Scenes Are Your Stepping Stones – Part IV: The Scene Ending

A scene’s ending should leave the reader with more information about the plot than he had when the scene began. But it should also leave the reader wanting more. Tall order!

How can this be done successfully? A scene must be a conclusion—to a conversation or a date, perhaps. Maybe the scene ends a life or a job—something life-changing—and the MC has to ask himself where he goes from there.  

Or, perhaps, the ending of the scene is unresolved—a cliff hanger—leaving the reader asking questions. All of these are legitimate scene endings and it is up to you, the writer, to decide which is needed.

In any case, scene endings fall into one of two categories, according to Ms. Rosenfeld (1). These two are the “zoom-in” and the “zoom-out”—one is the camera close-up, the other the wide perspective. Both can be effective if they meet your scene intentions.

The Zoom-in Ending

An ending “that invites intimacy or emotional contact with the characters and their plight at the end of a scene has a zoom-in effect” for the reader, drawing her in close, even uncomfortably close (2). Included in these zoom-in endings are:

• Character Summaries: Characters summarize events that have come before using interior monologues or simple dialogue. This ending allows the reader to measure the character’s “emotional pulse”. However, this is not the end of the dilemma—that’s saved for the end of the novel!
• Revelatory Dialogue: “Revelations create drama and tension in your scenes.”(3) The end of a scene is a great place to reveal a sudden or surprising piece of information. What if the man regarded as innocent in a crime suddenly admits guilt on a witness stand? This kind of revelation will “focus in on the character and build suspense for the next scene”. (4)
• The Cliffhanger Ending: These endings “leave the reader on the edge” and not knowing the outcome will make her turn the page. For instance, the MC is in danger; action is cut short just before the big reveal; your MC’s perception of reality is challenged, leaving both the MC and the reader turned upside down. The one common factor in these endings is suspense, which literally can “pump adrenaline into the reader’s heart”.  (5) By the way, the cliffhanger chapter ending is used often in juvenile books to keep the young reader turning the page.

The Zoom-out Ending

This type of ending pulls away from intimacy and can give the reader emotional relief after a tough, intense scene. He can now catch his breath and think about what has happened.

• Visual Descriptions: These passages help ground the reader in the present and the writer must do this using the senses to create the mood needed. These endings usually follow action scenes.

• If the scene contains a fight scene, then the visual pull-back may show the MC beaten and lying in the street.
• The MC has just received a letter that is emotionally devastating. The visual description of the calm around her offers a contrast to her inner turmoil.
• In other words, “by using the senses, you leave a physical impression on the reader” that he will take with him into the next scene. (6)

• Philosophical Musings: These endings reflect on events in the scene and may lead into a scene (or several scenes) with a philosophical bent. They explore thematic undercurrents of the novel, often using simile and metaphor, and are always from the point of view of the character most important to the scene. This type of ending works best:

• When the novel is in first person and the MC has already established a philosophizing nature;
• When the novel has a strong redemptive/empowerment/loss theme;
• And if the novel is more character driven than action oriented.

• The Conclusive Ending: Sometimes a scene just needs to end. It doesn’t need to hint at things to come, or “lend thematic resonance”. “Its job is just to conclude something that has happened or to tie up a plot point.” (7)

These endings answer questions posed during the scene; unmask murderers; give the results of the paternity test—whatever is needed to end the scene in a straightforward manner. Of course, these scenes are not the “ultimate end” of the story or novel. They just conclude “plotlines set in motion by the significant situation”. (8)

Choose your scene ending to ensure that the mood, the pace, and the plot are satisfying to the reader and keeping him turning the pages.

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Next Month: Stepping Stones – Part V: Scene Types

1. Rosenfeld, Jordan E. Make a Scene. Writer’s Digest Books: Cincinnati, OH, 2008.
2. Ibid., pg. 30.
3. Ibid., pg. 31
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., pg. 32.
7. Ibid., pg. 35
8. Ibid., pg. 36