What are key features and pacing in a satisfying ending to a science fiction novel?
My novel has been through multiple drafts and beta reads, and by and large is in good shape. I've learned how to cure a saggy middle, how to stay in point-of-view, how to keep the protagonist driving the action by working toward their want. And so on. The shape of my novel is generally OK, but by the time I reach the end (climax), I'm simply ready for all the ends to be tied up.
So they are, all the contracts are filled, and by and large the ending does what it needs to. It solves the puzzle, neatly and tidily.
But the ending still feels off to me and I can't put my finger on why. Perhaps it is too precipitous of a solution, or too little cost after the solution. The ending 'works,' but I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing.
Example: Maybe the best endings throw one last small but unexpected challenge at the heroes, out of the blue. (Like Darth Vader joining the air fight in SW:ANH, maybe some ratchet up of stakes during the climax needs to happen). Or perhaps one of our heroes should die during the ending, maybe it is an emotional note that's missing.
Q: I'm wondering if there's consensus on what makes a great ending. What are the features. I haven't seen anything online about this, and thought you insightful contributors might have thoughts.
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1 answer
Leave the readers imagining the future.
For me, at least, a satisfying ending, besides the things you have mentioned, leaves me imagining the future, for the MC(s), and/or for the world they live in.
It should signal a new phase in life for the MC(s). Something has changed, either in them personally, or in the universe more generally. Perhaps they have learned or come to believe something new that will play a role in their lives.
Death can be that kind of thing; the MC's best friend is dead, or their parents or brother or mentor. But it isn't the only thing that can serve.
I have had, in a coming of age story, best friends come to a new (not sexual) understanding of each other. In a new adult story I have had a protagonist, sexually experienced but not previously in love, incidentally in the course of the story fall in love; and after the mission is over the finale is about her going to a new city, that will be her home as she begin her new life with her new love.
An unsatisfying finale is (IMO) "another day at the office". Okay, we saved the world, see you guys in the morning. Gotta run, it's pizza night at my house!
You could say this is an unwritten contract with the reader; that the whole story, all the trials and tribulations, mean something life changing. It doesn't mean the characters can't go on more adventures and change in other ways, but whatever they have done has ramifications for the future.
It does not necessarily have to be about them. A good scifi story with a satisfying ending might be the discovery of FTL, or some new form of FTL. The story ends with hints of how this begins to have impact on the society: The story mattered and the ramifications are becoming apparent.
That is the payoff at the end of the story. Yes, you wrapped everything up, but the reader still wants to know, "What happens next?"
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