Stop-matt-botsfordSo, you’ve crafted an interesting opening to your story, article, blog post or other writing. You’ve taken readers through the details and why the piece is important. Don’t let your writing screech to a halt as if you’ve hit a dead end sign.

“From our earliest years, we learn that stories have endings, however predictable,” writes Roy Peter Clark in Writing Tools. “The prince and princess live happily ever after. The cowboy rides into the sunset. The witch is dead.”

The May issue of my newsletter, Wordnerdery, shares some advice from Clark and other experts to help you ace your endings. It includes my fave:

#3. Come full circle.
If you introduce a person or place in the lead (an effective way to make an issue personal), return in the closing. Poynter’s Chip Scanlan explains, “The story comes full circle, returning to Sarah, the child in the lead. It avoids a common flaw: introducing a character in the lead who is never seen or heard from again.”

Read more in Wordnerdery.

What are your best tips for an effective closing? Do you have a book or movie ending that sticks in your mind? Please share in the comments.

“Stop” image by Matt Botsford on Unsplash.

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