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Blogs by Deanie Humphrys-Dunne
When your Ending Meets the Beginning of your Children's Stroy
2/7/2012 10:54:49 AM
Imagine you’ve worked for months to hone your perfect children’s story. You’ve paid attention to important details. You’ve made sure that your main character has learned important lessons during her journey. The opening of your story has action to hold the interest of your readers. But what can you do about the ending? You don’t want to tell your readers everything, but you want them to have a hopeful feeling when they finish your book. You might prefer to end your story “organically.” What does that mean? The word “organic” brings vegetables and fruits to mind, doesn’t it? But in writing, “organic” means that you create a natural ending for your story. Sometimes you may choose to refer back to the beginning of the story and have the ending tied to that. For example, for my first story, Tails of Sweetbrier, I began by asking the reader a question. The question I chose was this:”Have you ever wanted to be able to do something, but you came across a roadblock of some kind?” Asking a question will peak the reader’s interest. Immediately, the child will wonder what kind of obstacles were going to be described in the story. They’ll want to know whether the “roadblock” was such a big thing that it couldn’t be overcome. In the end, I chose to tie it neatly together by encouraging my readers to never give up on their dreams. I told them, “You have the power to make your dreams come true so reach for them and don’t accept anything less! “ It’s an ending that inspires children that they can overcome anything if they persevere.
You may also decide to start your story with the main character dreaming. You could describe the details of the dream vividly and have your character wake at the end of the story. There can be all sorts of mysterious, scary events, but when your character awakes, he may be glad to find it was all just a dream. Or some parts of the dream can actually happen. You have so many different ways that you can craft your story. Always be sure that your ending fits the beginning. It’s possible that your ending doesn’t fit with the beginning any longer because you’ve opted to change things along the way. It’s most important that all of the pieces of your story make sense when you’ve finished your masterpiece. Keep in mind that you don’t have to tell your readers the lessons your main character has learned. You can show how much your character has grown. Maybe Tessa was always afraid of the water, but she had to jump in to save her best friend, Cara. Your readers will cheer for Tessa because she overcame her greatest fear.
In summary, remember these things when you’re building the perfect ending:
1. Does the ending fit the opening? Does it fit the rest of the story?
2. Does the ending show that your main character matured in some way?
3. Does the ending leave your reader with a sense of hope or encouragement?
4. Did you remember to show your reader that your character has changed in a positive way?
If you remember some of these hints to polish the ending to your story, it will help you put the finishing touches on your wonderful story.
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More Blogs by Deanie Humphrys-Dunne
• Important Hints on Writing an Outstanding Query Letter - Sunday, April 28, 2013
• What is theme? Do you Need Ideas? - Monday, March 04, 2013
• Looking for the Key to Success? Here it is! - Friday, March 01, 2013
• Writing for Children? Will Someone Steal your Work? - Saturday, December 29, 2012
• Writing for Children? Adding Conflict - Monday, November 19, 2012
• Writing for Children? Be Sure your Character Grows - Monday, October 15, 2012
• Another Amazing Olympian, Hiroshi Hoketsu - Tuesday, July 31, 2012
• Interesting Happening from the Olympics - Monday, July 30, 2012
• Kieran Behan, A Winner Against All Odds - Sunday, July 29, 2012
• The Opening Ceremony - Saturday, July 28, 2012
• Go USA Olympians! - Friday, July 27, 2012
• Who Should Publish Your Story? - Thursday, July 26, 2012
• Five Important Truths About Rejection and Your Children’s Book - Wednesday, July 25, 2012
• A Look at the Inspiring life of Children's Author, Carla Burke - Tuesday, July 24, 2012
• Making your Characters Memorable - Monday, July 23, 2012
• Bored with Writing? What to do Next - Sunday, July 22, 2012
• We're bored, now what? - Saturday, July 21, 2012
• Where do you Find Ideas for Your Children's Stories ? - Friday, July 20, 2012
• Beginners Guide to Creating the Pefect Children's Story - Thursday, July 19, 2012
• What is conflict and why is it Important to your Story? - Wednesday, July 18, 2012
• Have you Ever Heard of Easton, CT? - Tuesday, July 17, 2012
• Conquering "Pikes Peak" - Monday, July 16, 2012
• Keys to Success in your Children's Story - Sunday, July 15, 2012
• Why Setting Goals is Important - Saturday, July 14, 2012
• Reaching Beyond Your Goals Through Therapeutic Riding - Friday, July 13, 2012
• Top Three Reasons why you Should Persevere - Thursday, July 12, 2012
• Random Things About Me - Wednesday, July 11, 2012
• Cody Jackson, Pint Sized Patriot - Tuesday, July 10, 2012
• A Shout Out to my Readers! - Monday, July 09, 2012
• Themes and Morals, What's the Difference? - Sunday, July 08, 2012
• What Should you Write About? - Saturday, July 07, 2012
• Overcoming Writer's Fright - Friday, July 06, 2012
• It's P. T. Barnum's Birthday-Let's celebrate! - Thursday, July 05, 2012
• Happy Birthday, USA - Tuesday, July 03, 2012
• Consistency-Why is it Important for Your Childrens' Story? - Friday, June 29, 2012
• Creating Memorable Characters for your Children’s Stories - Wednesday, June 13, 2012
• When your Ending Meets the Beginning of your Children's Stroy - Tuesday, February 07, 2012
• Why is Dialogue Important to your Children's Story? - Saturday, January 07, 2012
• Do you Remember the First Story you Published? - Saturday, August 27, 2011
• How was Tails of Sweetbrier Created? - Saturday, August 27, 2011
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