How to end a chapter
Recently a writer friend told me he was having trouble figuring out how to end a chapter. "It just ends," he said. "I feel like every chapter fizzles out at the end." I read some of his stuff, and saw what he meant.
I offered the following advice, and if you feel like your chapter endings are fizzling out it may be helpful for you, too. I usually write one scene per chapter, but you can apply this same writing flow to composing a chapter with multiple scenes in it.
Scenes in general usually follow a pattern like this:
Inciting Incident: What starts this scene in motion? Ideally this should be the trigger that reveals or instigates a problem or conflict. This could be the hero tripping a booby trap, or star-crossed lovers seeing each other from across the room.
Complication / Conflict: The actions that naturally flow from the inciting incident. The hero runs from the boulder that's rolling after him, or the star-crossed lovers talk and argue or make a scene.
Climax: the point of maximum tension for the scene. The sees a gaping chasm ahead and leaps across it. One of the lovers gives the other an ultimatum.
Resolution: the outcome of the climax. The hero lands on the other side of the chasm -- but sprains his ankle. One of the lovers rejects the ultimatum and storms away.
Decision: the point of view character processes what just happened and recognizes how it will change his or her plans. The hero will have to find a new way forward, not being able to climb a mountain on a broken ankle. The jilted lover doubts his or her decision, and tries to think of a way to fix the relationship.
So when I'm writing a scene I usually try to sketch out these stages of the scene in bullet points before I write it. First, I sketch out the "scene flow":
inciting incident -> complication -> climax
Then I sketch out the "sequel flow":
resolution -> decision
If you follow this you can basically make five bullets for each scene. But what about those tricky endings?
The important thing is to do this sketch for the next scene too. Then when you see them side by side the ending of the first scene should become obvious. Let's look at an example:
Chapter 1:
When Joe walks into the bar, Frank the bartender yells at him to get out.
Frank and Joe fight about how Joe has run up a big tab, but Joe considers this "his bar" because he's come here for so long.
Joe boils over and throws a punch, starting a fight with Frank.
Joe loses the fight, Frank throws him out of the bar.
Joe rubs his bruises, and ponders how his life came to this, not even able to get a drink at his own bar. Thinks to himself, geez it can't get any worse than this, can it?
Chapter 2:
The police arrest Joe for fighting.
The cops take him to the station and throw him in the drunk tank. This isn't the first time this has happened, but its the first time he's been sober, and it pisses him off.
Joe gets a phone call from his lawyer.
Joe is getting charged with assault and battery.
Joe sits down and thinks, "damnit, why did I think it couldn't get worse."
So this flow makes sense, we have a chain of actions and reactions staggered together. And when you've got the chapters outlined like this, I think it makes the perfect chapter ending pretty obvious:
Joe leaned against the moldy brick walls of the tavern, sighing deeply and imagining better days.
A light flashed in his eyes.
"Joe Taylor?" said the voice behind the flashlight.
"Yeah? Who's askin?"
"NYPD. You're under arrest for assault and battery."
Because you know the inciting incident of the next scene (Joe is arrested), you can actually plant the very first bit of it at the end of the previous scene, which will hook the reader and pull them through to the next chapter. This works especially well if the inciting event of the next scene is a surprise.
Make sense? :)
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-Andrew
