You Can Write A Short Story: Part 3 The Climax

by Linda S. Dupie

You’ve worked hard on your story, now it’s time to round out the story with your ending. This is the time to exit your story gracefully.

Once you’ve reached the final climax of your story, you should end quickly. Your reader’s interest drops quickly from this point on. A brief paragraph or two is all you’ll need.

You’ll need to exercise a little restraint with the ending; you shouldn’t have to spell out the lesson learned. The reader should have come to that conclusion from reading your beginning and middle.

For example, you’ve written a story where your main character is trying out for the school football team. He’s small and doesn’t know the other kids. He has overcome his obstacles and made the team, making the team is the final climax. Your reader should already see from his actions he’s elated, you need to wrap up the story without summarizing.

Example Ending

Walking off the field after the first practice, Ray joked with the other players and made plans for the weekend.

You’ve now brought closure to his other obstacle of not knowing the other kids and you’ve placed him on the practice field without summarizing the story.

Tips to Remember

• Your story should get off to a quick start, with a hint of the conflict to come.
• “Show, don’t tell”
• Your story should build to a climax that resolves your main conflict.
• Your main character is the one resolving the main conflict.
• Avoid summarizing the theme of the story and let your readers draw their own conclusions.
• Finally, does your title pique the reader’s interest?

You’ve ended your story and left the reader satisfied great job! Keep writing.

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