How to end a story


Stop at the end.

Know when you’ve reached the conclusion of your story, and end it.

Too much information at the end risks ruining the experience of the audience. Perhaps the story has been leading up to the city council vote to allow short-term rental. The twists and turns were headed to a vote, and the audience hoped and feared with the hero.

The conclusion of all this buildup and angst is a single sentence: “Five votes in favor, the motion passes.”

A climax should end the suspense. It settles the matter of the story and makes sense in light of all previous information.

The closing is the whole point of the story.

We’ve all enjoyed a movie only to suffer through a superfluous wind-down. Be quick about it. Let the audience still hear the sound of your last word while you’re stepping back from the podium. 

Once I know the main ingredients of a story I’m going to tell, I write the opening and the closing. If someone were to read one of my presentation conclusions first, I’d want them to have a sense of the entire story.