Finish Well

You’ve succeeded in hooking your reader and keeping their interest all the way through. But if you finish badly, your reader’s left wondering, “What was that all about?” or worse, “Why did I waste my time reading that?” If readers don’t like the ending, chances are they will transfer that dislike to the whole piece.

You can use different ways to finish a piece of writing, but it’s important for the ending to be consistent with the structure, topic, tone, and audience of your writing.

The conclusion of a piece of nonfiction writing can be a concise restatement of the main ideas, but it should be more than a plain summary. If you reiterate the main ideas of what you’ve written in a creative and engaging way, you’ll give good closure to the piece.

Ensure you give your reader whatever you ‘promised’ them — don’t leave them with unanswered questions.

Play the ‘so what’ game. When you read your conclusion, ask yourself, “So what?” or “Why should anybody care?” If your ending doesn’t give good answers to these questions, it needs to be reworked.

You may need to edit out your last few sentences. Most writers, including me, tend to overwrite conclusions.

If you’re really stuck, let your ending marinate. You might think of something in the bath or while out riding!

The ending should:

• Tie up loose ends.
• Give the reader something to think or wonder about.
• Connect to the reader.
• Link to the ideas presented at the start.

The ending could:

• Present an unusual twist.
• Give the reader something to take away and act on.
• Contain a quote, if the article includes an interview.

The ending should not:

• Use unnecessary phrases like “in conclusion” or “in summary”.
• Introduce new material.
• Confuse the reader.

Just as it is hard to write a good beginning, it can be tough to finish a piece. Thoughtful writers will put the effort into finishing well.