These 9 Strategies to End Your Novel are Game Changers

[@leigh-anjohnson]

1) Thematic Ending 2) Cliffhanger 3) Ambiguous 4) Humour 5) The Tie Back 6) The Skip Ahead (or Skip Back) 7) The Happy/Sad Ending 8) Description 9) End on Dialogue

[@timhouser]

Always appreciate when someone does this, and wonder why OP doesn't.

[@Krintas09]

Love a bittersweet ending that has me torn whether I should throw the book away, or begin re-reading just to see if I missed something. Great video! Thanks for sharing with us.

[@pagebeam17]

Eye-opening suggestions. I've watched hour-long videos that didn’t provide as much clear-eyed information as you did in less than 8 minutes. Bravo!

[@joshuam2212]

ending are the hardest for me so having more then one might be good to try

[@bnjmnwst]

*than

[@socratesagain7822]

Edgar Allen Poe's suggestion to writers: write the end _first_ (then, write the story backwards, so to speak)... This has worked for me over the decades. It tells me where I the story and the main character are headed. The beginning will introduce us to a barely recognizable protagonist. The events/obstacles the author throws in the protagonist's path determine the protagonist's ultimate epiphany and changed outlook that we witness in the end. Be well.

[@WankiTank]

just listening to you and thinking of examples of books that use those endings, I realized I did read much more books than I think I did (and constantly worry about whether it's enough to be a writer), that was a nice realization!

[@zhadebarnet3773]

Love your style, love your content. 👊🏿

[@ManiKais]

“Tomorrow is another day.”

[@jeffmcmahon3278]

"And yesterday is gone."

[@socratesagain7822]

@@jeffmcmahon3278 And as an agent of change I can only act in the present, the _big_ NOW. The other two time "categories" do not exist. (a time's arrow thing, you understand). Be well.

[@timdemoss]

this is terrific. thanks for all the great examples from real books - takes it out of the theoretical and into the practical. appreciate it!

[@oldguyinstanton]

Brilliant video, concisely and precisely exampled. Thank you for these ideas. I'm with thefoxialbunny, below; what about mixes of endings? For example, a cliffhanger with a snarky ending.

[@lizgonzalez491]

Excellent video. Thank you so much!

[@Bookfox]

Glad it was helpful!

[@irinaphoenix2169]

You're talking about two different things here: 1) The way your the story/ies of your novel wraps up & 2) The final lines of your novel

[@MegananaOwl]

Thank you! I’m new to your channel. Could you do a list of ways to open your novel (if you haven’t already)

[@Bookfox]

Great idea! I'll work on it.

[@thefoxialbunny]

Nice tips, man. What about mix two or three ends? Cheers from Brazil.

[@Bookfox]

I would be wary of trying to mix too many -- but sure, mixing two like humor with cliffhanging could work.

[@adriang6259]

Most endings should be uplifting or you’ll feel cheated. Like the end of Saving Private Ryan. Loses most of its rewatch ability because Stupid Upham gets everyone killed.

[@patnor7354]

nice summary

[@aymentucker1680]

I’ve been told many times that in order to sell my novel to news agents that I have to sell it as a stand alone book without the need for another one. What should I do if the story doesn’t make sense to end there as the main characters have made progress, but have only really made it one step to their goal. Also, the ending that I have so far come up with involves them succeeding, but in a way that they have lost so much, for so little of a victory, and they now have to face new challenges. Would this be considered a happy but sad ending?

[@cyclopsshaman.2204]

Honestly I may use one of those for the one I'm writing

[@anacebotari8604]

@Bookfox Hi John, thank you for your videos. I just ordered your book "The Linchpin Writer," it will arrive in 2 weeks, can't wait to read it. I have a question about the endings, it's not used in novels: ending with a poem. I wrote a romance novel, and I thought of 2 endings, but my favorite one is the one ending with a poem (the wife, who is also a singer, writes a poem to her husband). For me, it works because poetry is a symbol of romanticism. What do you think?

[@Bookfox]

Tough to tell in the abstract, but I think it most certainly could work! And hope you enjoy the book.

[@ameteurwriter]

Great video! In your opinion, which are appropriate for the first book of a series by a new writer? I had planned to make it a cliffhanger, but I'm afraid it won't fly by the publishers.

[@Bookfox]

If you resolve most of the storylines and then only leave one dangling (preferably a storyline that arose later on in the novel) then a cliffhanger could still work.

[@NickSmith-qp2yu]

He wasn't hallucinating in The Giver, because he was never given the memory of music. He wouldn't know how to imagine that.

[@maybelore]

oh, I am a big fan of The Count of Monte Cristo! However I don't really get why people like the ending so much, probably because I wanted more of the book, plus am still annoyed that Andrea/Benedetto's storyline ended so ambiguously

[@dorysmith2776]

Oh, I loved the ending of the book-far more than the end of the movie. The book’s ending reinforces the theme that sin has consequences, but redemption is possible. In the movie, he rubs his nose at God but still gets the girl and the son.

[@maybelore]

@@dorysmith2776 oh, that movie. I have feelings twords that movie and they aren't good ones (I even made my own video about it.) If you want a movie that's ending is basically the opposite, watch the Richard Chamberlain one. Mercedes' line at the end is so good

[@johnchastain7890]

Maybe the best Dialogue ending I've ever read is the last line of the historical novel "The War of the End of the World" by Mario Vargas Llosa. After the true-but still-incredible saga of the slave rebellion, someone asks the old woman how she can be sure that the messianic leader and his followers really rose up to Heaven. She says "I saw them."

[@stevensandersauthor]

Excellent

[@yvesgomes]

Is there talk about a "false cliffhanger"? I'd say it's when there is what, on the surface, looks like a cliffhanger, but the action isn't concluded in the book, because the result wouldn't matter for the theme. For instance, when the book ends at the start of a fight, because what really matters is that the protagonist decided to fight. (This is a real example, but I hesitate to spoil the book.)

[@darkangelaubrey]

Edit: I didn't thoroughly read the second half of your comment in which you said there was a book that did that. Mm, I personally think it would depend on what all the plot threads are. Does the conflict impact the wider world, even if the protagonist is the main story thread? Because if one is still loose, then by Bookfox's definition, it still counts as a cliffhanger. But if it only really affects the character's arc and the character is the main focus of the story, then...yeah, it might be. Although then you might argue that it falls under the category of thematic ending that merely resembles a cliffhanger. I think he also mentioned an ambiguous ending? I already forgot how he defined that, but maybe it's a combination of thematic and ambiguous ending where the characters have grown and changed and are ready to face the future, whatever it may bring. It might be sunshine and rainbows, but it might also lead to suffering and pushing through too. So it's thematic in that it resolves the character's main arc and whatever their internal conflicts were, but facing an uncertain future where anything might happen. That's the point. I dunno. Is that ambiguous still? I feel it's heavily thematic. Mm, I don't know if you watch anime at all, but I think I saw the ending of 91 Days this way. It's been a while, so I don't know if the ending misses addressing any of the wider themes at play, but if you don't mind spoilers, here's the basic premise of the series and how the ending occured (again, broad strokes because it's been a while and my memory is garbage). *Spoilers below.* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So, on the surface, this is a mafia revenge story set during Prohibition. The main character was orphaned (his sibling was also murdered at this time) at a young age by a crime family. (I think his family had been working with them but wanted out. Which, as we all know, is a big no-no.) So naturally, the main character built his whole life around taking the crime family down. They control a lot of speakeasies and provided alcohol for such establishments, so the main character gets their attention by having his friend make some impressive moonshine to entice them. From there, he infiltrates the crime family and comes in close contact with the mafia's boss's son. The two build a sort of friendship despite the MC's plans. As mysterious deaths start happening within the family, an effort is made to flush out the traitor. Things happen, the mafia family is successfully collapsed, leaving only the main character and the boss's son alive. I think the son didn't suspect anything even immediately after the collapse of the family? But eventually he learns the truth and the ending takes place on a beach where the son might or might not have shot the main character. Again, I don't know if this is a false cliffhanger in the way you mention, where all is resolved implicitly, but at least in-universe, the personal conflict doesn't matter in the end. Why? Because the prohibition was ending by this point and there's no space in the world for these characters anymore. They were a relic of the Prohibition, and now they are no longer needed. In fact, they are undesirable. So to me, that might be an example of the false cliffhanger you're looking for. But considering Bookfox's definition (mostly resolved threads with only one plot thread dangling), most people would probably still consider this a cliffhanger. Because the characters might've still had some development that might've been shown in either the mercy or the killing. The story had been mainly character-driven, after all, even if the story's themes and motivations were directly tied to the setting. 91 Days wasn't, like, *overly* popular, but I actually really liked it overall even if the animation quality wasn't the best. I especially did really like the ending, even if my memory of it is a bit fuzzy by this point.

[@kristileigh.fantasy]

Life of Pi -- Pi is the tiger. Food for thought...

[@solomon4554]

4:57 so it did affect the trout population.

[@superrobloxplays]

My Bittersweet ending ends up with my heroes dying, but their sacrifice ensuring a more peaceful world. Is it good?

[@Charlie-e8s]

Mark of Athena. That’s all I have to say when it comes to cliffhangers.

[@chuckwieser7622]

That's not how the novel "A Princess Bride' ends. Neither the story about Wesley and Buttercup OR the novel itself🤔

[@BirdMorphingOne]

Kind of wierd to bring up Princess Bride but not the book's actual ending

[@linglingwannabe9135]

how do you do a good book pitch without revealing too much, especially if, in order to be specific, will likely have a major spoiler

[@itsjustgalaxy]

How would you recommend ending a novel which theme is based on the concepts of the raw laws of nature, and how it isn't evil in the humanic sense, but simply the cycles of the wild?

[@ultimatetree241]

description of natural processes (decomposition, new growth, or weathering / whatever is next)

[@absinthespoons]

I like your videos, and I'm gonna give you a lil feedback: the sound effects are distracting. you don't need em.

[@stephennorski2843]

It's Cristo, not Crisco.

[@lynxlubbpeeps]

HP was a bad example