Our How to Write series is coming to an end. It’s been a fun month-long venture. I hope you have gained a little insight during it. If you haven’t checked out all the posts for this series, you can do so here : CLICK HERE

This last post I wanted to talk briefly about endings. And yes, they are very important. Sometimes endings will bring a reader into the next book, give them the ultimate satisfied feeling, or leave them wanting more more more. Either way, endings can win a reader’s heart and as we all know, once won, you will have a reader for life.

So, what is the ending supposed to do?

Most of the time an ending wraps up all the threads that the author started winding during the beginning and twisting during the middle. The best way to ruin a reader’s enjoyment of the book is to NOT wrap up all the story lines. (unless there is a sequel on the way) — imagine a story where a woman is seeking her birth parent and you seek with her all through the book, through the false leads, the almost caught-and ultimately defeated story, only to get to the end to learn that her birth mother lives in the next town and all she has to do is go to her house. But wait. NO! that can’t be the last page! What happens?

See? You are not a satisfied reader. You are disappointed. As a writer, you had better well have the sequel ready for order or you are so not going to like the way readers treat this book.

So… endings must wrap things up satisfactorily.

Another way to look at what endings do:

1. Give closure (does not end on a hook)
2. Entice a reader to check out another work by the author.(other books with similar genre elements)
3. Hint at the sequel to come. (leave on a hook)

I hope this has been of some help. Writing a good ending has a lot of facets. Writing a book in its entirety has a lot of facets. There is so much more to explore, I hope this series has at least gotten you interested in learning more about them.

We didn’t have a winner for the name the book contest, so I am going to do it a little larger next month with a kick-off contest for my new Caper Mystery series! Keep checking back on KimSmithauthor.com