Marketing for Romance Writers Magazine April, 2018 Volume # 1, Issue # 4 | Page 22

APRIL, 2018
ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL:
How to Write an Ending that Satisfies
By: Alice Orr
How do I make my
story ending sell my
book? Good question,
just not the right ques-
tion. Why not? Be-
cause the ending of
your story doesn‟t sell
this book as much as it
sells your next one.
Have you ever finished a book and
wanted to throw it across the room, or
maybe actually did throw it across the
room? Very often the book‟s ending
made you do that, and also made certain
you wouldn‟t buy that author‟s next
book.
Your goal as a storyteller is to avoid
being thrown across the room, to avoid
losing a reader for your next book and
the ones after it. To reach that goal, you
must create a story ending that does not
frustrate. You must create an ending that
satisfies.
The end game of your story is a dan-
ger zone, partly because you are likely to
be tired of these people and their situa-
tion by now. In fact, if you are a commit-
ted storyteller, your head and heart may
already be deep into your next book. Be-
cause of that, you must be careful not to
write the ending in this rhythm. Gallop,
Gallop, Gallop, The End. That ending
does not satisfy. That ending lacks the
essential Big Bang.
In earlier articles, I used the film
classic Casablanca to illustrate the Dra-
matic Opening and the Middle that
Moves. Casablanca is an example of the
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Ending that Satisfies, too. Rick and Ilsa‟s
story is especially rich in this respect be-
cause it has two narrative threads, an ac-
tion suspense thread and an emotional
suspense thread, and both are tied up
with a Big Bang at the end.
The action climax is an actual, audi-
ble bang when arch villain German Major
Strasser is shot dead. The emotional cli-
max is more drawn out, and that slightly
slowed down pace is part of what gives it
impact. Rick, played by Humphrey Bo-
gart, tells Ilsa, played by Ingrid Bergman,
why she must take the plane to Lisbon
and safety, not with him, but with her
husband, Nazi hunter Victor Laszlo.
The plane engine rumbles to life in
the background. A single tear trembles
on Ilsa‟s perfect cheek. And Bogie says
some of the most memorable lines of his
career.
Rick: Inside of us, we both know you
belong with Victor. You‟re part of his
work, the thing that keeps him going. If
that plane leaves the ground and you‟re
not with him, you‟ll regret it. Maybe not
today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon
and for the rest of your life.
Ilsa: But what about us?
Rick: We‟ll always have Paris
Rick walks off then with Vichy Cap-
tain Louis Renault, who has finally dis-
covered his inner good guy. But the Big
Bang really happens in that moment with
Ilsa, when brooding cynic Rick finds his
own true heroic nature and sacrifices his
heart for the good of the world and his
soul.
We could hardly be more satisfied,
and it all looks smooth and easy. But
don‟t be fooled. To carry off an ending
that works this well, there has to be a
plan. To create a Big Bang Ending for
your story, you must also have a plan.
You must plan your climactic scene in
detail. Don‟t write a word until that plan
is perfect. Here are some specific sugges-
tions for planning your Big Bang Ending.
Plan mostly action and dialogue,
very little narrative.
Plan to keep all of this action on
stage, in the immediate present.
Plan dialogue that is spare, to the
point, and memorable.
Plan on intensifying the pace,
faster than what has gone before.
Plan lots of physical movement
in the scene.
Plan lots of intense sensation—
sight, sound, smell, texture and more.
Plan to plunge your protagonist
into peril.
Plan one more obstacle to arise
for your protagonist. Make it formi-
dable.
Plan a confrontation between
your protagonist and antagonist.
Plan on milking that confronta-
tion, while keeping up the intense
pace.
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