What does a good chapter or story conclusion do?
Similar to the main conclusion of a book, it answers the reader’s question of “So what?” So what about climate change and the impending global disaster, so what about animals living in zoos, etc. The last impression you leave with a reader is the conclusion, so you don’t want them to get to the end of the chapter and be left hanging in mid-air/mid-thought or have them walk away from it thinking, “Eh, whatever.”
So how do you end that discussion in a way that entices them to read more or turn the page? You make sure you capture the following in it:
Restating of the theme from the introduction.
You want to repeat what the story or chapter is about, but you don’t want to do it word for word from the introduction, because that will definitely leave them walking away from the book. So, rephrase it and add in some of the details you didn’t share in the introduction that you did share in the chapter or story.
Summarize the key learnings, lessons, and/or questions left unanswered.
This is called the takeaways and just like Chinese takeout, you want them to walk away with a lot of yummy thoughts and lessons learned from your chapter. So here, you spoon feed it to them, just a little bit, so that you make sure they heard you when they read the chapter.
Pull it all together.
This could be just the chapter, it could be how the chapter fits into the larger overarching theme of the book, or it could be how it fits with that section or part of the book. Either way, you always want to connect each chapter with the overarching theme of the book and the conclusion is one place to do that.
Make it interesting.
Yes, you could use: In sum, In conclusion, To sum it up, etc., but those are boring and obvious. Rather than do that, try:
- Asking a question that may or may not be answered in the next chapter (but make sure you DO answer it somewhere in the book), or
- Asking a question (or three) that you want the reader to think about based on what they just read, or
- Giving a piece of advice based on the lessons learned in the chapter. It could be a quote, a phrase, the main theme you want them to take with them, or
- Tying in the example/hypothetical/personal story (ie, HOOK) that you started the chapter out with and give the reader some closure.
But what does any of that actually look like? Here’s a great example, with the introduction and conclusion in bold:
I never knew how flexible I could be in a stressful moment until the day we walked into the AirBnB we rented for two months while work was being done on our new house. The apartment was in a great location – 15 minutes drive to the house, in the downtown area of a decent sized town, and with free parking a few blocks away. It was a loft and looked to be the perfect situation for us from, to be honest, not a lot of choices.
Until we saw the kitchen. The ad said it had a kitchen. But that was a complete exaggeration. It had a refrigerator, a microwave, a toaster oven, the teeniest of sinks (think camper here), and barely a countertop. And a sloping ceiling as well. We were going to be there for two months, so how could I cook in that kitchen? Panic set in as yet another obstacle was thrown at us in our journey of repatriating back to the States after a three year stint in Canada. Neither one of us could handle one more challenge; the move had been a total cluster from the get go.
The owner of the AirBnB was friendly and left us to sort out our new space. I knew I had to fix it. My husband was so stressed out he couldn’t even function and I was the one in charge of our domestic life while not working. So, I immediately google the nearest place to buy a hot plate and some cooking utensils, and much to his chagrin and after shifting a car full of stuff up three flights of stairs, I dragged my husband off to Walmart to purchase some temporary supplies.
I learned how to cook on just two burners and how to navigate a tinier space than my apartment kitchen in NYC and that was its own challenge. The cutting board fit perfectly over the sink, thereby expanding the cabinet space. The toaster oven was put away (I couldn’t use it anyway) and we had a toaster on a little table in the main room out of the kitchen. I discovered some great one pot recipes along with getting creative when I needed more than two burners and we enjoyed our time there as much as possible.
What did I learn from that experience? Be flexible. Be innovative. Find the fun in the adaptation and make it an adventure. I had the best time rolling around Walmart with my husband while we picked out very cheap, but colorful, cooking utensils to outfit our temporary space. It could’ve gone the other way, but it didn’t because we made the most of it.
Notice how the conclusion connects to the introduction, but also summarizes the lessons learned and includes some additional details. It’s clean, concise and does what a great conclusion should do – wrap up your story or chapter so that you can turn the page to the next one.
Sidenote: Yes, this is a real story. Here’s the “kitchen,” after I made changes.
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