The way that a story ends is typically what a reader will remember most after they finish reading a story. In order to help your child write memorable stories, explaining to them about effective story endings can be is an important lesson. There are many different ways to end a story in a compelling way that will leave readers thinking about your story. This article explains why story endings are important and provides your child with some examples.
Why story endings are important
Story endings are important because they often express conclusions and themes that the rest of the plot was working towards. A great story builds up to its ending! Although the ending is not the entirety of a story, it can immensely change the overall sentiment a reader feels after they finish reading. Choosing how to end your story comes with a lot of responsibility, because depending on how you choose to end it, your reader may end up with their questions answered, or may develop an entire new list of questions. It can be satisfying or dissatisfying to your reader, depending on how you choose to conclude. Either way, your story ending should leave your reader thinking about what they just read.
Story endings examples
Here are some examples of typical story endings that your child can try using:
The Cliffhanger
This type of story ending leaves the readers wondering what happens next. The story is unfinished, and the readers are left to their own thoughts to try and guess what happens next. This type of story ending doesn’t tell you how everything in the story turned out. It is effective because it leaves your readers thinking, but it can be frustrating for readers not to know how the author intended on ending the story. This story ending can be a useful tool because it leaves your readers wondering intensely about how your story was supposed to end, or how they wanted it to end.
The Twist Ending
The twist ending is a type of story ending in which the readers are surprised by what happens. This ending is especially useful because it shocks the readers, making them rethink the entire plot of your story. The ending comes as a surprise because it is not your readers were anticipating based on the story plot.
The Resolved Ending
This story ending is typically what readers expect from a story. Once the problem is introduced in the middle of the story, it’s expected that by the end, it will be resolved. That is exactly what this type of ending is: problem resolution. This is your typical “happily ever after” ending where everything goes exactly the way the characters want, and exactly how the readers anticipate. This type of ending leaves your readers feeling satisfied with how it turned out but doesn't cause any surprise to them.
The Unresolved Ending
This story ending is when the problem is not resolved at the end of the story. However, it is different from a cliffhanger because the readers actually know the problem wasn’t able to be solved. In a cliffhanger ending, the readers don’t know what happened. The unresolved ending is more unexpected than the resolved ending and often leaves readers dissatisfied. Dissatisfaction isn’t necessarily a bad feeling, though. The unresolved ending is a useful tool when you want to give your readers closure but not the type of expected closure they might get from a resolved ending.
Now that we’ve explained the significance of story endings and provided some examples, we have an activity for your child to get started with to test their understanding of story endings!
