Discussion topic: The End of it All
So you’re reading a wonderfully written story. You've been expertly seduced by the beginning, your interest and imagination have been skillfully played by the storyline, and you’ve been teased by plot twists until you’re breathless with anticipation. The climax of the story finally comes, and it’s perfect and you’re shaking from the intensity, laughing aloud from the joy of it - and then the writer just ends the story, rolls over and goes to sleep, leaving you lying there in the virtual wet spot, feeling vaguely unsatisfied about the whole thing but not exactly sure why.
Put that way, it gives you a whole new perspective on your writing, doesn't it?
Tag, You're It
Nearly every form of writing - story, essay, play, movie, or television show - has a structure, a beginning, middle and an end. Using television, a format we're all accustomed to, as an example, you'll find that it is broken down even further: there is a hook, 3 acts, and a tag. It is that end, that tag, that all important but often neglected part of a story, no matter the format, that I’m going to talk about here.
So - just what is a "tag"? In script writing terms, it's the part between the climax and the credits, the part right after the mystery has been resolved or the bad guys thwarted or the guy has won the girl, after the final set of commercials before you go to the commercials that precede the next show in the evening line-up. In fiction, it’s the part that comes after the climax, after the Kiss that wakes Sleeping Beauty, the scene where everyone wakes up and celebrates before the handsome prince carries off the beautiful princess so that they can start living Happily Ever After. It’s the part of the play where Puck or Prospero steps forward to talk to the audience, to tell us that they’re done and what final thoughts Shakespeare wants to impart. Most importantly for you, it's the last chance you have to leave a favorable impression of your story with your reader. So the final scene of your story should be more than a few words dribbling to a "The End" marker. It should close your story in a conclusive way, reinforcing the plots and subplots, tying up loose ends, and giving the reader the feeling that you’ve ended your story for other reasons than just running out of things to say.
The Four R’s
So - how do you know when you’ve actually finished your story and are ready to close the book on it? Here are a few guidelines for what the end of a story should contain.
1) RESOLUTION
All plotlines, main and sub, should be wrapped up to the satisfaction of the reader. (Sequels are all well and good, but you shouldn’t leave your reader feeling that they HAVE TO have a sequel, just to get the plot sorted out.) While this seems evident, sometimes we get caught up in the story-telling and we forget the side-branches we’ve created along the way. The best way to make sure that you’ve covered all your bases is to run back through the story and note any plot points, then check them off as they are resolved. Did an ex-lover appear to throw a monkey-wrench into Love's Sweet Dream? Then he/she deserves at least a mention before disappearing forever from their lives. Did the bad guy send a sniper to the roof of the neighboring apartment building to take them out? Then you’d better at least mention that he was caught/gave himself up/fell off the roof or you’ll have your readers anticipating his interruption of the hot sex scene, whether or not they’re consciously aware of it. Also, the emotional issues your story has raised should be satisfied as well - and no, just having your characters fall in bed to have amazing sex doesn’t necessarily do that!
2)RESTORATION
The ending should give the reader an idea of how the world looks now that the major plot point has been resolved. If, for example, the story was about some outside or internal threat against the partnership, then the ending should assure the reader that the partnership is okay, or it will be okay given time, or that it’s irreparably broken and the pair is going their separate ways but that’s how it has to be. If it was a romance, then we need to know if they’re together or not, if this is a "riding off into the sunset together" or a "Casablanca" moment, and it needs to make sense to us in terms of the rest of the story. This "new world view" doesn't have to be happy; it just has to make sense to the reader.
3)REINFORCEMENT
Whatever the underlying theme of your story, you want to echo that in the ending scenes. Even stories that are pure romance, where the whole point of the story was to get your characters into bed together, need something to reinforce that. Say, for example, you’ve had them realize that they’re in love and they’ve fallen into bed and had hot sex. That’s your climax (no pun intended). The reinforcement is when they reach out to touch hands across the breakfast table, or wrap around each other as they’re going to sleep and either say or think or imply that they know they’re going to be together forever. You know what I’m talking about - we’ve all read those scenes, seen comments on stories like "and the sex was HAWT, but the part at the end where they bumped elbows in the elevator and just looked at each other and smiled - that made my insides melt". Yeah. Cuddle Time. That’s what I’m talking about.
4)RESTRAINT
Conversely, the ending should not start something you’re not prepared to finish IN THIS STORY. I’m not saying that you can’t leave some issues open-ended for the reader to work out on their own, but the last paragraph of the story is NOT the place to have Ray suddenly have a phone conversation with his mom (who hasn't been in the story up till now) in which she learns about his new relationship and cuts him off. If that estrangement is important to the plot of your story, then you have to lay the groundwork for it during the story, i.e., other phone conversations, indications of possible homophobic reaction, Ray considering how she’s going to react before he decides to make the leap anyways, etc. Then, when the phone call comes and he’s rejected, he can turn to Fraser for comfort and REINFORCEMENT of the fact that no matter what, he can count on his partner to be there for him. Characters turning up in the last few pages just to throw angst into a story is just sloppy and irritates readers. So - no new cases, no sudden introduction of back-history, no popping up of previously unseen exes just so they can see how wrong they were to spurn their former lover. If it’s important, introduce it during the main part of the story. If it ain’t part of the current story that you’re telling, then leave it out.
Finally, know when you’re finished and stop. Echoing their enduring love with a subtle look or touch is great. Having them go on for paragraphs and paragraphs about how much they love each other and what they’re going to do now and how everything is going to be perfect… boooorrriiinggg! If you’ve already said it loud and clear once, and followed up with a gentle echo, then fer god’s sake, shut up and let the story end. If you aren’t sure where the ending of your story is, ask people to read it and tell you if they started to lose interest before the end, and at what point. Don’t wait for your readers to mutter "will she ever shut up?" and click out of the story. Just like you wouldn’t finish a comedy sketch before you deliver the punch line or drag it on until it limps to an unfunny end, know when you have delivered that punch line, take your bows, and then leave the stage while they’re still laughing and clapping.
Tags & Endings - Necessary or Not?
If you watch reruns on syndicated channels, you probably have noticed that they shave bits off of older shows in order to fit in more commercials. Often times, the “tag” is sacrificed under the impression that it’s just the useless bit at the end. After all, the climax has happened, the bad guy has been caught or the Enterprise has been saved, so we don’t need that bit at the end where the guys goof at each other, right?
Wrong.
Well, most of the time. There are times when you want an abrupt end to a story, but it needs to be a deliberate choice and you need to be aware of the effect it has on your readers. And, like every exception to the rule, it needs to be used sparingly and for the right reasons, not just because you couldn’t figure out how to end the story.
Let’s take our canon source. Discounting 2-part episodes (which should be treated as one long story), every episode of Due South has a tag except for one. Take, for example, the end of "Burning Down the House" in Season 3. That last bit, following the arrest of the arsonist, where Fraser confronts Welsh, is the “tag”. Technically, we don’t need it. The arsonist has been caught, the new Ray has explained the situation to us, even if Fraser didn’t hear it, and the story is over. Finished. Dot it, file it, stick it in a box marked ‘done’. But can you imagine that episode without the tag? It just wouldn’t feel right, would it?
The exception that proves the rule is "Victoria’s Secret"”. That episode has no tag and I have to think that was a deliberate choice. We are left with Fraser lying in the snow, a bullet in his back, as the train carrying Victoria pulls away and his co-workers crowd around him. There is no resolution to the crimes or the emotional issues, no restoration of our world-view. And it works for that episode and it’s probably the most powerful Due South ending because of that. However, because it does break the rules, there’s a price to pay. The audience is left feeling disturbed, incomplete (unless you immediately watch the next episode), and because of that void, we rush in to fill it. In terms of viewing, we are more eager to return next season, to see what happens next. In terms of story-completion, we make up our own endings, consciously or subconsciously. (For example, when I first watched it at a con viewing, years before I became a fan, I assumed that Fraser died because that closed the loop, ended that story, even if it wasn’t a happy ending.) I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that a lot of "tag" fanfic was written after that episode aired. So if you decide not to "tag" your story, if you decide to end it abruptly without the Four Rs above, then you need to be aware of the possible reaction from your readers, their feelings of shock or incompleteness. (Not to mention demands for a sequel). And you want to reserve that trick for when you need a powerful end, to keep it fresh.
Examples of Tags
Going back to canon, let’s look at some episode tags. As mentioned before, the ending to "Burning Down the House" is a nearly perfect tag. The main plot deals with partnerships old and new and the sublot is the case of the arsonist. In the climactic scene with the burning car, Ray tells us about the Vecchio swap, the guys admit that it’s been strange but interesting meeting each other, they catch the arsonist, Ray takes a bullet for Fraser, and the audience knows that they are a Duet, thus wrapping up both the main and subplot. The Tag gives us further Resolution of the main plot by having Welsh explain the whole Vecchio switch and his new partner. It also has Resolution to the emotional issue of the old Vecchio partnership via the postcard, which also Reinforces Fraser’s world-view (and ours) about friendship and partners. And it also Reinforces the new partnership through the dinner invitation. The writers have Restrained from throwing in anything to distract us from the ending - no new case, no unneeded expositions, no Stella suddenly showing up to reveal RayK’s back-history because that’s another story to be told in its own time.
In "Call of the Wild", there are actually two episode tags, one at the end of each part, which is rather unusual. The one at the end of Part 1 works very well at resolving a number of emotional issues, although of course the plot isn’t resolved yet or there wouldn’t be a need for Part 2. Fraser and Vecchio have a chance to talk, to get an emotional resolution to their partnership, before Vecchio sends Fraser off with his new partner. And Fraser and RayK reinforce their partnership, even if there are lingering questions. On the other hand, the episode tag to Part 2 (this would be Fraser’s monologue at the end) only partially works for me and, I would suspect, others. Since the plot points have, for the most part, been resolved, its real purpose is to provide resolution to the series. While as a series ending it’s better than the whole gang unexpectedly heading off to jail, a number of the resolutions come from left field and, while humorous, make me go “huh”? With two exceptions: the comedy club because that was already mentioned earlier so there was foreshadowing, and Ray and Fraser heading off to find the hand of Franklin. That last bit, actually, is the emotional resolution to RayK’s questioning who he is and what their partnership means now that Vecchio is back, plus Reinforcing Fraser's world-view about partnership. And because they laid the groundwork for that bit during the crevasse scene, it doesn’t seem that much of a surprise (unlike the bowling alley because…Vecchio? Stella? Bowling????)
I hope I’ve given you a few things to keep in mind when you’re wrapping up your story, and I would love to hear your thoughts about good/bad endings you’ve written or read or seen. So - discussion, anyone?
Put that way, it gives you a whole new perspective on your writing, doesn't it?
Tag, You're It
Nearly every form of writing - story, essay, play, movie, or television show - has a structure, a beginning, middle and an end. Using television, a format we're all accustomed to, as an example, you'll find that it is broken down even further: there is a hook, 3 acts, and a tag. It is that end, that tag, that all important but often neglected part of a story, no matter the format, that I’m going to talk about here.
So - just what is a "tag"? In script writing terms, it's the part between the climax and the credits, the part right after the mystery has been resolved or the bad guys thwarted or the guy has won the girl, after the final set of commercials before you go to the commercials that precede the next show in the evening line-up. In fiction, it’s the part that comes after the climax, after the Kiss that wakes Sleeping Beauty, the scene where everyone wakes up and celebrates before the handsome prince carries off the beautiful princess so that they can start living Happily Ever After. It’s the part of the play where Puck or Prospero steps forward to talk to the audience, to tell us that they’re done and what final thoughts Shakespeare wants to impart. Most importantly for you, it's the last chance you have to leave a favorable impression of your story with your reader. So the final scene of your story should be more than a few words dribbling to a "The End" marker. It should close your story in a conclusive way, reinforcing the plots and subplots, tying up loose ends, and giving the reader the feeling that you’ve ended your story for other reasons than just running out of things to say.
The Four R’s
So - how do you know when you’ve actually finished your story and are ready to close the book on it? Here are a few guidelines for what the end of a story should contain.
1) RESOLUTION
All plotlines, main and sub, should be wrapped up to the satisfaction of the reader. (Sequels are all well and good, but you shouldn’t leave your reader feeling that they HAVE TO have a sequel, just to get the plot sorted out.) While this seems evident, sometimes we get caught up in the story-telling and we forget the side-branches we’ve created along the way. The best way to make sure that you’ve covered all your bases is to run back through the story and note any plot points, then check them off as they are resolved. Did an ex-lover appear to throw a monkey-wrench into Love's Sweet Dream? Then he/she deserves at least a mention before disappearing forever from their lives. Did the bad guy send a sniper to the roof of the neighboring apartment building to take them out? Then you’d better at least mention that he was caught/gave himself up/fell off the roof or you’ll have your readers anticipating his interruption of the hot sex scene, whether or not they’re consciously aware of it. Also, the emotional issues your story has raised should be satisfied as well - and no, just having your characters fall in bed to have amazing sex doesn’t necessarily do that!
2)RESTORATION
The ending should give the reader an idea of how the world looks now that the major plot point has been resolved. If, for example, the story was about some outside or internal threat against the partnership, then the ending should assure the reader that the partnership is okay, or it will be okay given time, or that it’s irreparably broken and the pair is going their separate ways but that’s how it has to be. If it was a romance, then we need to know if they’re together or not, if this is a "riding off into the sunset together" or a "Casablanca" moment, and it needs to make sense to us in terms of the rest of the story. This "new world view" doesn't have to be happy; it just has to make sense to the reader.
3)REINFORCEMENT
Whatever the underlying theme of your story, you want to echo that in the ending scenes. Even stories that are pure romance, where the whole point of the story was to get your characters into bed together, need something to reinforce that. Say, for example, you’ve had them realize that they’re in love and they’ve fallen into bed and had hot sex. That’s your climax (no pun intended). The reinforcement is when they reach out to touch hands across the breakfast table, or wrap around each other as they’re going to sleep and either say or think or imply that they know they’re going to be together forever. You know what I’m talking about - we’ve all read those scenes, seen comments on stories like "and the sex was HAWT, but the part at the end where they bumped elbows in the elevator and just looked at each other and smiled - that made my insides melt". Yeah. Cuddle Time. That’s what I’m talking about.
4)RESTRAINT
Conversely, the ending should not start something you’re not prepared to finish IN THIS STORY. I’m not saying that you can’t leave some issues open-ended for the reader to work out on their own, but the last paragraph of the story is NOT the place to have Ray suddenly have a phone conversation with his mom (who hasn't been in the story up till now) in which she learns about his new relationship and cuts him off. If that estrangement is important to the plot of your story, then you have to lay the groundwork for it during the story, i.e., other phone conversations, indications of possible homophobic reaction, Ray considering how she’s going to react before he decides to make the leap anyways, etc. Then, when the phone call comes and he’s rejected, he can turn to Fraser for comfort and REINFORCEMENT of the fact that no matter what, he can count on his partner to be there for him. Characters turning up in the last few pages just to throw angst into a story is just sloppy and irritates readers. So - no new cases, no sudden introduction of back-history, no popping up of previously unseen exes just so they can see how wrong they were to spurn their former lover. If it’s important, introduce it during the main part of the story. If it ain’t part of the current story that you’re telling, then leave it out.
Finally, know when you’re finished and stop. Echoing their enduring love with a subtle look or touch is great. Having them go on for paragraphs and paragraphs about how much they love each other and what they’re going to do now and how everything is going to be perfect… boooorrriiinggg! If you’ve already said it loud and clear once, and followed up with a gentle echo, then fer god’s sake, shut up and let the story end. If you aren’t sure where the ending of your story is, ask people to read it and tell you if they started to lose interest before the end, and at what point. Don’t wait for your readers to mutter "will she ever shut up?" and click out of the story. Just like you wouldn’t finish a comedy sketch before you deliver the punch line or drag it on until it limps to an unfunny end, know when you have delivered that punch line, take your bows, and then leave the stage while they’re still laughing and clapping.
Tags & Endings - Necessary or Not?
If you watch reruns on syndicated channels, you probably have noticed that they shave bits off of older shows in order to fit in more commercials. Often times, the “tag” is sacrificed under the impression that it’s just the useless bit at the end. After all, the climax has happened, the bad guy has been caught or the Enterprise has been saved, so we don’t need that bit at the end where the guys goof at each other, right?
Wrong.
Well, most of the time. There are times when you want an abrupt end to a story, but it needs to be a deliberate choice and you need to be aware of the effect it has on your readers. And, like every exception to the rule, it needs to be used sparingly and for the right reasons, not just because you couldn’t figure out how to end the story.
Let’s take our canon source. Discounting 2-part episodes (which should be treated as one long story), every episode of Due South has a tag except for one. Take, for example, the end of "Burning Down the House" in Season 3. That last bit, following the arrest of the arsonist, where Fraser confronts Welsh, is the “tag”. Technically, we don’t need it. The arsonist has been caught, the new Ray has explained the situation to us, even if Fraser didn’t hear it, and the story is over. Finished. Dot it, file it, stick it in a box marked ‘done’. But can you imagine that episode without the tag? It just wouldn’t feel right, would it?
The exception that proves the rule is "Victoria’s Secret"”. That episode has no tag and I have to think that was a deliberate choice. We are left with Fraser lying in the snow, a bullet in his back, as the train carrying Victoria pulls away and his co-workers crowd around him. There is no resolution to the crimes or the emotional issues, no restoration of our world-view. And it works for that episode and it’s probably the most powerful Due South ending because of that. However, because it does break the rules, there’s a price to pay. The audience is left feeling disturbed, incomplete (unless you immediately watch the next episode), and because of that void, we rush in to fill it. In terms of viewing, we are more eager to return next season, to see what happens next. In terms of story-completion, we make up our own endings, consciously or subconsciously. (For example, when I first watched it at a con viewing, years before I became a fan, I assumed that Fraser died because that closed the loop, ended that story, even if it wasn’t a happy ending.) I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that a lot of "tag" fanfic was written after that episode aired. So if you decide not to "tag" your story, if you decide to end it abruptly without the Four Rs above, then you need to be aware of the possible reaction from your readers, their feelings of shock or incompleteness. (Not to mention demands for a sequel). And you want to reserve that trick for when you need a powerful end, to keep it fresh.
Examples of Tags
Going back to canon, let’s look at some episode tags. As mentioned before, the ending to "Burning Down the House" is a nearly perfect tag. The main plot deals with partnerships old and new and the sublot is the case of the arsonist. In the climactic scene with the burning car, Ray tells us about the Vecchio swap, the guys admit that it’s been strange but interesting meeting each other, they catch the arsonist, Ray takes a bullet for Fraser, and the audience knows that they are a Duet, thus wrapping up both the main and subplot. The Tag gives us further Resolution of the main plot by having Welsh explain the whole Vecchio switch and his new partner. It also has Resolution to the emotional issue of the old Vecchio partnership via the postcard, which also Reinforces Fraser’s world-view (and ours) about friendship and partners. And it also Reinforces the new partnership through the dinner invitation. The writers have Restrained from throwing in anything to distract us from the ending - no new case, no unneeded expositions, no Stella suddenly showing up to reveal RayK’s back-history because that’s another story to be told in its own time.
In "Call of the Wild", there are actually two episode tags, one at the end of each part, which is rather unusual. The one at the end of Part 1 works very well at resolving a number of emotional issues, although of course the plot isn’t resolved yet or there wouldn’t be a need for Part 2. Fraser and Vecchio have a chance to talk, to get an emotional resolution to their partnership, before Vecchio sends Fraser off with his new partner. And Fraser and RayK reinforce their partnership, even if there are lingering questions. On the other hand, the episode tag to Part 2 (this would be Fraser’s monologue at the end) only partially works for me and, I would suspect, others. Since the plot points have, for the most part, been resolved, its real purpose is to provide resolution to the series. While as a series ending it’s better than the whole gang unexpectedly heading off to jail, a number of the resolutions come from left field and, while humorous, make me go “huh”? With two exceptions: the comedy club because that was already mentioned earlier so there was foreshadowing, and Ray and Fraser heading off to find the hand of Franklin. That last bit, actually, is the emotional resolution to RayK’s questioning who he is and what their partnership means now that Vecchio is back, plus Reinforcing Fraser's world-view about partnership. And because they laid the groundwork for that bit during the crevasse scene, it doesn’t seem that much of a surprise (unlike the bowling alley because…Vecchio? Stella? Bowling????)
I hope I’ve given you a few things to keep in mind when you’re wrapping up your story, and I would love to hear your thoughts about good/bad endings you’ve written or read or seen. So - discussion, anyone?