In the past, I’ve discussed the opening of the novel. I thought I’d turn my attention to ending a book. There are many ways to finish a story. Some time ago, I found this list on Twitter. The author appeared to be Kristine Nannini. The article seemed to have been reposted several times. The author came up with ten different endings. I’m going to present them as a list because they are overwhelming as one long sentence!
Image ending
Question ending
Reflection ending
Lesson or moral ending
Circular ending
Surprise ending
Warm fuzzy ending
Cliffhanger ending
Humor ending
Dialogue ending
You might want to think about what type of ending you like in a story. My writing seems to end up with either a warm fuzzy ending or a reflection ending. Here is how I finished one novel. The story was all about Billy. Sam, Samantha, was Billy’s wife. I think the other characters in the ending you understand without any explanation. After you read it, do you think it is an appropriate ending?
The sheriff’s deputy spoke first, “This is Ms. Summers. She is the one your husband rescued, and she wanted to come and talk to you.”
“Right after this happened, I was too shook to be able to talk about it. Later, I learned that you didn’t know much more about what happened other than what was in the news. You need to know how brave your husband was, so I talked to Fr. Jenkins. He helped me get the approval of the sheriff’s department to talk to you,” Ms. Summers said.
“I thought you looked familiar. I must’ve seen you in church,” Sam said.
“You look familiar too. Please call me Judy.”
The deputy interrupted, “I have to ask you if you are up to listening to Ms. Summers’s story?”
Sam didn’t hesitate, ” Yes, I’m very interested.”
“The whole thing started when I was getting off work. The only job I could find was working a part-time job that was actually on the early morning shift. I work at a convenience store and gas station. I start at six and get off at 11 in the morning. He must’ve known that. He was waiting for me by my car and he had a gun. He forced me into his car and drove us out into the country. I knew I was going to be raped and I thought I’d be dead because of the other women who’d already been killed. I started to cry, and that’s when he hit me with the butt of the gun. That’s how I got this black eye. He forced me into the woods off a back road. I figured I didn’t have anything to lose, so I started to fight and screamed at him, and he kept hitting me. He was trying to get my clothes off when your husband came up behind him and picked him up and threw him against a tree. Your husband said he heard my screams as he was driving by. It looked like the guy had been knocked out. I couldn’t believe how strong your husband was. Your husband was trying to calm me down and help me cover myself with my torn clothing when there was a shot. If only I had told him we just should get out of there right away, he’d be alive today. It was my fault,” Judy said.
“No, it’s not your fault,” Sam said.
“The next thing I knew your husband and the guy were struggling over the gun. I couldn’t look. I heard another shot then your husband came back to me and told me the guy was dead. He said he had been shot, and he didn’t think he was able to drive. He took his car keys out of his pocket and pointed me back to the road and collapsed. I don’t remember how I got out to the road or how I drove, but I stopped at the first house that I saw and they called the sheriff,” Judy said.
The three of them talked a bit longer, and it seemed the pain over Billy’s loss had eased a bit. There were also three things Sam realized about Billy’s life. His life was not all good. His life was not all bad. His life was lived.
