All too often, the budding author finds that his tale has run its course and yet he sees no way to satisfactorily end it, or, in literary parlance, “wrap it up.” Observe how easily I resolve this problem:
Suddenly, everyone was run over by a truck.
-the end-
If the story happens to be set in England, use the same ending, slightly modified:
Suddenly, everyone was run over by a lorry.
-the end-
If set in France:
Soudainement, tout le monde etait écrasé par un camion.
-finis-
You’ll be surprised at how many different settings and situations this ending applies to. For instance, if you were writing a story about ants, it would end “Suddenly, everyone was run over by a centipede.” In fact, this is the only ending you ever need use.¹
¹ Warning - if you are writing a story about trucks, do not have the trucks run over by a truck. Have the trucks run over by a mammoth truck.
Sorry if I spoiled the ending of a 70+ year old book series. 😉
The worst are the books that just don’t have an ending. I had that with Stephen King’s “Cell”. Fantastic premise, an alien information virus hijacks cell phone signals to turn people into mindless zombies building something.
What are they building? 🤷♂️
Were the heroes successful in stopping it? 🤷♂️
What the hell happened? 🤷♂️
It’s like King went “Oh, shit, the deadline is today? Fine, pack it up and ship it.”
For the film version they had to invent a new ending because the book just doesn’t have one, it stops, but no ending.
https://www.workableweb.com/_pages/tips_how_to_write_good.htm
That’s how the Narnia books end funnily enough.
“And everyone died in a train crash, the end!”
Sorry if I spoiled the ending of a 70+ year old book series. 😉
The worst are the books that just don’t have an ending. I had that with Stephen King’s “Cell”. Fantastic premise, an alien information virus hijacks cell phone signals to turn people into mindless zombies building something.
What are they building? 🤷♂️
Were the heroes successful in stopping it? 🤷♂️
What the hell happened? 🤷♂️
It’s like King went “Oh, shit, the deadline is today? Fine, pack it up and ship it.”
For the film version they had to invent a new ending because the book just doesn’t have one, it stops, but no ending.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(novel)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(film)
In Japan, being run over by a truck is merely the start of the story.
Yu Yu Hakusho
Is getting hit by a truck really the end? Or just the beginning?
Isekai genre: Allow me to introduce myself.