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Should You Write the Ending First?

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The question holds two choices: knowing your ending before you start, and drafting it before the rest. Authors quoted below describe both, and one describes discovery writers who find the kind of ending late.

Two different choices

On the writing podcast Writing Excuses, four hosts talk about how they reach an ending. They speak of knowing it or planning it. None of them says they draft the last chapter first.

Vyvyan Holland goes further, in an article excerpted by The Fortnightly Review. He calls it "a very good thing to write the end of your book first".

His reason: "so that you can never run the risk of losing sight of your castle, but can press eagerly on towards it".

Planning from the ending

Victoria, who writes as V. E. Schwab, puts it plainly on the podcast: "I write my books backwards. So I actually don't do anything until I've planned the ending."

She goes on: "The ending, for me, and that climax basically through the last page, determines the entire story I'm telling."

The question she asks before choosing the kind of climax is "who are my characters at the moment we leave them?" From there, she rewinds "their last moments in order to figure out what is the thing that leads them there".

She gives her reason as a risk. "If you write towards a discovery and you don't actually have a plan in mind, you risk gathering ingredients which result in a different end, which result in something that doesn't feel cohesive."

Her novel The Invisible Life of Addie Larue waited on its ending. "I had the idea eight years ago, and I didn't start writing it until two years ago when I figured out the ending."

Dan, another host, agrees: "I actually write the same way. I think about the ending first."

Some outline methods work the same way. A guide on this site lists the seven-point structure, which Dan Wells walks through on Writing Excuses, in order: "hook, first plot turn, first pinch, midpoint, second pinch, second plot turn, resolution."

That method, the guide says, "asks for the resolution first, then the hook as its opposite". Then "The five points between are worked out last".

Another method, the Snowflake, "runs ten steps, and the first is a one-sentence summary of the whole novel". It asks for the ending "at step two, as one sentence of the paragraph".

The beat sheet, the same guide adds, "gives it a position, to be found later". The guide on the beat sheet says its "best-known version comes from screenwriter Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! (2005)".

Finding the ending on the way

Brandon, another host, describes the other way of working. His subject is the kind of ending, whether the book ends "in a gunfight or a conversation", as Howard has just put it. For "a heavy duty discovery writer", he says, "you may not discover that till the end, and then you need to rewrite it in. That's totally fine."

Then he adds: "But let's just say in the finished product, the reader should be able to anticipate what kind of ending it is… You are looking for after the first act of your story is done. Most of the time."

Howard, the fourth host, mixes the two. "When I'm outlining, these days all of my discovery writing tricks are now rolled into my outlining process."

Working backwards from the ending "does not feel backwards" to him. He begins that process thinking, "What is the big awesome moment at the end…"

In his words, "you can be gathering these things, and still have some options for what happens at the end."

The outline guide on this site puts the split this way: "Some writers build everything before the first sentence; others write to find out what they think."

It adds that how much you outline depends on the book, and can change partway through the draft.

When the road changes and the ending stays

Holland reports how Alec Waugh pictures a new book: "a long and rather pleasant walk to a charming castle on a distant hill."

For Waugh, "The castle itself is quite clear and well-defined". He "very often has to turn back and start again", but the castle, in Holland's words, "remains the same".

So in this account the ending held while the route to it moved. Brandon describes the reverse case, where the kind of ending arrives late and is written back in.

Who says what

The table counts what each source says, and only that. Doesn't say means the source is silent, not that the person disagrees.

WhoSourceKnows or plans the ending firstDrafts the ending firstFinds or changes it on the way
Victoria (V. E. Schwab)Writing Excusesyesdoesn't sayplans it before anything; calls writing "towards a discovery" a risk
DanWriting Excusesyesdoesn't saysays he writes "the same way" as Victoria
HowardWriting Excusesyes, starts from "the big awesome moment at the end"doesn't saykeeps options for the end
BrandonWriting Excusessays he "always knows" his endingsdoesn't saydescribes discovery writers who find the kind of ending late
Vyvyan HollandThe Fortnightly Reviewyesrecommends itcalls waiting at a blank page for an inspiration "a waste of time"; a friend's book begun with "no particular scheme in view" went from treatise to autobiography to novel to short story
Alec Waugh, as Holland reportsThe Fortnightly Reviewthe castle, clear from the start (the ending, in Holland's reading)doesn't sayoften turns back on the road

Count: of the six people quoted, five describe knowing or planning the ending first, Waugh in Holland's reading. The sixth, Brandon, says he always knows his endings. One recommends drafting it first. None of the four podcast hosts says they draft it first.

Four questions for your own draft

  • Can you say who your characters are at the moment you leave them? That is the question Schwab asks before choosing the kind of climax; she rewinds from there.
  • Does your outline method ask for the ending first? The seven-point structure does; the beat sheet places it, to be found later.
  • Would a drafted ending help you keep the castle in sight, as Holland hoped? Or do you expect, like Waugh, to turn back on the road?
  • If you only discover the kind of ending at the end, are you ready to "rewrite it in"? Brandon calls that "totally fine". But in the finished product, he says, the reader "should be able to anticipate what kind of ending it is" after the first act, most of the time.

In Scrin, a note written between double percent signs (%%like this%%) stays in the draft, visible while you write. It never counts toward the word count, and no export includes it unless you ask.

Questions

Should I write the ending first if I already know it? The authors quoted here split the question in two. The Writing Excuses hosts who start from the ending plan it; Vyvyan Holland argues for drafting it first.

What is the difference between knowing the ending and writing it first? Knowing it means you can say how the book ends before you start. Writing it first means drafting those pages before the rest, which is what Holland recommends.

Why do some authors plan the ending before anything else? For V. E. Schwab, the ending "determines the entire story I'm telling". She says that writing towards a discovery without a plan risks ingredients that "result in a different end, which result in something that doesn't feel cohesive". Holland wants to never lose sight of "your castle".

Can I find the ending as I write? Brandon, on Writing Excuses, says a discovery writer may only find the kind of ending at the end and rewrite it in, and calls that "totally fine". But in the finished product, he adds, the reader should be able to anticipate the kind of ending after the first act, most of the time.

What if the ending changes while I write the middle? In Holland's account, Alec Waugh often turns back and starts again while his castle stays the same. Brandon describes the other case: the kind of ending found late and written back in.

Which outline methods ask for the ending, and when? The seven-point structure asks for the resolution first and works out the five points between last. The Snowflake, ten steps long, asks for the ending at step two. The beat sheet gives it a position, to be found later.

Sources