Chapter 52: Your Book's End

We’ve reached the denouement—the very last beats that tie off your story and ensure you leave your reader with a satisfying experience. This final leg of your novel consists of three beats: Loose Ends, Celebrate Sleuth’s Changed Status, and (optionally) The Story Continues.

Each of these beats can get its own scene, or they can co-mingle in a single final scene. Either way, there are still a few important jobs we need to tackle before we can write The End—and the rest of this chapter will help us do that.

Loose Ends

Loose Ends is where you wrap up any lingering questions your reader needs resolved. There are a number of likely sources for such lingering questions, such as:

What happened to the minor characters? Because of the nature of mysteries, we generally wind up fielding a large cast—and while not every character will need to be addressed in Loose Ends, it’s very likely that at least one has a situation the reader would like to see resolved.

Let’s say, for example, you’ve been writing a mystery in which a British earl is murdered. One of your suspect subplots concerns his destitute niece, Miriam, who expected to inherit upon his death. While investigating Miriam, you’ve learned the reason she might have been desperate enough to resort to murder— she is living under the thumb of an abusive husband, and hopes that upon inheriting, she might have the means to escape him.

Miriam isn’t the killer—but the question of what will happen to her is definitely one your reader will want answered. Here, in Loose Ends, is the perfect place. Have your Sleuth meet her at the train station, and give her a few lines to explain that she’s going away, and that she’s hopeful for the future.

What happens after the Villain’s conviction? When the Villain is removed from his community—either through conviction or death—he leaves a void.