You could say that writing a book is like running a marathon, because you have to take that first step, then keep taking step after step, and eventually you get through it even though it is a long and sometimes exhausting process. In previous posts I described getting started, and said that you can never, ever get finished if you keep putting off getting started. That's the truth. I believe that. In another post I said that you need to keep at it, keep writing every day -- or at least as often as possible -- to keep the momentum going and work your way through that long, long middle part between the very beginning and the very end. Also true, I believe.
But writing is unlike running a marathon, because the course is not laid out for you. As a writer, you need to figure it out as you go. Each sentence leads to the next to form a paragraph, each paragraph leads to the next to form a scene, scenes build into chapters and chapters into books. But nobody can tell you which way you should go. You have to make your own choices along the way, and to tell a good story you often have to choose the least predictable options to keep readers intrigued. If marathons were like that, you could run a full 26 miles but instead of crossing the finish line in front of cheering crowds you could end up lost, confused, and unsure how to get home.
Writing a good ending depends on having written a good opening and a strong middle. At the start, you need to get your readers hooked by raising questions. Paint a picture of an amusing hero, but suggest he has a secret. Introduce an ordinary young lady, but mention that she has an important destiny to fulfill. As the story unfolds, answer some questions to reward the reader for following along, but raise new questions as well. Keep those questions in mind while writing the book. Jot them down in a separate notebook or computer file, if necessary, because the job of your ending will be to answer those questions. Was the villain's evil plan thwarted? Did the star-crossed couple find true love? Did the main characters find that magical thing they were after, and was it worth the price they had to pay to obtain it?
Speaking for myself (and being well aware that others have different opinions and that there is no one-size-fits-all right way to do things) I like when the ending calls back to the beginning of the book. If the story opens with the hero leaving home, it can be very satisfying to have it end with him or her coming home again, or finding a new home. Taking into account all that has happened throughout the book, the author has an opportunity to paint a similar picture with a different brush, and the contrast will be what sticks in the reader's mind. For example, think about The Hobbit (the book more than the series of movies) which is literally subtitled There and Back Again. Bilbo wants nothing more than to remain safe in his quiet Shire at the start, only to find later that such quiet safety can be boring for someone who has discovered a yen for adventure. A more recent example is the difference between how Harry Potter views his life with the Dursleys between the start of Sorcerer's Stone and the end of it (and in some of the subsequent books as well.)
I grew up in a smallish city that felt pretty large to me at the time. Then I moved to Atlanta, spent time in San Francisco, and visited Philadelphia and New York City. I've been back to the place where I grew up since, and it looks different to me now. Smaller. Quieter. I don't miss it the way I thought I would.
That isn't to say that all stories should be about leaving on an adventure and coming home again afterward. But something in the end ought to call back to the beginning, to give the story the feeling that it ended where it should because it started where it should. It could be a relationship or friendship torn apart that comes back together in the end, or an object lost that eventually is found.
For me, the end isn't just a place where I stop typing, it's where the questions of the story are answered and the mystery is resolved. The path of the story isn't so much a line from beginning to middle to end, but a circle, a loop made by events set in motion that swing around until they come once again to rest. When that's done, the glass starts to cloud over again and the world I've created lives its own life while I look around and find that I am back in mine, right where I left it.
