Writing Book 6 · Lesson 31

Explanatory — Draft the ending

A conclusion tells the reader what to do with what they now understand.

What it is

An ending is not a summary. Repeating what you just said insults a reader who has only just read it. A real ending answers the question so what? — it tells your reader what to do with the thing they now understand, or shows them the bigger thing it is part of.

Watch it built

Here is the summary ending, which adds nothing.

So that is how a seed becomes a plant.

Ask so what? — what does knowing this let a reader see?

That the plant was already whole inside the seed.

Write that instead.

Nothing was added to the seed but water, warmth, and light. Everything else was already inside it.

Remember
Not a summary. Answer so what?

Ask yourself: “Am I repeating myself, or telling them why it mattered?”

Remember

Not a summary. Answer ‘so what?’