How To Write A Book...Step 5: Happily Ever After

When we last left Snow White, we had a lot of questions to be answered. What will happen to her? Will she ever be woken up?

In your climax, you will have a lot of questions as well. The job of the solution and aftermath is to answer those questions, as well as clean up loose ends (unless you're planning a sequel, of course ;). In a good solution and aftermath, the reader will see the problem solved and what happens to the characters afterward.

Remember in Step 2, where I said I could never decide if the beginning was more important than the end of the story or vice versa? I talked about the importance of the beginning; now I'm going to talk about the end.

The end will be the last thing your readers will read. It will be their goodbye to the characters (until they read the book again, of course). It will be what they remember when they are asked how they liked your book. It's crucial that your ending is well written.

Of course, on your first draft if you can't find the perfect ending then it's okay. But you definitely need to find it sometime.

Now, the ending of our example: 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' by Brothers Grimm.

D: The Solution and the Aftermath
1. A prince discovers Snow White's coffin.
2. He suggests to the dwarfs that he takes Snow White back to his castle, and there he can find a doctor who could wake her up.
3. The prince kisses her, breaking the spell, and Snow White wakes up.
4. She marries the prince and goes to live in his castle, but once in a while she still visits the dwarfs.

___ ___ ___ ___

Then one evening, they discovered a strange young man admiring Snow White's lovely face through the glass. After listening to the story, the Prince (for he was a prince!) made a suggestion.

"If you allow me to take her to the Castle, I'll call in famous doctors to waken her from this peculiar sleep. She's so lovely I'd love to kiss her!" He did, and as though by magic, the Prince's kiss broke the spell. To everyone's astonishment, Snow White opened her eyes. She had amazingly come back to life! Now in love, the Prince asked Snow White to marry him, and the dwarfs reluctantly had to say good bye to Snow White.

From that day on, Snow White lived happily in a great castle. But from time to time, she was drawn back to visit the little cottage down in the forest.

___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Whew! Thank goodness the prince came along! If it wasn't for that solution, Snow White would be lying in a coffin in a forest to this very day!

The solution and the aftermath offers one last glimpse into what happens to Snow White and the seven dwarfs: Snow White marries her rescuer and lives in a magnificent castle, but she still visits the dwarfs that sheltered her from her stepmother. Everything is nicely tied up, and we can say goodbye knowing our characters lived happily ever after.

Of course, there's a lot more to writing a book than having an organized plot (style, strong characters, themes, and other things that will/have been expanded on in other posts), but having an idea of where your going is the first step in a great story.

Yours without wax,

Izori