After the End

After the End …and the Duck is on Patreon!



All stories must come to an end somewhere - whether it's a "just another day" ending, an "everybody dies" denouement, or the always wonderful "it was all a dream". Or maybe it's just the end of this adventure, with another one to follow, as in a TV series-type comic.

Endings should provide some closure to the adventure (even if just the current standalone adventure), and answer the questions asked in the story. Setups are paid off, particularly the big one. Characters reach the end of whatever journey they've undertaken, for better or worse, successfully or not.

The ending of the original Rocky movie was apparently supposed to be at the high point of this guy's life. One second after he raises his fist in the air, things go downhill (at least somewhat. He was maybe going to have an okay life - the point was, this was the height of it). Then he came back for sequels of course, which made Mister Stallone very, very (rich) happy I'm sure.

Most endings set up a "future" for the characters that's left to our imagination. Whether they lived happily ever after, or they just LIVED (in the case of a horror or thriller). The ending of the movie SIDEWAYS originally explored the marriage of one of the characters for a little while, but the director realized it was the story of two friends, so pretty much had to end with a moment between those two guys.

I find that endings are often the first thing I think of in a story - I want to have an ending that feels like this.

How are you with writing endings? Is there one you're proud of or looking forward to writing? Do you struggle with where…an when…to end your stories? What are some of your favorite story endings?







The Duck on Patreon!


Our patreon page is born! - it's a brand-spanking new little hatchling, but it's there! Support our efforts to keep improving the site! More rewards will be added as we figure them out, but a $1.00 support tier is there now!

The Duck on patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5127951