Let a novel belong to various genres, how would you start thinking about the end of it? Happy one, sad gloomy one, mysterious one or anything else....
Because a novel had to end somewhere even though it may not be the last word of the story!!
Let a novel belong to various genres, how would you start thinking about the end of it? Happy one, sad gloomy one, mysterious one or anything else....
Because a novel had to end somewhere even though it may not be the last word of the story!!
You mentioned how to start thinking about an ending for a novel.
I have just been working on an exercise related to this which involves writing brief details of as many possible endings as you can. There were several ideas which I had not thought of before which I don't think I want to use but which can provide some good plot twists or new challenges to various characters and I have settled on the one I do want to use.
It is also useful to look at how other people have ended their novels which opens up possibilities and styles of ending which you may not have considered.
I like epilogues, probably because all stories continue after 'the end'. They must do, if only in the reader's mind, or there'd be no point.
So in the two books I've written so far the end of the final chapter could serve as 'the end', but there's a little more to tell which wouldn't be well served in a sequel. Voila!
Sequels really ought to be separate stories in their own right, I reckon, which begs the question of how much backstory needs to be included, and how to do that without boring readers familiar with earlier books or confusing those who are not. But that's a different topic :)
Nice ending Damien!
Thanks others!! :D