How to end your story

Let’s say I tell you what happens at the end: Natch vanquishes his enemies and learns to live in peace with himself. Or, Natch dies heroically. Or, Natch and his enemies join forces to take on a different enemy altogether. You know the broad strokes of any ending I could possibly think up, and you’ve seen them all a million times before. So obviously the important question is not what happens at the end of the story, but why and how.

The protagonist’s experiences are filtered through a set of moral questions or psychological dilemmas.

When does the story end? It ends when the moral or ethical or psychological question is answered, whether in the affirmative or in the negative or some combination of both.

1. We sat down to watch Silverado and the other author and I began to prophesy various plot elements as we saw them, giving them percentage chances of occurring.
One plot element? Enter character holding lit oil lamp.
Me: “100% chance that oil lamp does not make it intact out of this scene. It’s here to cause a huge fire.”
Friends: “Hah! Kevin was finally wrong! The oil lamp is intact!”
Me: (silence)
Movie: Action cuts back to scene with oil lamp. Oil lamp dramatically smashed across bookcase. Wild conflagration ensues!
Friends: “Aww….”
Me: “I’m not responsible for what the film editor does to heighten dramatic tension.”

Spoilers basically exist for the people who would be surprised or at least want to be surprised by the oil lamp smashing. Authors and reviewers already know the oil lamp is going to smash–they’re just concerned with how stylishly it’s smashed. And generally speaking, the oil lamp has to be smashed because nothing heightens dramatic tension or puts in a ticking clock sans clock like the simple physics of the building burning down around you.

I think the simplest answer to “How does the story end?” is “Whatever makes for a satisfying ending.” The hero or heroine gets the love interest of choice, which can be anything from a domestic partner to the lonely road, at which point the credits roll, the curtains fall and the last line on the page reads And they all lived happily ever after. Or everyone noble and honorable dies and the mere mortals left on the stage and in the audience gets a moment of catharsis.