In the end

I write a lot of blogs about the importance of strong beginnings to stories and was going to write another one when a terrific first line featured in one of the stories in the October Global Short Story Competition.
Then I read to the end and the final line was great as well. Which got me thinking about endings.
There is no single method of ending a story. Many writers don’t know how their story will end as they write the story so the ending emerges as the story is revealed on the page.
Other writers know how the story will end before they begin so they can focus on the resolution as they write.
There is no right or wrong approach. Short stories or novels can end in many ways. Here are a few common ways in which writers conclude their fictional stories:
Twist Ending: Sometimes the writer concludes the story with a twist ending. Readers are lead to believe that a story will end in a particular way then it ends in a different way.
Resolving Action: Sometimes the story ends with some final action that brings an end to the conflict, complete finality. All the loose ends are tied up.
Ambiguous ending: The story ends but the reader is left wondering what will happen next.
Above all, when writing endings, avoid the tendency to summarize. Don’t tell the reader what to think about the story. Let them discover it themselves.
Plenty of time to enter the October competition at www.inscribemedia.co.uk

John Dean