Even the greatest story will still fail if its ending is weak. That’s why it’s crucial to create the best possible ending. One way to do that is to make up your ending first and then work backwards to write the rest of your story. That way you know your story will support your great ending.
The way to create a great ending is not through physical action but through emotional change. Specifically, the hero (and the audience) needs to experience a reason to change emotionally, and that comes through living through the following emotional moments (not necessarily in this exact order):
- Hero hits Rock Bottom
- Hero admits their flaw to themselves
- Mentor inspires hero
- Hero enters villain’s lair to face henchman
- Hero confronts villain
- Hero’s defeat of villain redeems mentor
The Rock Bottom moment occurs when the hero seems defeated and will likely never get the goal they’ve been striving for since the beginning of the story. Even worse, the hero’s biggest strength now works against them.
All appears lost and their Symbol of Hope seems lost for good. This Rock Bottom moment must put the hero in the lowest possible point of the entire story.
This is how this emotional change near the end works in “Legally Blonde”:
Elle’s law professor says he only picked her to help on his court case because he wants to sleep with her. This makes Elle want to quit law school (her Symbol of Hope), which she pursued to win back her ex-boyfriend. Now Elle appears completely defeated. (Rock Bottom)
Elle’s biggest strength at looking pretty now works against her as she realizes that people still see her as nothing but a dumb blonde and a sex object. (Hero admits flaw to themselves.)
While saying goodbye to her hairdresser friend, Elle runs into her female law professor (one of Elle’s mentors) getting her hair done, who tells Elle that if she lets one jerk ruin her life, then she’s not the girl the law professor thought she was. This inspires Elle not to give up.
Elle returns to the court room, still sexy and blonde, but also confident of herself from excelling in law school. She takes over the court case from her sexist law professor (henchman) with the help of her allies and mentor (another lawyer) who agrees to supervise her so Elle can act as a lawyer for the defendant.
Elle confronts the key witness and using her knowledge of perms, discredits the witness, thereby winning her first court case. This victory redeems the lawyer’s faith in her (her mentor), but the real success comes from Elle’s victory. Elle’s first courtroom victory is what everyone remembers from the movie.
Now let’s see how these emotional changes work in “Green Book”, which is about a white man (the hero named Tony Lip) who’s prejudice against blacks. Then he gets a job driving a black musician named Dr. Shirley to concerts in the Deep South.
(Rock Bottom moment) When racist white Southern cops stop Tony and call him half a n***** because he’s Italian, Tony punches the cop and lands both himself and Dr. Shirley in jail. Tony’s biggest strength at fighting his way to resolve problems is now exactly what lands him in jail, which seems like his life is completely over.
(Mentor inspires hero) Dr. Shirley, Tony’s mentor, scolds Tony that violence never works but maintaining your dignity always wins. Then Dr. Shirley makes a phone call to Bobby Kennedy, the United States attorney general, who calls the sheriff to release the two of them out of jail.
(Hero admits character flaw) As Tony and Dr. Shirley drive away from the jail, they argue about whose life is blacker. That’s when Tony admits that he’s a hustler who has lived on the streets and works everyday to put food on the table for his family. That’s also when Dr. Shirley finally reveals what his life is really like. Although he’s rich, he’s lonely. Although he plays concerts for rich white people, they still treat him like a second class citizen.
So Dr. Shirley doesn’t fit in with white people and doesn’t fit in with black people, so where does he fit in? That’s how Dr. Shirley admits to Tony and himself what his life is really like, and that’s when Tony finally realizes the true hardship of Dr. Shirley’s life despite his wealth.
(Hero enters villain’s lair to face henchman) At Dr. Shirley’s last concert, Dr. Shirley isn’t allowed to eat in a whites-only dining room even though that’s where he’s supposed to perform. After confronting the concierge (henchman), Tony faces the manager (villain).
The real conflict occurs when Tony must make a decision. Should he let Dr. Shirley play (and feel humiliated because he can’t eat in the whites-only dining room), or should he let Dr. Shirley refuse to play to protect his dignity?
This moral decision is what’s really the key to the climactic scene. If Tony asks Dr. Shirley to perform, he gains short-term benefits (money) at the expense of hurting Dr. Shirley’s dignity. If he lets Dr. Shirley refuse to play, he’ll protect Dr. Shirley’s dignity but lost the short-term benefit of the money they’re supposed to make.
This decision is always what’s key to the battle between the hero and the villain. The hero must balance the reward of guaranteed short-term benefits (and the loss of long-term success) vs. the possibility of gaining long-term success (and the loss of short-term benefits).
Another key in this decision is that the hero must decide between Selfishness vs. Selflessness.
In “Green Book”, Tony could ask Dr. Shirley to perform, but that would be selfish since he would get money for driving Dr. Shirley to the concert, but Dr. Shirley would remain humiliated by performing for rich white people who still treat him like a second class citizen.
By acting selflessly, Tony protects Dr. Shirley’s dignity and shows he’s changed from being prejudice against blacks to seeing blacks as equals.
(Hero’s defeat of villain redeems mentor) What makes the ending of “Green Book” so powerful is less about Tony’s decision to let Dr. Shirley walk away from the whites-only dining room, and more about how Tony drives Dr. Shirley to eat at a black nightclub instead.
There Tony encourages Dr. Shirley to perform for the black crowd, which he does and dazzles everyone with his classical music. This impresses the local band so they invite him to play the piano with them, and that’s when Tony thoroughly enjoys himself playing the blues and finally feels like he fits in with his own black culture.
When creating your climactic ending in your story, plot out these last crucial stages on how your hero changes. In some stories, the hero’s victory over the villain is the highlight (such as in “Legally Blonde”). In other stories, the hero’s victory redeems the mentor, and that’s the highlight (such as in “Green Book”).
The greatest endings occur when both the hero’s victory and the mentor’s redemption are nearly equal in emotional intensity.
In “The Shawshank Redemption”, we cheer when Andy, the hero, escapes and gets his revenge against the warden, the villain. Then we get a second powerful jolt of emotion when Andy helps his mentor, Red, get out of prison and regain hope by reuniting with him in Mexico.
In “Die Hard” we also get two great emotional endings. When John McClane saves his wife and kills Hans Gruber, the villain, that’s the first great emotional ending.
Then when the final terrorist appears and Officer Powell (John McClane’s mentor) guns him down, that’s a second emotional moment that makes the ending more memorable since we see Officer Powell’s redemption in finally overcoming his fear of shooting a gun.
When writing your own stories, focus on crafting the strongest emotional experiences possible. When you can do that, writing the rest of your story will be far easier because you’ll already know the strong ending you’re aiming for.
