THE CHILDREN'S BOOK ACADEMY
  • Home
  • WRITING
    • Mastering Great Graphic Novels >
      • 2023 Mastering Graphic Novels Registration
    • Craft & Business of Writing Childrens Picture Books
    • The Chapter Book Alchemist
    • New!! Middle Grade Mastery Instant Access
    • 2022 Kidlit Palooza >
      • 2022 Palooza Program
      • 2022 Palooza Faculty
  • ILLUSTRATION
    • NEW!! Craft & Business of Illustrating Children's Books Instant Access
    • Never a Dull Moment Workshop
  • TECH
  • About Us
    • Why Us?
    • Meet the Faculty, Lives & GT Judges
    • Testimonials
    • Books by Students
    • Our Bookshop
    • As Seen In
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
  • Blogfish
  • MN Course Access
  • Community
    • Our Bookshop
    • Come Play With Us!
    • Resources
    • Course Scholarships >
      • Yuyi Morales Picture Book Scholarship
      • Andrea Davis Pinkney MG CB Mastery Scholarship
      • Rafael Lopez Illustrating Childrens Books Scholarships
      • Larissa Marantz Merit & Need Scholarship

Inevitable Endings by Maria Oka

7/17/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
I’ve heard it said that the very best endings are both inevitable and unexpected.

There. I’ve given you the key to writing your perfect ending. Done and done.

The end.







Just kidding. (Hint: writing The End is usually not the best ending.)

Writing an ending that is both inevitable and unexpected takes careful crafting, starting with word one. You know you’ve achieved it when your reader has an “Ahh!” or an “Aww” moment at the end, not a “Huh?” or a “Duh” moment. You want your ending to be unexpected rather than completely predictable, but you also want it to feel just right, like this was where you were meant to end up the whole time.

Everything in your book, EVERY WORD (especially if it’s a picture book), should be leading up to the perfect ending for your book. Sometimes it will lead to a surprising ending, sometimes to a warm and fuzzy ending, sometimes to a circular ending (where you end where you started), and sometimes even to a melancholy or sad ending. Still, all of those endings can be inevitable and unexpected.

I’ll give you two examples, and oldie, and a newbie:

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Max is wild, wild, wild, and he drives the story. He ends up confined in his room without dinner after telling his mother, “I’ll eat you up!” There, he gets on a boat and sails to where the Wild Things live. What if the book had ended when Max became their king and they rumpussed about? Though that is arguably the best part of the book, it would have been a very dissatisfying ending. When Max decides to go back to where “someone loves him best”, he ends up back in his room, with his dinner, “and it was still hot”. Inevitable and unexpected. Perfect.

Note that Max ends up in his room alone with his dinner. If it had ended with Max giving his mother a verbose apology, it wouldn’t have been nearly as satisfying. It would have been contrived and out of character, and it wasn’t the scenario that the story was leading up to. And if he had ended up back at home, but without dinner, it still wouldn’t have been quite right. There is a strong food theme throughout, and to be true to that, Max had to have his dinner.


Picture
Wait by Antoinette Portis

If you are not familiar with this book, that’s ok. It just came out this month! If you are familiar with Antoinette Portis’ other books (“Not a Stick”, “Not a Box”, "Froodle", "Princess Super Kitty" etc.) you’ll know that she has a passion for fostering imagination. And she's a genius at it.

The premise of “Wait” is that there is a mother who is in a hurry to get somewhere, and a small child who is intent on exploring the world around him. “Wait” he begs his mother, “Hurry” she says. Those are two of the three words used in the book, and they are repeated throughout as the boy and his mother have very different experiences on the same walk through town.

Since the book is so new, I won’t give the ending away here, but I will just tell you that it is perfect: perfectly inevitable and yet somehow unexpected. You’ll just have to read it to find out for yourself.


So if you’re struggling to find your perfect ending, maybe you need to back up. Who is your character, and what is their primary goal? Does everything in the book lead up to the ending you’ve written? Have you ended your story too early? Too late?  Or did you craft your characters and plot carefully enough that they end up right where they are supposed to be? As always, study from the masters, and you’ll find your very own perfect ending.



Picture
This post was written by Maria Oka, mom of three girls and wife of one handsome fella. Maria reads and writes from Southern California.

1 Comment
uk essay reviews link
9/22/2015 12:39:54 am

I'll find this book Wait by Antoinette Portis just to see the end). As for me I really prefer when the big story (book over 300 pages) with very active plot ends like with no action, no ending point. and then your imagination goes on through this story thinking about what happens next. It makes you to think about the story for a long time.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Meet the Friday Blogonauts

    First Fridays will feature Bryan Patrick Avery, published writer , man of mystery, and professional magician among other things.

    Second Fridays will feature  awesome multi-award winning author Marsha Diane Arnold who will be writing about character-driven and/or nature-based books and/or anything she likes :)

    Third Fridays
    will feature independent Aladdin/Simon & Shuster editor Emma Sector who has helped bring many books into the world.

    Fourth Fridays will feature the great Christine Taylor-Butler who has published over 70 award-winning fiction and non-fiction and nonfiction books including the acclaimed new middle grade series - The Lost Tribes.

    Fifth Fridays will feature the fabulous Carl Angel award-winning multi-published Illustrator and graphic designer.


    Join our Tribe

    and receive 7 Steps to Creative Happiness, access to free webinars, and lots more!

    Your email addresses are always safe and respected with us.
     
     

    Follow our Blog!

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Archives

    January 2019
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All
    Art Technique
    Authorartist
    Author Platform
    Author Visits
    Bitsy Kemper
    Book Marketing
    Books For Children
    COPPA
    Creative Flow
    Digital Books
    Diversity In Children's Books
    First Voice Multicultural Children's Books
    Illustrating Your Own Story
    Independent Publishing
    Magic In Books
    Marketing
    Maya Gonzalez
    Middle Grade Novels
    Picture Books
    Picture Books And Death
    Print-on-demand
    School Visits
    Self-publishing
    Understory
    Writer Platform
    Writing
    Writing Exercise
    Writing For Children

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
Picture
Discover
Why Us?
Courses
Blogfish
Book Shoppe
About Us
Meet the Academy Faculty
Community
Contact Us

Privacy Policy
Join Us
Social Media
Join our Community and receive a fabulous free gift, yummy newsletters, scholarship info, contests, and more!

Like us on Facebook 
Join our interactive FB Group  
Find us on Twitter 
Follow us on ​Instagram  
Look for us on Pinterest
​
Watch us on YouTube
© 2012-2021  All content on this website is copyrighted. Sorry, all courses are non-refundable.
  • Home
  • WRITING
    • Mastering Great Graphic Novels >
      • 2023 Mastering Graphic Novels Registration
    • Craft & Business of Writing Childrens Picture Books
    • The Chapter Book Alchemist
    • New!! Middle Grade Mastery Instant Access
    • 2022 Kidlit Palooza >
      • 2022 Palooza Program
      • 2022 Palooza Faculty
  • ILLUSTRATION
    • NEW!! Craft & Business of Illustrating Children's Books Instant Access
    • Never a Dull Moment Workshop
  • TECH
  • About Us
    • Why Us?
    • Meet the Faculty, Lives & GT Judges
    • Testimonials
    • Books by Students
    • Our Bookshop
    • As Seen In
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
  • Blogfish
  • MN Course Access
  • Community
    • Our Bookshop
    • Come Play With Us!
    • Resources
    • Course Scholarships >
      • Yuyi Morales Picture Book Scholarship
      • Andrea Davis Pinkney MG CB Mastery Scholarship
      • Rafael Lopez Illustrating Childrens Books Scholarships
      • Larissa Marantz Merit & Need Scholarship