One of the first things I thought about when I first writing my screenplay was the very last shot of the film. Before I started my outlines and character sheets, all I had was a theme, a name, a couple characters and an ending ready to go. Why? Because I deeply believe that the ending of a story should probably be its strongest point.
When you get involved in a work of fiction, and I mean involved somewhere on a scale between I have T-shirts from this thing and I run a website devoted to this thing, you realize that, inevitably, there must be a point when you have to say goodbye. I talked about this last week, but endings can be heard to take, but they don't have to be. They can leave you with such a positive aftertaste that you can't wait to introduce everyone to this epic that you've discovered.
What makes an ending good, though, is the question that we storytellers have to figure out. I have a few suggestions, but as an amateur, I could be way off base.
The first suggestion is to make sure your ending is satisfying, in all the right ways. This might seem obvious as the opposite of satisfying is unsatisfying and who wants ANYTHING to be unsatisfying? Well, sometimes writers apparently are tempted to use their ending to deliver one last jolt of unexpected energy, whether it's revealing that it was all a dream, or killing off a major character, or revealing that the real killer was actually the detective's brother. This sort of thing is not inherently bad or anything, but as a reader, I get incredibly frustrated if this sort of thing if it doesn't feel like a natural outcome to what came before it. Take Inception's famous ending, for example, the film ends on a note of uncertainty, you aren't sure if what you are being presented with is real, and I think this works because much of Inception dealt with characters basically toying with the very foundations of perceived reality.
The second suggestion is that you want your ending to feel like this is what the audience came for in the first place. If your ending is the main character retiring from his job to live in Montana, make sure that as soon as possible, the audience is rooting for this guy to grow a spine and quit his job. If the audience is instead hoping he gets a promotion, they're going to put down your book quite disappointed that the hero failed. I mean, what was the point of that. right?
Really, the best point of advice I could give is to know your ending and work backwards from there. This isn't a one-size-fits-all sort of advice, admittedly, as my possible favorite novel, The Lord of the Rings, was begun without the ending in mind. Then again, Mr. Tolkien did tinker with his manuscript for years, so maybe after you're done writing your first draft from the seat of your pants, take the ending you came up with, and build towards it in subsequent drafts.
The ending is important, I think, because is your only opportunity to say goodbye on your terms, and it's the very last taste of your work that the consumer gets. So, I would argue that for your ending to feel like a proper finale to your story, you have to be ready to build your entire story towards your ending, so it really helps if when you go to make your outlines, and your character sheets, you have, along with maybe a title, a theme, and a couple characters, your ending all ready to go.
*post scripts*
While my inspiration to write about endings was partially due to the finale of How I Met Your Mother airing this week, I admit that I don't actually watch the show, and didn't watch the finale, so none of this is directed at said finale. I am loosely aware of what transpired on it, though, and I seriously doubt I would have enjoyed it had I ever seen a single episode of the show.
Also, this post has nothing to do with April Fools day. Nothing. Sorry guys, but I just don't care about pulling silly pranks.
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