6 TYPES OF MOST POPULAR STORY ENDING IN NOVEL WRITING
In writing novels, short stories, romances or any literary works of fiction, there are at least 6 types of story endings that are the most popular. You can easily find these 6 types of endings in many extraordinary works, both by Indonesian and international writers.
So, what are the 6 types of story endings and how do you
write them?
The 6 Most Common Types of Story Ending in Novel, Short Story and Movies
When talking about the types of endings for films, novels or
any story, there are at least 10 types of endings that can be practiced.
However, if this number is narrowed down again as the most popular type of
story ending, then there are only six types of endings that are commonly practiced.
Ending is the final chapter of the story where the writer
closes the story they tell. As an ending, the ending should be able to answer
the various problems presented in the story. Interestingly, in practice the
ending itself is not the case.
Some endings may answer all existing conflicts with a
complete resolution. While the other endings are the opposite. But the point
is, the ending is a writer's way of closing their story, regardless of the
techniques and consequences.
Some of the most widely used endings to close a story itself
are as follows:
Complete Ending or Resolved Ending
"In the end they lived happily forever"
"Prince Frog then turned into a human after getting
a kiss from Princes, then he took beautiful princes to the palace and they
married and lived as queens of the king until the end of life"
Those are two examples of happy endings in stories that you
certainly often hear. In addition to being examples of stories that have a
happy ending, the two examples above are also examples of endings being
resolved.
So, what exactly is meant by the complete ending?
Complete ending is a term I use personally. However, the
meaning of ending resolved is where the end of the story is able to answer all
the conflicts that occur and leave no other questions in the mind of the reader
(completed).
But remember, the ending is complete or the ending resolved
does not have to be a happy ending. Under certain conditions, the complete
ending can also be in the form of a bad ending, sad ending or tragic ending.
But the point is, a resolved ending leaves no more questions
about the continuation of the story, characters and plot after the ending is
written.
Unfinished Ending or Unresolved Ending
"Then about what, Mas?" Elya's heart was
pounding with curiosity.
"The South Peak that the Tatras and Derrick climbed
a month ago collapsed..."
"Oh ..., then, Mas Sulis?" Elya nodded, she
couldn't understand what Sulis really meant, but she felt as if her chest
suddenly tightened.
"Tatras is climbing it, Ms. Elya. He's been there for
three days."
This time, Sulis' words seemed as if the right lightning hit
Elya's head, her vision suddenly dark, the cellphone in her hand was released,
Elya suddenly fell unconscious.
"Elya!"
Elya's ears could still catch her mother's screams, Merlin's
and Tatiana's screams at the same time. He also still felt that there were
several hands trying to lift his body. But Elya couldn't see anything, her
world seemed to have turned so dark and dense.
Merapi Barat Daya – Anton Sujarwo
I can confidently tell the readers of the Writer's blog that
the novel Merapi Barat Daya is an example of a story ending with an unresolved
ending. The end of this story does end one main conflict in the story but also
opens another, bigger conflict.
In addition to using the term unresolved ending, this kind
of ending is also often referred to as a cliffhanger ending or a hanging
ending.
The practice is that when the story ends, there are still
questions in the reader's mind about what really happened to the characters,
what happened next in the plot, and so on.
In other words, an unresolved ending or an unfinished ending
that still leaves tension even though the story itself has ended.
Expanded Ending
The main characteristic of this type of ending is the use of
an epilogue as a closing story. So, after the main conflict ended, the writer
added a small part that was placed at the end of the story which actually made
the horizon of the story wider and farther.
If you're writing a story that has a complicated plot and
might not be easy for all readers to understand, using an epilogue is a great
ending to choose. In an epilogue you can reframe your story to convey its most
important message to the reader.
An extended ending is simply a way of ending a story by
expanding its own narrative which in many cases involves a time jump, a
perspective jump, as well as a storytelling point of view.
One of the interesting advantages of using the expanded
ending is that you have the opportunity to answer questions that may not have
been answered in the main story. For example, what is the fate of the
characters in the story 10 years later and so on.
An interesting example that you can find about the expanded
ending is the novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
Surprise Ending or Unexpected Ending
Creating a surprise ending is a serious challenge in writing
a story of any genre. It takes a original and natural condition to create an
unexpected ending because without a natural impression, a surprise ending is
not liked by many readers.
Surprise ending really presents an ending that surprises the
reader, which is completely unexpected. The characteristic of a good story
ending in the context of this kind of surprise ending, it should not feel
forced.
When conflict resolution is carried out with pressure that
is too forced, the appeal of the story will evaporate. Giving a story ending by
presenting something that came out of nowhere and suddenly can solve
everything, is a bad idea.
So, again if you want to choose a surprise ending in your
story, do it naturally.
An example of a good ending for the category of a surprise
ending as well as an unresolved ending is the Merapi Barat Daya novel.
Confusing Ending or Ambiguous Ending
Confusing endings or ambiguous endings have a way of working
that may be almost the same as cliffhanger endings. But in essence, the
substance of the two types of endings is very different.
The hanging ending or unresolved ending is the end of a
story that leaves questions in the reader's mind about what will happen next
because the tension of the story is not over. This can be in terms of the
characters, the plot or the conflict.
While the ambiguous ending does not leave such tension but
leaves questions in the reader's mind about the actual ending of the story.
In ambiguous endings, the interpretation between one reader
and another can be different.
Interestingly, ambiguous ending is also considered as the
only type of story ending that invites the reader to enter more into the story
to interpret the ending of the conflict.
In films, there are many examples of this kind of ambiguous
and confusing ending.
Some examples that you might be able to prove, for example,
are; The Thing (1983), Enemy (2013), Inception (2010), and
Blade Runner (1982).
Circle Ending
This is the kind of ending that takes the reader back to the
beginning of the story. Horror stories, thrillers are generally the most widely
adopted this kind of ending.
In the circle ending, you will see the last parts of the
closing sentence of the story that directs you as a reader to the beginning of
the story. In other words, the circle ending will end the story where they started
the story before. Just like a circle.
A fairly popular example of the use of this circle ending is
the hitman series entitled Wrong Turn.
In this film you can see that the villains are always the
opening and closing of the film.
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