The Secrets of Story Structure: Resolution

Resolution is always a bittersweet moment. You have reached the end of the story. You've climbed the mountain and now you can plant the flag of completion at the top. But like the final moment of any job, this is also the end of all the fun you've had in your wonderful world of made-up people and places. Resolution is where you have to say goodbye to your characters and, likewise, give your readers a chance to say goodbye as well.

Your story and its conflict officially ended with your climax. In theory, you could finish your story right then. But most books need an extra scene or two to tie up any loose ends and, just as importantly, to guide your readers to the emotion you want to leave them with. Like those great "ensemble" scenes at the end of the Star Wars movies , this is the last glimpse your readers will get of your narrative world and characters. Then create one they will remember!

What is the resolution?

If most stories ended right after the climax, the authors would likely have some very disgruntled readers on their hands. Why? Simply because after all the emotional stress of the climax, readers want a moment to unwind. They want to see the character get up, dust off his pants, and get on with his life. They want to glimpse how the rehearsals of the previous three acts have changed his character; they want a preview of the new life he will live in the aftermath of the conflict. And, if you've done your job right, chances are they'll want this extra scene just for the opportunity to spend a little more time with the characters they've grown to love.

Just as the name suggests, resolution is where everything is finally resolved . In the climax, the character killed the villain and won his true love. And in the resolution we see how these actions made a difference in his life. Joss Whedon's Serenity ends by showing Captain Malcolm Reynolds and his surviving crew returning to space, now free from the dogged Alliance pursuit, as both Malcolm and Inara and Simon and Kaylee take a step forward in their future relationships together.

The resolution is not only the end of this story, it is also the beginning of the story that the characters will experience after the reader closes the back cover. It fulfills its primary duty of capping the current story, while still promising a sense of continuity in the characters' lives. This is true for standalone books and even more true for individual parts of an ongoing series. JG Ballard's standalone book Empire of the Sun ends with a few short scenes explaining Jamie's adjustment to his post-war life outside the Japanese POW camp and hinting at his near future, which will see him growing up in England . The Ship of Magic , the first book in Robin Hobb's The Liveship Traders series, is even more open: its resolution promises that protagonist Althea Vestritt will track down and rescue her living ship Vivacia, which has been captured by pirates.

Where is the resolution positioned?

The resolution includes the end of your book. That's it, my friend! After this, there is nothing left!

The resolution begins immediately after the climax and continues to the last page. Resolutions can vary in length, but, in general, the shorter the better. Your story is already essentially finished, so you don't want to test your readers' patience by wasting their time or hinder their sense of story by tying up any loose ends too tightly. The length of your resolution will depend on a couple of factors, the most important being, of course, the number of outstanding issues. In an optimal situation, you will have used the scenes leading up to the climax to wrap up as many matters as possible, which will free up your resolution to deal only with the essentials.

Another factor to keep in mind is the tone in which you want to leave readers. This is your last chance to influence their perception of your story. Then consider how you want things to end. happy ? Sad? Thoughtful? Fun? One of my all time favorite resolutions is the final scene of Jon Turteltaub's The Kid . His final scene promises a resolution between the main character and the woman he loves, as well as indicating what the future progression of his new life will be. Throw in a classic, sparkly, happy song, and it manages to strike the perfect note of happiness, hope, and affirmation. Books, of course, don't have the advantage that they can end with emotionally resonant music. But we should still strive to leave readers with an equally powerful and memorable scene.

Some examples from cinema and literature

How do masterful writers and directors frame their final scenes to tie up all loose ends and leave readers with an emotionally powerful scene? Let's take one last look at how our four stories have done it.

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1813)

After the climax in which Darcy and Lizzy proclaim their love for each other, Austen settles her loose ends in a few tidy scenes, which include the Bennets' reaction to their engagement. From her perch as an omniscient and distant narrator, Austen concludes her story with a witty last scene covering the book's two climactic weddings and comments on the future lives together of Mr. and Mrs. Darcy and Mr. and Mrs. Bingley. His final scene is a beautiful example of achieving a tone that sums up the story as a whole and leaves the reader feeling exactly the author intended.

It's a Wonderful Life directed by Frank Capra (1947)

The final scene of this classic movie makes moviegoers cry everywhere every Christmas. He wastes no time moving on from the climax, in which George's friends bring him well over the $8,000 he needs to replace what was stolen by Mr. Potter. Indeed, in this film, the climax and the resolution are the same scene. The resolution settles any remaining loose ends by bringing the entire cast back (sans the antagonist) for one final round of "Auld Lang Syne" and hinting that the angel Clarence has finally gotten his wings. This is a tour de force of an emotionally resonant final scene that leaves readers wanting more while still satisfying their every wish for the characters.

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game (1977)

Ender's Game takes its time with its resolution (especially since Card added it after the original novel was published). In it, we are given what essentially amounts to both an epilogue, explaining some of Ender's life after his defeat of the Formics (he leaves Earth to try to make peace with both his superstar status and his sense of guilt for his xenocide of aliens) and an introduction to the books that will follow in the series (in which Ender is concerned with finding a new home for the only remaining ant cocoon).

Master and Commander directed by Peter Weir (2004)

In this film, we find perhaps the least resolved of all our resolutions. Whether the film was looking for a sequel (as the subtitle suggests) or simply paying homage to the continuing nature of its source material, Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series, it still works on every level. Having sorted out all the loose ends existing from the general conflict of its plot, the film concludes with a surprising scene in which Jack realizes that the captain of the Acheron is not dead as he thought, but has instead disguised himself as a surgeon of the vessel to attempt the takeover of the vessel once it has cleared the Surprise . The final scene, in which Jack orders his ship to change course and pursue the Acheron , while he and Stephen continue to play their rousing duet, gives us both a definite sense of continuation and a perfect summation of the film's tone.

What do we take away from these examples?

What final lessons can we learn from the books and movies we have chosen as examples? What do they teach us about how to end our stories on just the right note to satisfy our readers, yet still leave them with that bittersweet feeling of wanting more even though they realize they've had everything it takes?

1. The resolution occurs right after the climax and is the last scene of the book.

2. The resolution it must tie up all the important loose ends, leaving the reader with no salient questions. However, he must also avoid being too nice.

3. The resolution it must offer the reader a sense of continuity in the life of the characters. Even a standalone book should hint at the lives the characters will lead after the reader closes the back cover.

4. The resolution it should give the reader a concrete example of how the character's journey has changed them. If he was a selfish jerk at the beginning of the story, the resolution must prove his change conclusively.

5. Finally, the resolution should strike an emotional note that resonates with the tone of the book as a whole (funny, romantic, wistful, etc.) and leave the reader completely satisfied.

Congratulations! You have just completed the monumental task of writing a book. Not only. You have managed to structure it to excite and satisfy the readers with its crescendo and flow of action, reaction, suspense and revelation. As you write your closing lines, consider all the words that came before and close them with an intellectual and emotional home run of a stunning denouement!