fact I find it really hard to have middle scenes in short stories of 2000 or fewer words!
Thanks for the input, Azrael.
Short stories are a different breed. That's true, especially when they have a word limit. As a writer, you have every right to write the way you wish or the way you see it fit for your story. The rules in the newsletters and articles are only pointers and suggestions, but they can be formulaic at times. For that reason, I can understand your concern.
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Quick-Quill 
Keeping this NL for my new work. I'm sure I'll need it when I get to the middle.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you find the NL helpful.
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