In his
article “Don’t Just Conclude the Plot. . . Nail the Landing,” for the Complete Handbook of Novel Writing, Michael Orlofsky says that even
though each ending should be unique there are four main types of story endings:
death endings, recognition endings, framing with repetition endings, surprise
or revelation endings, journey endings, and responding to theme endings.
Death Endings
Orlofsky
tells his writing students this: "Don’t kill off characters." He says that death can be a cheap way to
achieve closure and that none of his students have ever been able to convince
him that a character killed off is deserving of a point of view. However, there are always exceptions.
Orlofsky gives the last line in Hemingway’s For
Whom the Bell Tolls as an example of a death ending that worked. As the
character Robert Jordan lay badly injured and facing a troop of Franco’s
cavalry, he writes the following line: “He could feel his heart beating against
the pine needle floor of the forest.”
Recognition Endings
Recognition
endings, according to Orlofsky, are the kind of endings employed in stories
about an idea rather than a character’s struggle with an idea. He writes: “The dialogue sounds like
philosophical debate; the exposition reads like a set of instructions.” He continually reminds his students that it
is not what an ending means, but how it means. He adds, “The best endings never conclude or
close; they open.”
He gives one
skillful example of a story ending in more of a how rather than a what-type
scenario. He uses the last line of James
Joyce’s “Araby” to illustrate. A boy arrives a too late at bazaar where the
lights are dimming and things are shutting down. The story ends with this internal monolgue: “Gazing
up into the darkness I saw myself a creature driven and derided by vanity; and
my eyes burned with anguish and anger.”
Framing with Recognition Endings
Concerning
this type of story ending, Orlofsky says, “In fiction, well-handled repetition
creates richness and resonance—like two parallel mirrors reflecting endlessly.” For instance, Hemingway begins and ends A Farewell to Arms with rain. Orlofsky also sites Carson McCuller’s short
story “The Ballad of the Sad CafĂ©,” which begins and end with the same
sentence. He says this kind of ending “satisfies the
reader’s esthetic need for pattern.”
Surprise or Revelation Endings
Orlofsky
says that for today’s sophisticated reader, surprise endings have lost their
appeal. There are very few surprises
left. He writes this about surprise
endings: “Surprise endings work best when they evoke irony, anguish, pity, or
wonder at human capacity.”
Journey Endings
This ending
shows a character beginning a journey, whether physical or spiritual. Orlofsky says that leave-taking allows the
author to use emotion to his advantage.
He also writes, “Leave-taking also satisfies one of the basic requirements
of the ending: Things can never be the
same.” One example he gives is the
ending of Huckleberry Finn where Huck packs up and decides to head out for the
Territory to escape his Aunt Sally’s intention to civilize him.
Response to Theme
All endings
respond to theme, one way or the other.
This type of ending, according to Orlofsky, works best when “emotional
and intellectual power are balanced.” He also says that this type of ending
requires the most skill because the balance can easily be easily upset. Too little, and the ending falls flat; too
much, and it can sound contrived. He
gives as an example the ending of D.H. Lawrence’s “Odour of Chrysanthemums.” At the end, a wife is preparing the body of
her husband who has just been killed in a mining accident.
Then with
peace sunk heavy on her heart, she went about making tidy the kitchen. She knew she submitted to life, which was her
immediate master. But from death, her
ultimate master, she winced with fear and shame.
Keep these types
of endings in mind as you decide how your novel or short story will end.
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