Writing Book 7 · Lesson 30

Explanatory — Draft the ending

A conclusion answers the question the introduction asked, and says what follows from the answer.

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

1
Here is the summary ending, which adds nothing.
So that is how a seed becomes a plant.
2
Ask so what? — what does knowing this let a reader see?
That the plant was already whole inside the seed.
3
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: “Have I answered my own opening question?”

Remember

Not a summary. What does your reader do with this now?

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