Series Writing 101: How to End a Story the Right Way

EPISODE DESCRIPTION – Ending a story doesn’t have to frustrate your audience. Zena Dell Lowe breaks down the right way to conclude a story in a series—how to resolve the main arc while teasing what’s next. Perfect for novelists, screenwriters, and series creators. Watch this episode on YouTube 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Beth, you had a question. My question is, what about cliffhangers? And the reason is in my book, it ends in a sense as a cliffhanger because it's a series, but the screenplay, I felt like I couldn't do a cliffhanger that I needed to actually finish it and, and so I did in the current screenplay.

[00:00:22] But what's your feeling about those? Okay, good. I'm glad you brought this up. So. There's a difference between a cliffhanger and setting up for your next story. Hello and welcome to the Storytellers Mission with Zena Del Lo, a podcast for artists and storytellers about changing the world for the better Through story.

[00:00:44] A true cliffhanger is something that should be done in television, but really shouldn't be done in in movies or books because it means you never wrapped up your story. In any good series, you have a primary storyline for that particular book.

[00:01:01] Each book has its own arc. You need to wrap up that book, but it doesn't mean everything got wrapped up. But the main conflict for that book, the main conflict for that story should be resolved. But then you have a. Seen after that, that sets up that it's, there's more to come. That's the cliffhanger, if you will.

[00:01:22] It's the thing that sets up the next conflict, but you have to resolve the current conflict or else why the hell did we read all that? It will discourage your readers if you don't wrap up. Whatever main conflict was supposed to be addressed in that Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Is a phenomenal example of this, which I know sounds really crazy and it's also very dated, but what Buffy would do each season, a Buffy would have an arc about a main bad guy that had to be overcome, and then at the end of that season, she would overcome finally that bad guy.

[00:01:59] But then we would have one more. Scene where now we would see the bad guy or whatever for the next season going, huh, well, you know, she overcame that, but now we're gonna hit her with this. Or, I mean, I'm making this up and that's bad. But the idea being we knew it wasn't over, something worse was gonna happen, or maybe there was a magic orb or something that in the firefight that she had to overcome that bad guy.

[00:02:23] It just got lost. But then at the end, after the resolve, everything's happy, happy ending. You see somebody reaching down into the ashes, pulling out that orb and their eyes start glittering and you know, it's not over, you know? So we're set up for the next season, but the main conflict has been dealt with.

[00:02:41] So that's how I recommend you doing it. It can't be a true cliffhanger. A cliffhanger without frustrating your audience. If you have a week to wait, we'll wait. If we have to read a whole other book for you to resolve this conflict that you started in this one, why didn't you just put that together so we could keep reading that's gonna piss us off.

[00:03:02] Yeah. And so I guess it's not a true cliffhanger with it's setting up with defining it like for the next thing. Okay. So it is, and it isn't, but it's not the true cliffhanger because the character arc is finished. There's just a, that little mystery at the end, perhaps, and you mentioned that before, it's maybe insertion of a.

[00:03:20] A little bit more mystery that is left there. But the, the character arc is, is complete. Yes. Is complete, yes. Good, good, good. So that's the right way to do it. You wrap up the main story and then you leave us with the mystery, the intrigue, the. Where we anticipate the next adventure, but you've gotta sum up or wrap up the other one.

[00:03:44] Okay. But, and you still don't think best in a movie though, unless you're Oh, no. That's great. In a movie, they do it all the time. Okay. Oh, absolutely. It's done all the time. As long as you resolve the main conflicts. It's a phenomenal way to do a series. You know they did that in John Wick. All the John Wicks, you know, you leave, you wrap up the first John Wick, he's done something terrible.

[00:04:05] He gets excommunicated and the movie ends. When he gets excommunicating. He has an hour, and then all the assassins are gonna come after him, and he starts walking and limping away. And then pretty soon he is trotting and pretty soon he's running, and that's the end of the film with his little dog. He's running for all he's worth, as all these people are getting the notices on their phone and they're about to go after him, like fan flipping tastic.

[00:04:29] And we're already excited about John Wick two, but it definitely. He got the bad guy he was after in John Wick one. He got the bad guy. It's just he did it in a way that sets some things up that are problematic or whatever. I mean, I might be getting my John Wicks mixed up, but you get my point. Okay. Thank you Jasmine.

[00:04:50] Yeah, actually it be question was. Very related to mine. I also had a wrap up of my arc and then I was, someone said, oh, but what are you gonna do for your to, to get them to read your second book? So that's my question. Um. Based on what you just said, do we have to resolve like that kind of cliffhanger in the first chapter or so of the next book, or how does that work?

[00:05:16] You said no, no, no, no, no. Okay. That's a great question. No, whatever you leave them with to get them to read, the next one should be a lot more than just, it's gonna be summed up in that first chapter. It should actually be setting the tone for the entire thing. However, before we get there. Did you know that there are seven crucial plot points that every story must hit in order to satisfy the audience?

[00:05:42] And if you miss even one of those crucial plot points, you risk losing your audience's attention forever. This is why I've created a free training video for you where I break down exactly what these seven deadly plot points are. These are the essential plot moments that you need to hit in order to deliver a powerful, compelling page turning story.

[00:06:06] So. Be sure to check out my free training video on the seven Deadly plot points. It's going to transform your writing. Just click on the link provided in the notes, or head over to the storytellers mission.com and you can start watching this free training video right away. Whatever your next story is about.

[00:06:25] It should. Okay. It should set the tone for that. Okay. Actually, let me give you a personal example. Bottomless box, that's my novel that I'm writing. 

[00:06:33] But in it, how it ends is I've got, so the bottomless box. Is a magical box that can transport certain people or characters to the land of Duma, which is a magical place and, but the box has kind of a mind of its own where it will only appear and bring people where they're supposed to be because of what has to happen.

[00:06:57] It's sort of an outworking, think of it like an offshoot of the holy. Spirit if you want, but it's doing the work of the Lord, kind of the God, whatever. But we never talk about that. But it's kind of like, uh, this mystical thing that is doing supernatural work. It knows things. So at the end of bottomless box, I completely sum up the entire story where Percy and Wilbur are with the master, and it's this beautiful reunion and everything's lovely and beautiful, but in the corner of the room.

[00:07:30] We see the sparkle, we see the electricity, we see something happening, and pretty soon the bottomless box appears. So we know that their journey isn't done. They have to go back to Duma. That's it. It's letting us know that there's more to come. They don't even notice it. But we do, and they will notice it, you know?

[00:07:49] And so how does that, you could say, well, that just means they're gonna travel back. But no, that means there's a whole bunch of other stuff that still is coming in their future. They have a calling to go to Duma. They have a thing that they have to accomplish there. So it's the clue that that's still has to happen.

[00:08:09] That's all. That's it. And it's short and it's sweet, but it just leaves the readers knowing. The adventure isn't over and it has to do with more. It's not just like, I'm gonna wrap that up in the first act of the new book. No, that is the whole book. Two, it has to do with whatever that calling is, the whole book.

[00:08:31] And then there's book three, you know, so at the end of book two, they come back again with the elixir to save Scotland. And then though they still have to go back because now Duma is going to potentially die. And so that now they have to go back and save Duma. And so I don't know how I'm gonna end book two because I haven't even.

[00:08:53] Finished book one, but I know what has to happen. I will have to leave the audience knowing they, we have to still go back to Duma that the work here isn't done. Even though book two, they accomplish what they need to, to be able to save, you know, earth basically. Now they have to go save Duma before it destroys itself.

[00:09:12] So anyway, all this to say, it doesn't have to be huge. It has to set up the big adventure, It has to allude to the greater mythology, the greater calling, the greater adventure. It can't be just a little throwaway. Thank you for listening to the Storyteller's Mission.

[00:09:31] With Zena Del Love. May you go forth Inspired to change the world for the better through store.