I especially appreciate your detailed advice. I often watch one of your videos just before writing because they always make me feel like I have a new angle to approach my story.
All is still as I look at the wooden dock, the little sand beach, the… “Where’s the canoe?!” - Ending of Chapter 6 of my Novella: Hold my Beer, An Apocalypse 😊
This is wonderful! I’m not a fiction writer, but I’m very sold 2 million+ copies of my computer programming books, by trying to use fiction principles. I started by adapting Save The Cat. Yes, the publisher thought this was absurd 😊. I leaned heavily on ending chapters with a question/mystery to help pull them through to the next chapter, but what you laid out in this video are simple and compelling ways for me (and my co-authors) to apply this 🙏
Pleased to say I'm already way ahead in the game with these techniques to ensure there's never a dull moment or a too-well rounded ending. From the ending of my first chapter in my recently published debut fantasy novel 'The Meijadin Revelations': Berthold sat up and pressed his hands into the cover, its waxy texture almost sensual like the touch of a woman’s flesh. Suddenly it all made sense. Give such lofty ambition the respect it deserves by speaking it into words, and maybe it will happen. A small smile cornered his lips as he sat cross-legged on his bed, basking in herb-augmented communion with his prized possession. With this, he began again, now sure of the words to come. ‘I could…’ The words simmered on his lips like the steaming quench of freshly-hammered steel. ‘Conquer the world.’
The stories whose endings I remember most is the open endings. Like a villain whom survived the final fight stating that it is his turn, or the main character is lost but not dead and his second-in-command replace him, or it is unclear but unlikely that a marriage will survive that the wife learned about her husband's adultry during the story.
The first two sound like cliffhangers which better get a sequel lol. This is only a personal thing, but while an open ending can work for me, a poorly done one will make me regret reading to the end wanting these to be resolved. It feels cheap. Forced, intentionally unfinished in a bad way, especially if the characters get the answer but it ends just before we do. I hate that stuff
I am currently revising my novel and will implement these principles. So, thank you for this video. I will watch it more than once to remind me as I work on each scene.
I try most of the time to end my chapters at a suspenseful moment. Not always possible but hopefully engaging enough for the reader to keep going. Good advice to keep in mind for my current WIP.
Good tips. I'm reading court of thorns and roses now and maybe it's because I'm a male reader but I'm starting to get annoyed by the constant angst which at first I found to be strong undersranding of character voice. I think there's a balance to be had with dramatic chapter endings
In my WIP, Chapter XX: “Santiana”, ends like this: She dug her nails into the wood. Pushing, she hoisted herself out of her chair. Not a sound escaped her lips-not even a strained breath-as she pulled herself up onto the rails. She hung over the side on her stomach, her limp legs dangling behind her. Maybe this was it. Maybe this was how she’ll get her wish. Harper shut her eyes. And she let herself fall forward.
I don't worry about "chapters". I write the story without thinking about them and put them in after. They are not written separately and then assembled. They divide the story at the natural breaks, but the story is seamless. The story should hold the reader's attention and never quit. the "chapter breaks are there as a reference to help the reader keep their place.
Here is the end of my Chapter 1: He hit send, then turned back to the device. With steady hands, he began to disassemble it, packing each component carefully into his tool kit. Tomorrow, under the guise of routine maintenance, he would plant the seeds of revolution. As he worked, Marvin whispered to himself, echoing Vogler's words: "For the Belt. For our future." Above, on the surface, Psyche Station hummed with life, oblivious to the betrayal in its midst. And deep in the crevice, a community slept, unaware that their world was about to change. The revolution was coming, and there would be no turning back.
There's an interesting word: Unputdownable :) A nice video as always and very inputable :D Here's an ending of one chapter in my recent book: "As he watched the shoreline recede, a chilling thought gripped him. He had escaped for now, but the amulet hidden in his pocket pulsed faintly, as if echoing the whispers of unseen forces."
I received that compliment for my first two novels. They were published initially as ebooks and now have been published through Amazon as both ebooks and hardcovers. Another good but unique compliment that I received for my first novel: While reading my book, a woman would burst into giggling fits at the humor I'd injected into several scenes. Her husband - who doesn't read for pleasure - became intrigued, and he started reading over her shoulder. Not long after he started doing this, the book went missing. It turns out that her husband borrowed the book and took it to work. His laughter piqued the interest of his coworkers so much that he ended up reading my novel aloud to them. Only after he'd read the whole book for them did he return it to his wife so she could finish reading it. She ran into me a couple of months later, and she told me this story. I walked on air the rest of that day. And I was so tickled that I still remember this story about two decades later.
Here's one part. In my story the main character asks a Werewolf he just saved if he killed his Fiance, he shows him her picure, the Werewolf man answers "No, but I know who did". End chapter.
Ms. Matesic I've been following your advice for some time now. I hope this makes the cut. Thanks in advance. "The gravel crunches softly behind Max. An innocent sound he has heard countless times. This time, though, its convenience reeks of pure menace."
This was so helpful, thank you! Here's one of the chapter endings in my book: "Secure in the fact everything was locked up tight, I turned off the lights and went upstairs with the echo of the voices haunting my mind."
Before watching the video, I will assume that "Super glue surface cover" is the best answer. My book might be terrible, but try to read something else if you're glued to the pages, literally.
I especially appreciate your detailed advice. I often watch one of your videos just before writing because they always make me feel like I have a new angle to approach my story.
All is still as I look at the wooden dock, the little sand beach, the… “Where’s the canoe?!” - Ending of Chapter 6 of my Novella: Hold my Beer, An Apocalypse 😊
This is a great example!
This is wonderful! I’m not a fiction writer, but I’m very sold 2 million+ copies of my computer programming books, by trying to use fiction principles. I started by adapting Save The Cat. Yes, the publisher thought this was absurd 😊. I leaned heavily on ending chapters with a question/mystery to help pull them through to the next chapter, but what you laid out in this video are simple and compelling ways for me (and my co-authors) to apply this 🙏
Pleased to say I'm already way ahead in the game with these techniques to ensure there's never a dull moment or a too-well rounded ending. From the ending of my first chapter in my recently published debut fantasy novel 'The Meijadin Revelations':
Berthold sat up and pressed his hands into the cover, its waxy texture almost sensual like the touch of a woman’s flesh. Suddenly it all made sense. Give such lofty ambition the respect it deserves by speaking it into words, and maybe it will happen. A small smile cornered his lips as he sat cross-legged on his bed, basking in herb-augmented communion with his prized possession. With this, he began again, now sure of the words to come.
‘I could…’
The words simmered on his lips like the steaming quench of freshly-hammered steel.
‘Conquer the world.’
The stories whose endings I remember most is the open endings. Like a villain whom survived the final fight stating that it is his turn, or the main character is lost but not dead and his second-in-command replace him, or it is unclear but unlikely that a marriage will survive that the wife learned about her husband's adultry during the story.
The first two sound like cliffhangers which better get a sequel lol. This is only a personal thing, but while an open ending can work for me, a poorly done one will make me regret reading to the end wanting these to be resolved. It feels cheap. Forced, intentionally unfinished in a bad way, especially if the characters get the answer but it ends just before we do. I hate that stuff
@@m8rs558 In the first case it was intended to be a cliffhanger but the next season was cancelled. The second was the ending.
This is such good advice while I’m knee deep in developmental edits. So good as always.
I am currently revising my novel and will implement these principles. So, thank you for this video. I will watch it more than once to remind me as I work on each scene.
I try most of the time to end my chapters at a suspenseful moment. Not always possible but hopefully engaging enough for the reader to keep going. Good advice to keep in mind for my current WIP.
This one was invaluable, thank you!
Great Advice!, Thanks
Good tips. I'm reading court of thorns and roses now and maybe it's because I'm a male reader but I'm starting to get annoyed by the constant angst which at first I found to be strong undersranding of character voice. I think there's a balance to be had with dramatic chapter endings
In my WIP, Chapter XX: “Santiana”, ends like this:
She dug her nails into the wood. Pushing, she hoisted herself out of her chair. Not a sound escaped her lips-not even a strained breath-as she pulled herself up onto the rails. She hung over the side on her stomach, her limp legs dangling behind her.
Maybe this was it. Maybe this was how she’ll get her wish. Harper shut her eyes.
And she let herself fall forward.
I don't worry about "chapters". I write the story without thinking about them and put them in after. They are not written separately and then assembled. They divide the story at the natural breaks, but the story is seamless. The story should hold the reader's attention and never quit. the "chapter breaks are there as a reference to help the reader keep their place.
“Time to go.”
“Back to the temple?”
“Yes, and no.”
Fallin glanced up at him, the question left unasked.
“We have somewhere else to go.”
Nice example - we want to know where that "somewhere else" is!
I've already been doing this in my writing. Something I learned from watching 24 (TV series) in which every episode ended as a cliffhanger.
I learned this a while back.
Here is the end of my Chapter 1:
He hit send, then turned back to the device. With steady hands, he began to disassemble it, packing each component carefully into his tool kit. Tomorrow, under the guise of routine maintenance, he would plant the seeds of revolution.
As he worked, Marvin whispered to himself, echoing Vogler's words: "For the Belt. For our future."
Above, on the surface, Psyche Station hummed with life, oblivious to the betrayal in its midst. And deep in the crevice, a community slept, unaware that their world was about to change. The revolution was coming, and there would be no turning back.
most of my scenes end with thr MC sleeping, and start when she wakes up, but that's because I narrate everything else she does lol
There's an interesting word: Unputdownable :) A nice video as always and very inputable :D
Here's an ending of one chapter in my recent book:
"As he watched the shoreline recede, a chilling thought gripped him. He had escaped for now, but the amulet hidden in his pocket pulsed faintly, as if echoing the whispers of unseen forces."
I received that compliment for my first two novels. They were published initially as ebooks and now have been published through Amazon as both ebooks and hardcovers.
Another good but unique compliment that I received for my first novel:
While reading my book, a woman would burst into giggling fits at the humor I'd injected into several scenes. Her husband - who doesn't read for pleasure - became intrigued, and he started reading over her shoulder. Not long after he started doing this, the book went missing.
It turns out that her husband borrowed the book and took it to work. His laughter piqued the interest of his coworkers so much that he ended up reading my novel aloud to them. Only after he'd read the whole book for them did he return it to his wife so she could finish reading it.
She ran into me a couple of months later, and she told me this story. I walked on air the rest of that day. And I was so tickled that I still remember this story about two decades later.
Is it okay to query an agent with the same manuscript if you've made heavy revisions?
Here's one part. In my story the main character asks a Werewolf he just saved if he killed his Fiance, he shows him her picure, the Werewolf man answers "No, but I know who did". End chapter.
Love this! It's a great example of posing a question - now the reader wants to keep reading to learn who did it.
Ms. Matesic I've been following your advice for some time now. I hope this makes the cut. Thanks in advance.
"The gravel crunches softly behind Max.
An innocent sound he has heard countless times. This time, though, its convenience reeks of pure menace."
This was so helpful, thank you! Here's one of the chapter endings in my book: "Secure in the fact everything was locked up tight, I turned off the lights and went upstairs with the echo of the voices haunting my mind."
First! Your great!
Thanks so much!
how about "impossible to put down" lol
One of my chapters ends with, "And then what he remembers next is pure black."
Before watching the video, I will assume that "Super glue surface cover" is the best answer. My book might be terrible, but try to read something else if you're glued to the pages, literally.
“She closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep. Just then, an alien spacecraft arrived and forty-two bloodthirsty Krangires stepped onto Earth.”
Talk about a dramatic turn of events! Nice!