The End! Memorable Book Endings

Hello friends and happy Monday!

If any of you have trouble with your book endings, raise your hand. Oh, phew! I'm relieved. I was hoping I wasn't the only one. Beginnings seem to come easily for me but the endings, oh, that's another story. Personally, I can't move on until I have a solid ending for my latest book.

The Start of The Ending

Like that? Ha! Me, too. Okay, back to business. Let me explain what I mean. Thinking practically, knowing what the tone of your book is will help determine what type of ending you'll need. Are there ending types? Yep! Let's unpack this.

The Feel-Good Ending

If your book is a warm, comforting tale that causes readers to say, "Aww," you'll want a feel-good ending. Ending your book on a positive note, eliciting feelings of love and being cared for is perfect. A beautiful example of this is the brilliant work of Shel Silverstein in The Giving Tree.

"Well," said the tree, straightening herself up as much as she could, "well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, Boy, sit down. . . sit down and rest." And the boy did, and the tree was happy."

The Circle-Back Ending

I like to refer to this ending as a "bookend." Your beginning and your end are so similar, they feel like bookends with your wonderful story sandwiched in between them. A good example of this comes from the book The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce. This is an obvious bookend because Mr. Joyce tells you so:

"The girl began to read. And so our story ends as it began. . .

. . . with the opening of a book."

The Humorous Ending

Of course, this is my absolute favorite. I grew up with a dad who had the best sense of humor. To this day, I can still hear his laugh. So, if you have written a book that tickles the funny bone of your readers, you know they are anticipating a humorous ending. Here's a fun ending from the book The Librarian from the Black Lagoon By Mike Thaler that I used to read to my library kids:

"Then she smiles and hands me one. It's a book of KNOCK-KNOCK JOKES!

Knock Knock. . .           Who's there?

Dishes. . .                      Dishes who?

Dishes a nice place      Ha Ha Ha. . .
to be.

I'm going to love the library!"

Important Note

Now that you have a good feel for the type of ending your book needs, there are two important pieces of information that go hand-in-hand with this:

• It is a must that you end your book with the main character. Don't let a secondary character steal the ending away from your protagonist!
• When writing a picture book, your main character needs to show growth by the end of the book.
  

It's exciting to think about our book endings. For any of you who have completed a work of fiction, you know this feeling. It's exhilarating! Wishing you endings that make every child say, "Again!" after the first reading. 

See you next Monday!