Heart of Story: part IV Resolution

Resolution

Now we come to what I consider the true art of storytelling and writing.  Resolution is not just the end of the story.  A true resolution does several things.  First, and foremost, it resolves the conflicts, or most of them.  It ties everything together: character arcs, foreshadowing, the major conflicts and any promises made to the reader.  It wows the reader with a surprising, yet inevitable plot twist that makes the book memorable and buzzworthy (makes readers talk to other readers which is free advertising and drives sales).  It leaves the reader wanting more.  Even if you don’t plan a sequel or series, if the reader turns the last page and feels a pang of loss, then you’ve hooked them for life.

I’m not sure that anyone can teach you how to do this.  It’s part intuition, part talent, lots of trial and error, learned writing skill, practice and the ability to anticipate what your reader expects so that you can surprise them.

I’m primarily a discovery writer but I rarely have to go back and add foreshadowing to make my plot twists work.  Usually I throw out bits and pieces throughout the story, which is told to me by my characters who shape and guide it towards the events that I know need to happen.  These things usually come to me as ways to add color and interest to the story initially but serve as road maps along the journey.  Towards the ending I find ways to make them tie together that aren’t predictable or cliché.  This is a gamble because I might not be able to pull it off when the time comes.  All writing is a gamble, just like anything else where success isn’t certain.  I’ve tried to go to the bathroom before, and failed.  Nothing is certain.

When I succeed in wrapping everything together in the end, the road signs I made for myself throughout the story to lead me here now serve as foreshadowing for the reader.  Of course, anything that doesn’t work with the ending can be cut out in the editing process or changed to fit.  This is called retroactive foreshadowing and I’ve learned that a lot of writers do this.  Of course, they would never tell their fans this while being hailed as a storytelling genius, which they might be but not nearly so impressive were the real truth known.  We damned magicians and our fancy tricks.

A true resolution has to be a satisfying end to the book.  Even if the hero dies, it has to feel right.  It has to be dramatic.  Above all, it must make sense.  If the end sucks, no matter how good the rest of the story was, the book sucks.  There are books I wish I would have stopped reading half way through.  If the last thing I feel is disappointment then that will color the entire book and that's all I will walk away with.

So just some tips on Resolution

• It must solve the major conflict of the book. 
• If writing a series of books with an over all meta-plot, the each book must have a major conflict for the characters to solve that move him closer to overcoming the conflict/s that the entire series revolves around.  Your hero can’t defeat the big baddy in the first book but he can overcome his acrophobia as he fights a major minion on a rooftop.
• The Resolution needs to relate to something that happened earlier in the story.  It could be something that seemed innocuous at the time but turns out to be very important later.  This is foreshadowing and it can be placed in the story once you figure out the end, if that helps.
• Leave the reader wanting more:
• By leaving the book open for a sequel.  Maybe you’ll never get to that book.  For example: the villain is defeated and we see the hero trying to get back to his normal life and, just when he feels like there’s hope of putting the pieces back together, he hears someone in the dark, wet streets casually whistling the villian’s favorite song.  The End.  
• By wrapping up every loose thread so well that you leave them breathless and amazed.  Easier said than done. 
• One way to do this is take notes while you read your story for events, major or minor, that cause the reader to ask questions.  Why does he see a cat that no one else can see?  Why did his ex girl friend call him at 4 am and not leave a message?  Who is the man that pulled him from the burning wreckage? 
• You now need to decide if you can answer these questions within the events of your ending. 
• Do these events drive the story? 
• Do you want to even deal with them and, if not, take them out!  Never invite your reader to ask a question that you can’t, won’t or don’t answer.  The question is interest in your story and you must pay it off.  If not in this book then in the next but you then need to reassure your reader that you will pay it off in the next book.  That’s back to sequels, though I guess.
• Make it surprising yet inevitable.  If you look back through the story from the ending, it must seem like it couldn’t have ending any other way but, until then, it was a complete surprise when it came.

This ends the Heart of Story series.  This was from a guide on writing a friend asked me to put together for him years ago.  Though the friend never wrote a single word nor did anything with his life, it really helped me to order my thoughts and those I’ve collected from the experts in genre fiction that I look up to.  I hope it helps others.

I’m not sure where this blog will go next but I promise to keep it relevant.  Any suggestions or questions are welcome here or through email. 

TheCR.rowe@gmail.com

Listening to: The Police- Every Little Thing She Does is Magic