Story Endings

ENDINGS Aims: To consider what makes a good ending. To learn what cliché endings are and how to avoid them.

Endings Q. What makes a good ending? Task 1: In pairs look at the three endings you have been given. They are possible endings for a story called The Heroes. Put the endings in the order of best to worse and talk about why you think they should go in that order.

Task 2: Put these statements on what is essential for a good ending in order of importance…. 1.The ending ought to refer back to the beginning in some way 2. Everything should be sorted out in the ending 3. The ending should be exciting 4. There should be a twist – something unexpected should happen 5. The ending should ‘hang’ – we should be left to work it all out for ourselves 6. The ending should be a ‘cliff-hanger’; it should feel like the beginning of a new story

P.S. Sorry I forgot to give you the mayonnaise. Your Task: Pick one of the last lines below and explain why it’s a good way of ending a story! The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off. Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody. P.S. Sorry I forgot to give you the mayonnaise. We shall never be again as we were!” Alex stood where he was watching it until it had disappeared in the dying light. “Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.” Alrite Sis, wrong mountain, that’s all He has to take this one chance to be happy. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain. Very softly she sang, half hummed a song as her grandmother used to sing to her when she was a little girl.

Cliché Endings Q. What are Cliché endings??? Examples: that he understood the full, real horror of the situation. At that point he awoke and it had all been just a dream. With that they all lived happily ever after.

Your story should remain consistent! Remember the story line. How to end? Your story should remain consistent! Remember the story line.

The Cliff Hanger… Where we have to wait until the final moment until we know. For instance, the spy who manages to stop the bomb two seconds before it explodes.

The Twist… Where we are fairly sure about something, but in the final part everything changes. For example, we then learn that this is a fake bomb, and the real one is hidden somewhere else and will explode in five minutes.

The Unfinished Ending… Where the story stops, but we aren't sure what has actually happened at the end. For instance, the bomb is defused and everyone is safe. But then an army commander reports the theft of another bomb... only this time twice as powerful.

Unhappy, Sad Ending… Tend to be more interesting than happy ones and full of emotive impact – so long as it is not overdone!

Narrator addresses the reader directly… Giving them a piece of advice arising from your story, making them feel included. Is there a moral you want to pass on?

Introduce a mystery… Something that is unresolved so the reader has something to think about when they have finished reading.

WHICH? What is your favourite kind of ending? Why? You always need to be thinking about impacting the reader!

DON’T… Try to wrap up your story too quickly. Read it through check it all makes sense. Avoid the ‘trick ending’ : “He woke up and it was all a dream.”