Where to Look for Endings (advice from Lorrie Moore)
Feel free to link to a flash with a powerful ending in the comments section..
It is well known that endings are one of the most challenging aspects of writing a compelling story, which may be why there is such a satisfying feeling when we do get it right. I usually have to to put a story away for a period of time and return to it with fresh eyes to ‘see’ where the ending is hidden.
When we come across a good ending, it brings a kind of awe and a slightly new understanding that makes us want to reread the story. Flannery O’Connor said that good endings should be “surprising yet inevitable.”
I believe the ending should not contain a twist or trick on the reader, but may present a slightly different way to see what has come before. Truth rather than a punch line should the goal of your ending. There is often a subtle pivot, a surprising juxtaposition, that leaves the reader a little bit breathless.
According to Lorrie Moore, endings are often hiding in an earlier part of the story, and I wholeheartedly agree.
“There are ways of taking pivotal central moments that are actually earlier on chronologically and sticking them at the end. The end of a story is really everything. It gives the whole meaning to the story. So the end of the story may not be the chronological one. It may be something that the author has to pull from earlier on and end with.”
I’ll share one of my own stories, “Barista”, which was selected by Aimee Bender for The Best Short Fictions 2018. It was a hard ending to find, but I was excited when I found it. It was originally buried in the middle of the story.
Question: Have you read a story that had such a great ending that it completely knocked you over? If so, please share a link in the comments section.
I enjoyed your story, Meg. Something different that makes the reader grapple and spin the environment around them.
I'm not a fan of twist endings. Sometimes, they're okay, but frequently I find them to be forced. Sometimes they even go far as to deceive the reader, revealing something the protagonist would have already known but the author withheld to get to the "twist".
I also like stories with an ambiguous ending. It may be leaning toward one resolution / decision or another, but it's up to the reader to decide. I saw a movie like that a while back, and it was clobbered on IMDB because it didn't come out and say. But I liked it.
Great story, Meg.