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.
