All About Scene Endings

Hello, fellow writers! Welcome to my procrastinatory posting. Today's topic is scene ending.

Why scene endings? Because oftentimes that's where a reader decides whether or not they would read on or go do something else. And for me, when choosing between two books, I would turn the page to the end of both chapter ones, and the quality of those two scene endings would determine which author is going to make a sell. That's how I've come to realize the power of effective scene endings.

So how do we create effective SE? (sorry, I'm getting tired typing like a parrot, so now SE is short for scene endings.) Just like any writing aspect, we learn from the best. By that, I don't mean you should hunt down Mr. King and make a teacher version of the poor Paul Sheldon out of him. (excuse me, I couldn't help it.) What I mean is you should find some bestsellers, preferably the ones you like, and see how their authors handle the SE. Basically, reverse engineering.

To make things more practical, I compiled a list of questions. For a given scene ending, after you determined they are indeed an effective SE, you ask:

• What basis mood is this?
• What sentence and paragraph level techniques did the author use?
• What type of SE is it and what desire does it evoke? (is it a cliffhanger or new direction type of ending and it teases you with the potential plot? is it a sad ending and it makes you want to cuddle the protagonist and tell them everything will be okay like you wish someone would do for you? is it a humorous ending and it convinces you the cast is going to make you laugh like a mad editor does when they happily hits the delete button after skimming someone else's darlings? And so many more.)
• Is this a different type than the previous one? If so, why?
• Have you used this type of SE before? If not, where can you use it in your writings?
• What idea might the author have had before choosing this particular SE?
• Can you--despite your deep respect for the author--make it more compelling?

You might notice that some of the questions can apply not only to the scene endings. And it's true. But I urge you to pay extra attention to your SE and bring your best skills to the table when crafting them. Because, like my test from the beginning of this post, an editor is also likely to take a shortcut when assessing manuscripts. And where in our writings, besides the first page, are they more likely to look at? It's presumptuous of me of course, but I do think SE is one of those places. Always think like an editor, y'all!

Lastly, I want to quickly mention one thing. Don't write a plot teasing type of SE you won't deliver unless you have all the right reasons to. Because to a reader, it would be like buying a romance book and finding out there isn't a single kissing scene in it. Poor reader. (more importantly, POOR COUPLE. may the universe at least grants you some passionate sex dreams about each other.)

And that's it for the day. Thank you for reading

edited for typos.