a community for SPN fic writers
Technique Tuesday Question: Endings
I want to know your thoughts on writing endings of a story. They KILL me every time. like those last scenes where you wrap up all your story threads and show the new normal for the characters (as opposed to the normal at the beginning of the book.) I only managed one ending I really liked, and that was for Plus One. I STILL cry when I read it.
so what sort of endings have you written for your stories? What's your favorite ending from a story you've written? what sorts of endings do you like to read? do you know the ending at the beginning? (I did for Plus One, and I think that's why I like it so much.)




Endings are one of my favorite things to work on. I obsess over the rhythm of the last sentence, specifically the last word. I often have the last scene or line written (or at least roughed out) well before I have the rest of the story fully developed, but not always. Sometimes the ending presents itself later. But endings are the metaphorical icing for me. I feel like I patch myself up when I write them, because so much of writing is emotional hemorrhage.
My favorite ending was for a Star Trek fic called Watching Stars. Not everything had been resolved, but everyone was in a better place. I broke POV in the final line and used an omniscient voice, but I love how it turned out, and everyone was gracious about it.
I like to read all sorts of endings. As long as they fit with the story and feel satisfying I'll take it.
If a story is going to be longer than 5k-ish I have to know the end before I can get started. I don't always have an outline, but I can keep the story focused if I know the end.
Favorite ending from a story I've written would be Match Me.
I personally like when the scenes at the beginning and at the end of the story are parallel - it gives me some kind of a closure, both as a writer and as a reader. But tbh I can't really write endings, either! Sometimes I don't know where to stop. (And I definitely don't know the ending at the beginning!)
Also, gasp! PLUS ONE ♥♥♥
I like it when the ending reflects the beginning, too. sometimes I start the last scene in the same sort of situation as the first, and I try to figure out how to show them all changed and transformed and leveled up from where they were at the beginning. and then sometimes I look at the last scene and just make frustrated wookie noises and drive everyone around me crazy.
In the past, before I figured out where to find prompts, all my ideas started with an ending. Then the beginning. Then finally how to get from point A to point B.
But I still wrote sequentially. Which was fine, as long as I was still jazzed about that ending by the time I got back there. Otherwise, I was either so tired of the ending, or so convinced I couldn't do it justice, that endings were still hard.
My favorite endings to write are sad endings, but I absolutely hate to read them, and I don't do them often. I did one MCD in the Buffy fandom years ago, and it was beautiful, despite the immature writing style; and I wrote a bittersweet ending to my Dolls time stamps, which is genderbent!Dean.
Using prompts, I don't always have more than a vague idea where the ending is going to be. It's easy enough to let the earlier stuff dictate the tone and the parallels, but it's harder to close it up and say goodbye in those cases I find.