I love conclusions. I remember a friend saying that she dreaded coming to the final chapters of a novel because she couldn’t bear the story to end. I’m the opposite: I love the moment the story draws to a close; the conflict over; the exhausting seeking ended; the relationship resolved; the tears drying; the murderer found… (more…)

A concluding paragraph is the reader’s bridge from your story back to their own lives. In this exercise you’re going to try to connect the two in some way.

Write a one-paragraph conclusion to a story that you haven’t written.

You’ll need to resolve the story you’ve imagined. Without reiterating the tale, or summarizing, you need to make the gist of the tale clear. Don’t introduce something new at the end of a story (particularly not a new character or idea, or even action), and don’t summarize. Conclusions can be very difficult to write, but this last paragraph is what a reader takes away with them, so it’s your finest opportunity to make an impact.

Here are some ways to approach this exercise:

•    End the paragraph with an intriguing question or a made-up quote
•    Moralize or warn.
•    Futurize – describe how the events made a difference.

As always, try doing this exercise daily for a week – concluding a different ‘story’ each day. You’ll be amazed how much easier it gets as you loosen up your conclusion-writing muscles and start to enjoy the freedom of concluding a story without worrying how you got there. It can be a lot of fun.