Ｗｒｉｔｉｎｇ ａ Ｇｏｏｄ Ｅｎｄｌｉｎｇ ｆｏｒ Ｙｏｕｒ Ｓｔｏｒｙ Ｂｙ Ａｄｏｒａ Ｓｖｉｔａｋ

一個故事，如果開頭引人入勝，高潮跌宕起伏，結局卻馬馬虎虎，難免給人“虎頭蛇尾”的感覺，之前所做的努力也就前功盡棄了。因此，寫故事一定要善始善終，有一個完美的結局。

The evil magician was tied with chains and thrown into the dungeon1)， shrieking2)， while the kind， lovely princess and her rescued pet monkey lived happily ever after.

That was not the greatest ending in the world; I would like to read something a little more interesting. Sometimes ending a story can be a little hard. But don't sweat. There is a guide to writing a good ending for your story.

The Importance of

a Good Ending

The time it takes to write a good ending is worth it. Although the beginning of a book may steal a lot of credit， how a book ends is crucial to how your reader enjoys the book. After all， a bad ending can ruin a whole story. You might have the greatest beginning and middle for your story， but if the ending doesn't match up， all your great work could be meaningless.

Of course， that's not just the only reason you should make an effort to write a good ending. A good ending can do a lot to satisfy readers and make sure that they feel contented after they've finished reading. If you plan on writing more books in a series， how you finish your story could determine whether people want to read your next book or not.

Basics for a Good Ending

So now you know why a good ending is important. But what exactly is a good ending? Here are my basics for a good ending:

The first is that a good ending resolves3) conflicts. All stories need conflicts in order to make their plots interesting， but those conflicts should be finished satisfactorily in the ending.

The second is that a good ending answers the readers' questions. When you have a conflict in your story， your readers will probably have some questions. For example， in the story Snow White， we might have questions like \"Will Snow White marry the prince?\" or \"Will Snow White die?\" In your ending， you want to answer those questions. Doing those two things can help wrap a story up4). After all， a good ending should wrap a story up well. If you want to have a sequel5)， maybe leaving a few secrets. That means tying all the loose ends.

Tips to Write a Good Ending

Now that I've told you what a good ending is. It's time to tell you how to make one. Here are my tips on how to wrap up your story.

Consider the main conflict and decide the best way to solve it. One of my tips on how to solve those conflicts would be to consider the main conflict in your story and write it down. Then make a list of ideas on how that conflict could be resolved. For example， let's pretend that a girl named Anna wants to be able to run a marathon， but her legs are badly injured and she cannot walk. Some ideas to solve that conflict might be Anna racing in a wheelchair， Anna's legs recovering， or Anna deciding that the marathon isn't very important. I could choose one of those and resolve the conflict.

Make a collection of questions that might be raised by the readers， and seek the most satisfying answer for each question respectively. Remember when I mentioned answering readers' questions? You might be thinking， how are we going to do that， have the readers call in by telephone and ask us questions? Actually， no. Think about the kinds of questions you would have if you read your own story， like who would win or lose， etc. Make a list of those questions. It might help to have someone else read your story and tell you some questions they have during the story.

Make others read your story and give you some suggestions. That brings us to another subject of getting feedback. Always be open to constructive6) criticism and feedback from family and friends. After writing a story， it often helps to see what other people think and their suggestions for you. If you think that some of those suggestions would be useful for your story， revise7) your ending until you're satisfied.

Speaking of endings I hope that this has been useful to you. It's that time again when I have to say: THE END.

親愛的讀者朋友們，你們是否也有過寫英文故事寫到一半卻不知道如何完結的經歷呢？看完本文，是否會覺得有所收獲呢？對于那個棄置已久的故事，是否有了新的靈感？那么就繼續堅持下去，為你的故事寫下一個漂亮而完滿的結局吧。然后將你的完整故事于10月20日之前發至： teens@staff.neworiental.org或北京市海淀區海淀中街6號新東方大廈750室 《新東方英語·中學生》編輯部 (郵編：100080)

隔期Adora會對大家的故事進行點評，本刊將擇優刊登，獲選文章作者將收到當期雜志一本。趕快來參與吧！

敬請繼續關注本欄目。