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So you’ve been writing for a while and you aren’t sure how to wrap it up. This may mean that you’re what’s commonly referred to as a “pantser” in the book writing world—that you fly by the seat of your pants, working without an outline, letting things come as they may. You’re not alone. The world is full of pantsers, and I am pantsing right now as I write this blog!
by Adam G. Fleming
So you’ve been writing for a while and you aren’t sure how to wrap it up. This may mean that you’re what’s commonly referred to as a “pantser” in the book writing world—that you fly by the seat of your pants, working without an outline, letting things come as they may. You’re not alone. The world is full of pantsers, and I am pantsing right now as I write this blog!
But it may also be that you are the other kind of writer, the kind known as a “plotter,” and for obvious reasons you haven’t written a word yet. You’re sitting there staring at your outline saying, “but how does it end?” Beginning with the end in mind is a habit that Steven Covey mentions in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” so there’s also nothing wrong with thinking ahead even before you’ve written anything.
In this blog I’ll share a few general tips for how to deal with ending a book, and in the next two parts of this blog series I’ll go deeper into how to end a novel and how to end a non-fiction book so you can go deeper with whichever of those two blogs that suits your purposes.
The best speeches leave people wanting more. If you’ve ever sat and listened to an interminable sermon, a long-winded politician, or even a college professor who droned on and on, forgetful that the Q & A session is the most important part of a class, then you know what I’m talking about.
Books are no different. If you try to tell people everything, chances are your book will be too long and perhaps more confusing for the reader than if you are selective. That said, sometimes you have to write it all out and allow an editor or a second pair of eyeballs to make suggestions about what to remove. If that’s the direction you want to go, then just write and don’t worry too much about the ending.
One common hang up for writers is that they feel they have to get it all right the first time. Stop it! It’s not a bad idea to write three or four endings and give it to some people to see what they like, how they react, what questions they still have. Here’s the thing: in fiction and nonfiction alike, you’ll be leaving people with some questions. So ask yourself: what questions do I still want them to have? Some fiction books even have alternate endings, leaving the reader wondering what really happened.
The tip here is to just write something, because then you have something to mold. Think of the process a potter goes through, they take a lump of clay and fold it to get all the air pockets out before they begin to turn it on the wheel. You just need a lump of clay, something to edit. This is again about giving yourself permission to have an imperfect ending that you eventually form and craft into something exciting.
Check out the links here to Part 2, How to end a Novel, and/or Part 3, How to end a Nonfiction Book.
Interested in talking? Contact adam@victoryvision.org for a conversation and there’s a good chance he’ll send you a book after you’ve chatted!
Adam G. Fleming, PCC, has been working in leadership/executive coaching since 2007. He published his first novel in 2012 and his first book on coaching (The Art of Motivational Listening, Entrust Source Publishing) in 2015. He now has 16 titles available on Amazon. He is the CEO and lead ghostwriter for Victory Vision Publishing, Inc.
