The Reformed Writer

You know what? Part of what makes Lord of the Rings so great is that Tolkien knows how to end a story. You’ve been on this massive 1,200-page adventure and it has been sometimes joyous and funny and sometimes dark and hopeless, but crucially the story doesn’t end with everything just going back to the way things were before–because the world can’t come through a story like that unscathed and neither can the people who took part in it. It’s a good ending because it’s not a completely happy one. Momentous events should have consequences, and if you don’t let the reader have those along with the happiness and hope you’ve done them a sort of injustice. So take that lesson on storytelling from Tolkien. Write good endings. Write whole endings. Write real endings. Happiness is only part of that.