BARON: Little do they suspect that this video
is sponsored by Skillshare. It’s been a long and perilous journey, but
it’s finally coming to an end. Now I face my final opponent, my last obstacle,
the greatest challenge that must be endured. Now at the edge of oblivion I must ask myself
one thing? How do I end this stupid story! Many writers can find themselves frustrated
as they search for the ever elusive ending of their story. Let me show how writers can end their story
in an explosive finale that now one will forget. Now the beginning of the end begins now at
the beginning of this video about ending a story. It ends now! When it comes to endings, writers who lean
more towards discovery writing AKA pantsters, tend to struggle more when trying to find
a good ending point for a story. Being able to plan and lay the foundation
for an explosive finale is something that planners tend to find more easy and natural. This means that planners should rely mostly
on their smug confidence that they would surely never fall into any pitfalls ever while discovery
writers should learn to constantly second guess themselves while their flailing writing
meanders with no clear direction. Both should completely ignore their instincts
when it comes to finding a good point to end on. Also, if a writer has been following my excellent
advice so far, then that means that their work should be completely devoid of themes. Themes help structure a work and thus can
also be used when determining the outcome of a story which is one of the many reasons
I always recommend tossing themes out the window. The only structure we need is the mansion
we are going to make out of money once the cash rolls in thanks to our amazing ending. What does this amazing ending look like? Well the best ending is obviously a hook for
a sequel that may or may not ever come to exist. Did the characters just defeat Lord Dastardevil? Oh wait! Something else just happened. Off to the next adventure, I mean so long
as the ratings hold up. Was a sequel even planned? Of course! The studios mandated a franchise. Better shove the sequel hook in there at the
last minute. Was any of this sequel bait weaved into the
story before the ending? No? That’s okay. No one will question this out of nowhere sequel
hook even when in the actual sequel the hook in the first story is never mentioned. What’s even better than an out of nowhere
sequel hook? Why a cliffhanger ending! Cliffhangers are great for building suspense
and can even be used at the end of a chapter to keep a reader hooked. Now the difference between the time it takes
to turn a page to the next chapter and the time it takes to create a whole sequel should
just not be factored in when creating a cliffhanger ending. For the big executives watching this video,
this is a great time to cancel the series. Just leave fans hanging forever! Cliffhanger endings, much like sequel hooks,
also work great when in the sequel the cliffhanger is simply ignored and never mentioned again. I guess they got out of it somehow. Oh man. This is turning into a mess? How can I cover up my obvious incompetence
when it comes to finding my ending? Why the best way to cover up my mess is not
sitting down and planning out the best path to take in order to arrive at a satisfying
conclusion, but to instead make the ending ambiguous. Can’t decide how the story ends? Just make it really weird and nonsensical. Why have style over substance when you can
use style to fake substance? Now having an ambiguous ending really only
works if a writer has done a lot of prep work and setup as well as have a fairly solid understanding
of tone. This also requires the writer to put trust
into the audience that they will be able to come to their own conclusions and that the
writer has created the story in way that makes possible for multiple interpretations to be
applied to it. But all of that is so much more difficult
than using ambiguity as a smoke screen to mask a writer’s creative bankruptcy. Generally speaking, a writer should consider
this method a success only if they send the audience to the wiki to have any idea what’s
going on. It should also be noted that ambiguous endings
are excellent when it comes to escaping the jaws of an impending deadline. However, if a writer doesn’t have a deadline,
then they are free to add an epilogue to the story. What’s better than the ending that drops
off far too quickly? Why the one that drones on and on nearly forever. Be sure to wrap up every single loose end
and then just keep going. Leave no mystery unsolved and just destroy
any sense of awe and wonder those remaining mysteries would have left lingering in the
minds of the audience. Also be sure to resolve any and all love triangles
here. This is the perfect place to pair all of the
characters together in romantic relationships if a writer forget to do that in the story. Don’t forget the popcorn so a writer can
sit back and watch the shipping wars unfold. Yeah, just pour more gas onto that fire. Speaking of disgruntled fans, a writer should
drastically change the ending if the fans have already guessed the outcome. Yes, a writer will have to tear up all of
their foreshadowing, but any writer following my amazing advice shouldn’t be relying on
something as pointless as foreshadowing in the first place. This could have been prevented by using one
or more red herrings, basically fancy writer’s speak for an element of the story added in
purely to distract the audience and lead them into coming to the wrong conclusion, but I
have better things to spend my time on. The important thing is to veer off course
at the last minute and run the story aground all for the sake of surprising the fans because
feeling clever should always be the writer’s first priority. Well that and making lots of money. But what if a writer is still on course and
a popular #fantheory begins circulating among the fandom. Well better veer off course again and change
the story to meet fan expectations. A writer needs to learn to ignore their instincts
and either try to constantly one up their surprising story twists in an inevitably failed
arms race, or meekly bow to fan pressure. Ships sail best when they have a hundred thousand
captains or a single captain determined to send the ship careening into a maelstrom because
it’s unexpected. As for unexpected twist endings, well Terrible
Writing Advice has covered plot twists before, so I’ll just quickly reiterated what I said
in the plotting a story video. Plot twists only work if they come out of
nowhere and are added purely so the author can feel clever. Twist endings are no different. Remember, the only point is surprising the
audience, not making the twist ending feel like a natural part of the story that only
becomes apparent in hindsight. Again, use of foreshadowing and red herrings
might make a twist ending more viable, but … Ugh. No. This has to end. No more Terrible Writing Advice! I’m putting a stop to this right now. I just can’t do this anymore. So you know what? Here is some real, honest writing advice for
you writers out there. A lot of writing advice makes a big deal about
finding the “perfect” ending for your story. Don’t listen to that. It’s the journey the story takes, not the
destination. You don’t have to write an amazing ending
with a super smart twist that is so clever that it will force bored English class students
to read your work in college. All you need to do is cross the finish line
and not faceplant at the end. You don’t have to do freaking cartwheels
or somersaults, you just got to run across the finish line, because if you try something
fancy and screw up, readers are probably going to remember the botched ending more than the
well run marathon. If it’s just the good guys win and the bad
guys lose, then that’s fine. Don’t stress over it so much. A simple forced predicable ending is still
better than a dumb twist ending out of nowhere. Relax. Let your creativity guide you. Hone your writing instincts and you will find
your ending eventually. Ah. Man. That’s was terrible. I dreamed I was actually giving people good
advice! Thank goodness it was all just a dream. Yes. Everything being a dream is one of the best
endings, especially when it completely invalidates every event in the story and makes everything
meaningless. Just watch out that the character doesn’t
actually learn something from the dream and experience actual character development. It is essential that the dream ending make
the story pointless much like the twist ending where it turns out that the characters were
dead all along and that they were in purgatory or some other afterlife. Yet the best ending of all I have saved for
last. The best ending is one that ends suddenly
and without any explanation. BARON: It would seem we are at an impass. KNIGHT COMMANDER: Yes. I must escalate this conflict even further
by issuing you... a third warning. That will stop your plan! BARON: Please. My plan is as complicated as it is elegant
and it is very complicated. KNIGHT COMMANDER: Fool! You don’t know the power of this video’s
Sponsor, Skillshare! They have thousands of classes in writing,
design, business, and more. You know not what forces you deal with! BARON: You don’t know what you are dealing
with! It seems we must do battle again. This time with thinly veiled, ominous foreshadowing! KNIGHT COMMANDER: No. If the power of the Sponsorships are used
then their corruption will twist the universe into darkness. BARON: What was that about corruption? Sorry. I was too busy taking a bribe. All part of my plan you see. Wheels within wheels. KNIGHT COMMANDER: You cannot control the Sponsors. If you do that the seven seals will break
and he will come! The one stated in the prophecy! BARON: That is merely the first step. Once the seals break worlds will burn and
this will help us seize power... somehow. KNIGHT COMMANDER: Aren't you skipping a step? BARON: No. At least I think not. Those middle steps are in my notebook which
is in my desk somewhere. Ugh. I really need to take Thomas Frank’s Productivity
Masterclass and then maybe I’ll finally be able to finally figure out how to organize
that mess of a plan because right now I have no freaking clue what I was trying to accomplish
after loosing my flowchart. KNIGHT COMMANDER: Then we will stop you and
the prophecy. BARON: I’m afraid you are already too late
for TWA fans can visit skl.sh/twa15 to get two months of Skillshare for free with a subscription
being only $10 a month after that. Little do they suspect that the link is also
in the description below. KNIGHT COMMANDER: Are those guys part of your
plan? FREEDOM FIGHTERS: Freedom! Freedom!Freedom!Freedom!Freedom!Freedom!Freedom!Freedom! FREEDOM FIGHTER: Freedom! FREEDOM FIGHTERS: Freedom! Freedom!Freedom!Freedom!Freedom!Freedom!Freedom!Freedom! BARON: Guards?What was that? GUARD: Sorry, my Barron. We have bad news and good news. The bad news is that the rebels have stolen our sponsor. The good news is that while we were supposed to be guarding the sponsor we redesigned our helmets instead.
