Bad Endings vs Good Endings (Writing Advice)

get ready because today we're going to talk about what separates Bad Endings from good ones by the way my name is Brandon McNulty I'm the author of bad parts also the author of Entry wounds and welcome to my writing Channel endings are tough and many writers struggle with them so today I thought we'd make them the focus of a bad versus good video basically what I'm going to do will look at what makes good endings good what makes Bad Endings bad and will contrast examples of both now I'll be spoiling a number of different stories today and I'll list them on your screen right now also in order to help you avoid spoilers when I discuss an example in detail I'll place a banner at the bottom of the screen that tells you when the spoilers will end so that you can just jump ahead to that point in the video if you want to skip the spoilers but for the most part I picked popular movies that most people have seen I think the only lesser-known story I'll be discussing today is the movie wisdom this came out in 1986 and believe me you don't need to see it now before we get going I want to start by defining what an ending is and that might sound silly but you'd be surprised how much confusion there is surrounding endings so some people say an ending is the last 20 to 25 percent of a story or they say it's the final battle between the hero and the villain or they say it's the moment when the hero makes a powerful choice in order to defeat the villain but those are not endings when we're talking about the last 20 25 of a story we're talking about the Final Act and when we're talking about the final battle we're simply talking about the final battle and when the hero defeats the villain or vice versa that's the climax now what follows the climax is the resolution and that's what an ending is that's what we're going to focus on today okay since we've established what an ending is let's talk about the purpose of an ending or resolution and the purpose is to show what happens to the characters after the main conflict is resolved and typically during an ending you're going to resolve minor Mysteries and conflicts that were brought up along the way you're also going to answer unanswered questions you're going to tie up loose ends and one last thing to remember is that an ending can be happy tragic or Bittersweet all right now let's talk about how to write good endings I'm going to give you 5 quick tips for writing good endings the first one is you want to keep your endings brief remember at this point the main conflict has been resolved most of the tension is gone and we just need to see the final results before we can conclude the story second tip give a sense of finality and this might sound obvious but sometimes writers forget to provide clear resolution when they use a cliffhanger ending or an artistic ending these types of endings are fine but always remember to show that the main conflict has been resolved and that things have changed as a result of this particular story third tip is to convey honest emotional impact that is earned over the course of the story make sure the ending is reasonable in terms of its content and appropriate in terms of its Tone If the protagonist's choices lead them to Triumph then by all means give them a happy ending however if their choices lead them to tragedy you need to show them being miserable and if they achieve a meaningful goal while losing some allies in the process have them reflect on those losses even if it means taking a break from the celebration fourth tip is to create circular polarity and what this is It's a storytelling technique where you call back to an element that was introduced earlier in the story and there are many possibilities for these different elements it could be things like characters setting dialogue themes events inside jokes and so on for example at the end of Spider-Man 1 Peter Parker repeats the line with great power comes great responsibility and that's a callback to an earlier line that is spoken by his Uncle Ben it's a major theme of the story and then the fifth and final tip is to hint at a future for the characters and even if you don't have a sequel planned at least give us the ability to imagine how the hero's lives will play out after the story ends alright now let's get to the fun stuff today I'm going to discuss four types of Bad Endings I'm going to explain what each one is then I'm going to give an example of a bad ending and then I'll give a good example that does the job better first type of bad ending is the too good to be true ending and this is an unrealistically happy ending it's one where the characters emerge completely Victorious despite the fact that they should have faced a darker outcome and suffered some level of defeat whether it involves death setbacks pain misery Etc these types of endings ignore the consequences of serious character choices along the way especially if a character screws up or they make a terrible choice that sends them down the wrong path at the end they don't face consequences for it and then finally this type of ending is unearned and it feels forced by the writer for a bad example let's look at the 2005 movie War of the Worlds this is Spielberg's take on the classic Sci-fi novel of the same name and basically what happens is aliens invade Earth and then Tom Cruise has to take his two kids to their mother who's living hundreds of miles away in Boston Cruz and his young daughters stick together for the most part but at one point his teenage son Robbie who hates his father almost as much as he hates the aliens he joins the military in a suicide mission against the Invaders eventually Cruz and his daughter reach Boston and there the aliens start dying because their immune systems can't handle the Earth's bacteria now many audiences were underwhelmed by this Revelation but the real problem with the ending comes when the family gets reunited and despite all the widespread destruction and evacuations the mother and grandparents are alive and well and on top of it all things get completely ridiculous when Robbie appears and that's right the kid who chose to abandon his family and essentially throw his life away he miraculously survives everything and gets a big hug at the end so this one sucks because there's a completely unrealistic outcome the hero the kids his ex-wife his parents they all survive they all get reunited while countless others are annihilated in an otherwise dark movie and what makes it worse is that Robbie is not punished for his recklessness and hatred usually when a character abandons their family or joins a cause out of hatred we expect the character to be punished in some way here it's not and it's a sugary sweet outcome that clashes with the film's dark gritty tone now for a good example let's look at the first Rocky movie this is a of course a story about a club boxer who gets a golden opportunity to fight the heavyweight champion of the world the odds are stacked against Rocky when he steps into the ring but he manages to battle Apollo Creed for 15 rounds before the match ends at the Bell then we get our ending and it's not the typical Hollywood ending that we would expect instead Creed wins the match by decision and Rocky takes solace in the fact that he went the distance against the champ he ignores all the interviewers he yells out to his girlfriend Adrian and they profess their love to each other at the end of the movie and this ending works because it's honest Rocky gets the opportunity of a lifetime and he loses and that's important because the movie asks us to suspend our disbelief about many things we're supposed to buy the idea that a bum like Rocky can get this golden opportunity then we're also supposed to believe that he can contend with the heavyweight champ for 15 rounds and then at the end the fact that he loses that adds some much needed realism to the story the ending also works because it challenges the audience to look deeper it's not simply a movie about winning it's about falling down and picking yourself up and learning to try find self-respect second type of bad ending is the it was all a dream ending and this is an ending that reveals that some or all of the story events didn't happen and it's very frustrating for the audience because it's such a self-defeating ending it invalidates the events of the story and it signals that there are no consequences for the character's actions and oftentimes these dream endings aren't even set up properly sometimes they just come out of nowhere without any hint that the story was a dream now for a bad example let's take a look at the 1986 movie wisdom this was Emilio estevez's directorial debut and he also wrote and starred in this movie as well wisdom opens with the character of John wisdom sitting in a bathtub and remember this bathtub because it's going to play a major role later on anyway John is a young man who struggles to find a good job after committing Grand Theft Auto and being labeled a felon frustrated by his place in society John decides he'll start robbing banks and giving money to the poor like he's a modern day Robin Hood his girlfriend Karen agrees to help and it's not surprising that she tags along especially given the amazing chemistry they have together just listen to this dialogue exchange would you still love me if I was poor you are poor you're right but you're rich in character and you have great boobs so John Karen and her great boobs leave town to start robbing banks but they don't actually steal money instead they erase loan and mortgage records so that the poor have more time to pay their debts before long Our Heroes become the target of law enforcement and they attempt to flee the country until Karen and her great boobs are tragically gunned down by a police sniper Jon then escapes to a football field but he's eventually surrounded by cops and at the climax he gets shot after making an unwise movement with his gun he then dies and we're left to ponder this dramatic outcome until he wakes up in his parents bathtub and we realize that the entire story was all just a dream what a story Mark so this sucks because the dream ending undermines the entire plot and the impact of John's death there are no consequences for his actions and also the dream ending lacks proper setup the story never hints at the possibility that the whole scenario is imagined sure the events are wacky but the same could be said about a lot of 80s action movies for this ending to work you would need to play fair with the audience and show that Jon is an unreliable narrator but the movie doesn't do that and this ending also sucks because there's no meaningful resolution a guy Daydreams in a bathtub for an hour and a half who cares now for a good example let's look at the 2019 Joker movie This is the story of Arthur Fleck a professional clown with mental health issues who is endlessly bullied by the society around him early on in the story it's established that Arthur tends to fantasize about being in wild and unusual situations later on we learned that Arthur fantasized a romantic relationship with his neighbor and at the end of the movie after its bloody climax we see him meeting with a mental health specialist at Arkham Asylum the ending calls into question the events of the story were left to wonder whether or not they actually happened and the ending is left ambiguous and audiences are left to decide whether parts of Arthur's story are true or if you dream the whole thing up while in the Asylum and this ending works because early on the movie establishes Arthur as an unreliable narrator it plays fair with the audience right up front we see that Arthur tends to daydream we also learned that he has a history of mental health issues another reason why this ending works is because of its ambiguity that ambiguity challenges the audience to think once we see the ending we're wondering how much of the story is real can we trust anything is the Joker in Arkham Asylum because of the story's events or did he imagine all those events while already in the Asylum and the ending also adds depth and mystery to the story and to Joker lore in general third type of bad ending is the off tone ending this is an ending with the wrong emotional tone characters don't act appropriately people are celebrating when they should be mourning or vice versa and oftentimes you have a situation where the characters ignore major deaths heavy losses or serious defeats for a bad example let's look at the Last Jedi and this is the second movie in the Star Wars sequel Trilogy and most of the plot focuses on the first order trying to eliminate the resistance it's a rough time for the heroes who are repeatedly attacked over the course of the story and as the movie heads into its final stretch only a small number of survivors remain on an abandoned base the first order closes in threatening to eliminate the resistance but then Luke Skywalker comes to the rescue he battles his nephew kylo Ren he buys the resistance some time to escape and then it's revealed that Luke projected himself into the base from another location Luke then dies on a distant planet from over straining himself and the movie ends with Rey rescuing a dozen people from a cave and rushing them onto the Millennium Falcon once everyone's aboard they enjoy upbeat hugs casual banter and a little flirting for good measure then the movie concludes with Leia and Rey sitting down to ask the question that needs to be asked how do we build the Rebellion from we have that we need this ending sucks because it has an inappropriate tone especially considering the Grim situation given the heavy losses that the resistance suffered not to mention the loss of Luke Skywalker who was their best hope for fighting back you would expect the survivors would be in a grim State of Mind when the movie ends instead we get hugs banter and flirting there's also a lack of concern over Luke's death at the end of force awakens Han Solo was appropriately mourned but here nobody seems upset about Luke's death and I get that Ray mentions that he went peacefully and I also get that there's family baggage going on between Leia and Luke over kylo Ren's training but still you'd expect Leia to at least share the news with Chewie and the droids some sad reactions from them could have given this ending some much needed emotional impact the other problem with Leia here is her final line of dialogue she says they have everything they need and that's quite a 180 especially considering that just before Luke arrived at the base she was saying that the resistance was doomed and that the spark had gone out then Luke arrives he dies and a dozen people escape and all of a sudden Leia is acting like that spark is a bonfire her swing from Total despair to firm confidence just doesn't ring true and I think you're better off cutting that final line at the end I think you're actually just better off ending on the image of Leia and Ray holding the broken lightsaber together now for a good example let's check out the first Spider-Man movie this is the one where Peter Parker gains his spider powers and tries to stop his best friend's father Norman Osborne who happens to be terrorized in New York City as the Green Goblet and toward the end the goblin kidnaps Peter's love interest Mary Jane and he forces Peter to save her and then afterwards they have their final battle which ends with Goblin inadvertently killing himself with his own glider then Norman Osborne dies Spider-Man gets spotted delivering the body home and the movie ends with a graveyard scene where Harry Osborne vows revenge against Spider-Man shortly after Mary Jane comes up to Peter she explains that during her recent near-death experience she thought only about Peter and then she confesses her love to him and surprisingly Peter shuts her down because he's committed to being Spider-Man and he refuses to endanger his loved ones by getting them involved this ending works because sincere and Spider-Man is a Cheesy Goofy Movie at times but it knows when to take itself seriously and this ending works because it takes the characters seriously Harry displays grief over his father's Death Peter somberly visits his Uncle Ben's grave then MJ confesses her love she gets turned down the tone is appropriate here it doesn't force a happy ending and in fact nobody's really happy here and nobody should be happy given the recent events fourth type of bad ending is the manipulative Cliffhanger ending and this is when you end on a cliffhanger without proper resolution and it's a cheap tactic to get the audience to watch or read future installments and let me just say Cliffhanger endings are fine and it's okay to leave the audience wanting a sequel but you have to give resolution to the current story's main conflict and if you don't it disrespects and frustrates the audience now for a bad example let's look at the Walking Dead season six now if you remember this is the season where Rick's group of survivors are threatened by another group run by a man named Negan they hear about Negan throughout the season they kill some of his men along the way and then in the season finale they face consequences while they're trying to reach a town called The Hilltop Rick's group runs into a series of dangerous roadblocks until finally they're trapped by negan's group Negan then introduces himself and reveals that the roadblocks were set up in order to decide who will die as punishment for killing his men Negan then plays a game of Eeny meeny miny moe to decide who dies and once he selects a victim he bashes the person's head in with a baseball bat which person well we don't get to find out because the showrunners decided to withhold that information until the season 7 premiere and this ending sucks because it's a cheap manipulative Cliffhanger that doesn't play fair with the audience and it's also unnecessary if the audience knows who dies they can react emotionally and start to question how Rick's group will respond in The Following season and this is what happens in the comics at the end of issue 100 the survivors are left stunned and broken after one of their friends is killed and it's a dark powerful ending to an issue that propels the story forward but you don't get that here in the TV show instead the TV show botches the intro scene of an iconic villain and it fails to resolve the episode's main conflict of deciding who will die as punishment now for a good ending let's take a look at Avengers Infinity War as I mentioned you can end your story on a cliffhanger but if you're going to make sure the story has proper resolution Infinity War does this and this is of course the story of a super villain named Thanos who wants to eliminate half of all life from the universe in order to do this he obtains six special stones and completes The Infinity Gauntlet which can grant His Wish after snapping his fingers we see his wish take effect on numerous Marvel heroes in the world around them and from there the audience is left to wonder how will the world go on and how will the remaining superheroes solve this unprecedented problem and this works because the main conflict is resolved before we get the Cliffhanger Thanos completes his Gauntlet snaps his fingers and we see its effect and clear and immediate consequences Heroes die and we see who dies and there's also some fantastic World building in a short period of time at the end of the movie and the ending establishes Thanos as a serious villain so I hope this helps question of the day what is the worst movie ending you've ever seen let us know in the comments section below and be sure to mark for spoilers thank you guys for watching if you want to support the Channel please pick up a copy of either one of my books and be sure to leave reviews on Amazon bad parts is great if you like small town horror it's about people trading away their sick and injured body parts in order to get healthy again and then entry wounds is great if you like Thrillers it's about a guy who picks up a Haunted Gun and he cannot put it down until he kills six people with it also be sure to check out my other videos like share and subscribe and as always remember to keep on writing

Channel: Writer Brandon McNulty

Views: 227,442

Keywords: Writing, Writing advice, Writing Tips, Fiction, Creative Writing, How to write a book, novel, book, story, screenplay, examples, Star Wars, last jedi, force awakens, star wars sequel trilogy, how to, How to write endings, joker 2019, rocky, seinfeld, ending, endings, avengers, thanos, rey, avengers infinity war, the walking dead, negan, wisdom 1986, worst endings, worst movie endings, best movie endings, movie, movies, spider-man, war of the worlds, How To Write A Great Ending, how to write

Id: lQ6dnHp82jQ

Length: 17min 41sec (1061 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 15 2023