A logical and satisfying ending is always required in a short story, but how do you make sure yours is fresh and new? One of the ways is to avoid the obvious. Here are some common endings seen by editors – use at your own risk.
And then I woke up.
The ‘Dallas’ gambit. This approach is nothing more than a loophole for people without imagination. Stories should come to a logical conclusion that satisfies the reader and resolves any conflicts. Neither does this method.
And then I died.
The ‘Weird Tales’ tactic. This appeared regularly in horror stories during the first part of the last century, until HP Lovecraft, among others, surpassed it. A diary that ends with a string of nonsense words as a creeping terror from beyond the grave reaches out to the author was fine the first time, but most editors have seen it one too many times.
And I found out that he had been dead the whole time.
The ‘sixth sense’ tactic. This one is old, which is why people who knew the genre well spotted the twist very early on in M Night Shyamalan’s movie. An overused variation is to have someone climb out of a coffin after a supposedly premature burial. Do not do it; the editor will see it coming from a mile away.
And they were called Adam and Eve.
The ‘Bible’ gambit or, as Michael Moorcock says, the Shaggy God stories. If you start with a nuclear holocaust or human settlers on a new planet, make sure you don’t use this ending or the story will be thrown right back at you. The other pitfall to avoid is a computer becoming a god. That route was new in the 1940s, but these days an editor will laugh in his chair.
And then I saw the fangs, right before it bit me.
The ‘pick up singles bar’ gambit. With this worn ending, a person visits a bar and is seduced by an interesting, pale stranger who turns out to be a vampire, ghost, werewolf, or alien. You see various variations today, like same-gender reunions and graphic pre-reveal sex scenes, but the stories are all the same and the editors know it.
And then I caught up with the ‘@!* that had hurt me and I shot the @’!**.
The ‘Death Wish’ gambit is the beloved technique of Michael Winner’s fanatics and gun maniacs. It’s a very boring story unless you can bring style, energy and a unique vision to it, in which case you’d probably be better off trying to sell it as a movie treatment. There is a long tradition of revenge movies, but in the written word they all seem very similar. A variant of this scheme is the Charles Atlas gambit, where the weed nerd becomes a kung-fu expert to get revenge on the torturers of him. He is not tempted to use this angle. Publishers will know what’s coming.
And the next day I read in the newspaper that he had died.
The ‘talked to a ghost’ tactic. This practice appeared frequently in Victorian literature. Usually, it is nothing more than an anecdote turned into history. Variations include talking to someone who is later found to be the victim of a plane crash, car accident, or major catastrophe. Editors see a lot of these after a natural disaster, but whatever the cause of the person’s death, the stories are all the same.
And it was a man in a mask the whole time.
The ‘Scooby-Doo’ tactic. Claim phantoms are a cliché. The entire story builds up a sense of supernatural menace, only to reveal a human agency behind it all. Usually it won’t get past the editor, but if he does, readers will be disappointed and disillusioned.
And he was my evil twin; We were separated at birth.
The ‘doppelganger’ tactic. Stephen King got away with it in The Dark Half and Dean Koontz pulled off a variation by making both twins evil in Shivers, but unless you have their flair and wit, you shouldn’t try this. Another variation, loved by the romantics among us, is to have the protagonist discover that he is actually the son, daughter, or brother of a wealthy family. This mode is really just wishful thinking on behalf of the writer. You shouldn’t share your dreams with publishers.
I really am a dog/cat/demon/alien.
The ‘non-human narrator’ gambit is tried and tested. That’s the problem. If you don’t leave any clues about the fact, the reader will feel that the ending is an evasion. If you leave clues, the reader and your editor will realize that the end is near, unless you are very good at disguising the fact.
Remember, people have been writing stories for a long time. If you’ve read a similar ending in a story or seen it in a movie, you can bet the editor will know about it too. There are only so many original endings to go around; make sure yours is one of them.