How to Write Dialogue FOR ENDINGS (Writing Advice)

some of the most memorable endings include effective and powerful dialogue exchanges and today we're going to talk about how to write these types of endings so stick around 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 riding channel one of my subscribers requested a video on the subject of ending dialogue and i thought this was a great idea for a video because i haven't specifically covered it before yes i've done some videos on dialogue in the past but not especially on ending dialogue the type of dialogue exchanges between characters at the very end of the story where they recount the events that happened or they might hint at future events in the series that you're writing whatever it may be we're going to talk about this today and i'm going to cover a couple different things along the way we're going to start off by talking about what is included in in a story's ending not just the dialogue but what else is expected of a story's ending and then when we get into the real meat of the video i'll be discussing five things that i believe great ending dialogue does and i'll also be backing up these things with examples from popular movies i'm going to put a list of the movies that i'm going to be discussing today up on the screen just so you're aware i'm i will be spoiling these movies so be careful if you haven't seen any of these before but let's start off by talking about what is included in an ending what makes up an ending and i want to say right up front that an ending involves the aftermath of the climax a lot of people get confused with endings they think that an ending is the last 25 of the story or maybe it's the last 10 or the last 5 to 10 scenes or you know the the final confrontation between hero and villain that to me is not the ending of the story when you have the confrontation between hero and villain that is the climax so for instance in the original star wars movie when luke blows up the death star that is the climax of the story everything that takes place after it everything in the aftermath when luke is celebrating with his friends and things like that that is the ending of the story and another thing to keep in mind with endings they are usually low energy scenes we just had the big climactic moment the big hero versus villain showdown so what follows is usually going to be a low energy type of scene another thing you'll see in endings is major characters interacting with one another usually it'll be the protagonist hanging out with their allies and they'll be discussing the events that they just went through maybe they'll be discussing what they have planned for the future those sort of things and then one last thing i want to mention when it comes to endings usually in your endings you'll be tying up loose ends or hinting at future problems to come all right now let's get to the fun parts we're going to talk about five specific things that great ending dialogue does the first thing that ending dialogue does it creates a sense of conclusion and this may sound obvious but you want to remind your audience that this particular story is over regardless of whether it's a standalone story or it's part of a series you need to convey a sense of finality you need to acknowledge that the journey is over and sometimes a dialogue exchange can pull this off here's a great example from john wick chapter 2. if you remember at the end of john wick chapter 2 the climax is when john wick shoots a man on company ground and this is of course heavily frowned upon within his world of assassins and there will be consequences for john wick and in the ending dialogue scene when john wick is talking with his boss winston winston explains to john wick what will happen as a result of his actions and it really sums up the story and how far john wick has come you killed a man on company grounds jonathan you leave me no choice but to declare you ex-communicator the doors to any service or provider in connection with the continental are now closed to you at the beginning he was a member of this group he was in good standing now here at the end we are forced to look back on the choices that he has made and how far he has come over the course of the story another great example comes from groundhog day if you remember groundhog day is the story of phil the weatherman who gets caught in a time loop he repeats the same day over and over and over again and once he gets out of it at the end we see a final scene where he is laying in bed with rita his love interest and he starts to realize that oh wow i have moved on to the next day and he has this dialogue exchange that helps highlight this sense of conclusion for him do you know what today is no what today is tomorrow it happened why won't you like this last night you just fell asleep [Laughter] it was the end of a very long day this final exchange does a great job of bringing the story home and concluding the events we know that it's over phil can finally move on with his life second thing that ending dialogue does it hints at a new status quo and this is important because you want to signal to the audience that after this story ends the heroes will go on and they will enter into new routines they may move to a new location or they may start a new job or whatever it may be but they will have a new life after the events of this story great example this comes from the movie batman begins at the very end we see bruce wayne standing in the rubble of wayne manor he's there with his love interest rachel as well as his butler alfred and they're having discussions about what they will do in the future what will you do rebuild it just the way it was brick for brick just the way it was sir yeah why i thought this might be a good opportunity for improving the foundations in the southeast corner precisely so this ending does a great job at hinting at that new status quo that will come about it shows us that bruce wayne will rebuild wayne manor he'll find a way to be comfortable with himself as a wayne and at the same time he will also find a way to help himself grow as batman by restructuring the bat cave and things like that another great example of this comes from the sequel the dark knight and at the end of the dark knight we see batman acknowledging that in order to protect harvey dent's legacy and in order to protect the people of gotham he has to accept a new status quo hero hero where you live long enough to see yourself become the villain i can do those things i killed those people that's what i can be no no you can't you're not i'm whatever god needs me to be so batman recognizes here that he will be whatever gotham needs him to be in order to preserve peace and in order to preserve the sanity of the city he is willing to enter into a new status quo where he is hunted by the police third thing that ending dialogue does it promises future conflict and this is great especially if you're writing a series you want a hint that there will be conflict down the line between the protagonist and other characters it could be between the protagonist and his enemies or it could also be between the protagonists and his allies anywhere there can potentially be conflict you want to hint at these sort of things a great example of this comes from the end of spider-man 1 the 2002 movie and if you remember the ending takes place in a graveyard peter parker is there with two of his friends harry osborne as well as mary jane watson and harry says something to peter that hints at some strong conflict that will come in the second movie i swear on my father's grave spider-man will pay thank god for you peter you're the only family i have so harry's final words here hint that there will be a lot of conflict between him and spider-man in the next movie another great example of promising future conflict comes from the end of john wick chapter two and at the end of this movie john wick and winston are discussing his future they're discussing how john wick is going to be chased down by all the other assassins out there there's going to be a bounty on his life things like that and john wick himself hints at a lot of conflict in the future a lot of pain and suffering for those people who come after him winston tell them tell them all whoever comes whoever it is i'll kill them i'll kill them all fourth thing that ending dialogue does it highlights a character's transformation and a lot of audiences love this they love when they get attached to a character at the beginning of the story they follow this character they watch the character grow until at the very end in the final scene somebody else in the story recognizes that character and they mention that the character has grown into a new role or has assumed a new identity or has taken up a new mantle or whatever it is a lot of audiences love this a great example of this comes from the movie catching fire and if you remember at the end of catching fire which is the second movie in the hunger games trilogy at the end katniss has survived her second hunger games and she wakes up in a strange room she doesn't know where she is so she runs down the hall she finds her mentor hey mitch and a few other people that she's associated with over the course of the journey and she starts freaking out but she is eventually regarded by one of her allies as the mockingjay which is an important role within the context of this world where's peter have been our mission from the beginning the plan was always to get you out half the tributes were in on it this is the revolution and you are the mockingjay another good example of this comes from the fellowship of the ring the first lord of the rings movie and if you remember at the end of this movie the fellowship is broken up they started as a group of 10 and then they got fractured up into different smaller groups and aragorn recognizes this but he believes that the group can still serve a purpose frodo's fate is no longer in our hands that it has all been in vain the fellowship has failed but if we hold true to each other we will not abandon mary and pippen to torment and death so right here at the end of lord of the rings aragorn acknowledges that there's been a transformation yes they are not the full fellowship but they can still play an important role in saving people and making a difference in the world fifth thing that ending dialogue does it uses poetic language to convey impact and meaning and when i say poetic language i'm not saying your characters have to be talking like they're coming out of shakespeare or they're in some 19th century novel all i'm saying is that you may want to consider upping the language in your final scene give your character something fancy or clever to say while still maintaining who they are as people here's an example from lord of the rings and if you remember at the end of lord of the rings frodo is determined to get to mordor by himself he doesn't want anyone else to get hurt during the journey so he's going by himself he starts rolling off in a boat and then sam comes after him and then once sam gets close enough they have this poetic exchange go back sam i'm going to mordor alone of course you are and i'm coming with you this is a great exchange because it's clever funny and grounded in their characters grounded in their personalities you don't have to try too hard to be poetic just let your characters be themselves but consider what they're saying and how those words are arranged and then another example comes from the dark knight if you remember at the very end commissioner gordon is explaining to his kid why the police have to chase batman and he does this in a way that is poetic he uses some unique word choice some unique sentence arrangements in order to get the message across because he's the hero gotham deserves but not the one he needs right now so we'll hunt him because he's not a hero he's a silent guardian a watchful protector a dark knight these final lines from gordon are very memorable and they have impact and they create meaning because of the words that he chooses and because of how each sentence is delivered one by one image after image of who batman is and what he represents to the city of gotham so i hope this helps question today what is your favorite piece of ending dialogue from a movie let us know in the comment section below thank you guys for watching if you want to support the channel please pick up a copy of either one of my novels also be sure to check out my other videos hit the like and subscribe buttons for me share this video with a friend and as always remember to keep on writing

Channel: Writer Brandon McNulty

Views: 24,359

Keywords: Writing, Writing advice, Writing Tips, Fiction, Creative Writing, How to write a book, How to write a novel, novel, book, dialogue, writing dialogue, bad dialogue vs good dialogue, how to write dialogue, star wars, john wick, lord of the rings, good dialogue, dialogue writing, story, screenplay, examples, batman, the dark knight, batman begins, fellowship of the ring, ending, ending dialogue, ending scene, final scene, spider-man, groundhog day, john wick 2, catching fire, monologue

Id: jwtGKFh8mFU

Length: 13min 1sec (781 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 30 2022