I maintain that the hardest chapter to write, in any book, is the last one.
Not the first. Not the chapters in the middle. Not the chapter with the biggest action sequence, or the steamy love scene.
None of these. These are cake in comparison.
It’s the last one that will give you fits.
This is the chapter in which you invariably ask the characters who have been nattering around in your head for the past several months, to shut up for good.
I know that sounds blunt, but really, that is what you are doing. And there isn’t an easy way to do it!
“It’s been fun! Okay, you’ve said everything you need to say! You can shut up now!”
I’m working on the last chapter of a project I spent most of the summer working on. I like my characters. They’re spunky and fun and full of life . . . and this last chapter is giving me apoplexy as I try to figure out what their “last words” will be.
Do you end with high action? (“The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off.” –Catch 22)
Or with something deep? (“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known” — A Tale of Two Cities)
Something funny? (“Sorry I forgot to give you the mayonnaise” — Trout Fishing in America)
Or something jarringly normal . . . (“‘Meet Mrs. Bundren,’ he says.” — As I Lay Dying)
I just finished reading “I Know why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou. It was an incredible book. The writing was poetic, funny, and always beautiful. But when I got to the last page, I didn’t realize it was the last, and turned the page, expecting there to be another sentence. Another paragraph. Another something. It was as if the author had just put down her pen and said, mid-stride, I’m done now. A perfect example of the abrupt ending.
I lean toward something more meaningful, but I shy away from becoming trite. Simple, yet poignant. It’s such a hard balancing act, especially when you’re writing young adult fiction. My story isn’t deep. It’s pure fun. It isn’t Hemingway. It’s just spirited entertainment for teenagers. So how do I end my book on a satisfying note? One that has readers saying “Great stuff!” Instead of “Whaaaat??”
I’m going to do some research today and read up on how some of my favorite authors have ended things with their characters. It’s such a difficult process . . . as if you’re plotting their demise, instead of trying to pull the inquisitive eye of the camera back, back, back out of the bubble of their lives.
It feels so personal.
So I have to get it right.
