After spending months or years crafting the novel of your dreams, you don’t want to undo all that hard work with a poor last scene or last lines that vanish from readers’ memories. These final components of your novel are just as important as your opening lines and chapter. So here’s how to write unforgettable last lines for a novel and why it matters.
Why do the last lines matter so much?
The last scene and lines of your novel are your last message to your readers. We writers want our stories to stick with our readers. We gift them these final parts of the novel as a reward for reaching the last page. The last lines should also encourage readers to look up our previous novels and look forward to our future ones.
3 tips for writing unforgettable last lines
Your final scene and lines are like the final arguments lawyers present to a jury. They can’t introduce new evidence. That part of the trial is over. They can only sum up what the jury has already heard, but they can put their own spin on that evidence. That’s what writers do in the last scene.
- Echo the major plot, relationship, or theme you set up earlier in the book. The final scene must deal with the point or purpose of the novel. All subplots should have been wrapped up by now. The final scene and lines should round off and amplify what your novel has been about. In my second novel, A Storm of Doubts, Rae wrestles with doubts that she may be calling the wrong man Dad as she tries to solve a mystery that involves questions of paternity concerning a family friend. The final scene and lines wrap up this theme of fathers and family.
- Set the mood you want to leave with your readers. When readers close your book, what mood do you want to linger with them? I want my readers to feel like they’ve had a satisfying meal, and the last lines are those last bites of an excellent desert. To give them this feeling, I end on an upbeat note that fits with solving a mystery that revolves around the strength of faith and family. This upbeat note must be earned and make sense with the story that’s preceded it. If my amateur sleuth’s best friend has betrayed her during the course of the mystery, then my upbeat note will be very different from the one I’d use if her friend has saved her life during the climax.
- Use final lines that let readers think over the novel. If your final lines do a great job of summing up your novel, it should give reader points that linger in their mind. In A Storm of Doubts, the final lines will make readers consider the nature of fatherhood, aspects like what makes a good father.
What’s your opinion on what makes unforgettable last lines for a novel?
Here are all the tips and prompts this month on writing endings for novels.
