My mom woke me up, and it was all a dream. The End

Hello Writers 

August 28, 2026.

  Summer is ending, and I am sad but also keen to resume a more normal life for Peter and me. Perhaps not quite normal. On September 14th, we will celebrate our 58th wedding anniversary. On September 23rd, 24th and 25th, we have planned a staycation in Niagara-on-the-Lake. This lovely little town is so close to Niagara Falls and the Shaw (theatre) Festival. Our goal is to be gentle tourists and take things at our own pace: revisit Niagara Takes Flight, an amazing experience of Niagara Parks; attend the Shaw Festival to see Amedeus; revisit The Brock Monument; and, all the while, stay at an Airbnb called Villa in Vines in the heart of wine country. On September 28th, Peter will be 80 years old, and that is a celebration, indeed. And throughout these happy times, there is always my writing. I did some planning in August and some editing, but not much writing. I am looking forward to getting back to it.

Some good writing news: 

My ghost story, Old Whitey, came in third place in the Spooky Story Contest and will be in the upcoming issue of The New Canadian Stories (literary) Magazine, as well as the online version. 

I have been invited to give a workshop for seniors on writing memoir. Looking forward to stepping back into my professional life, but as an author, not as an educator. I am a professional unpaid author…lol

An exploration of endings

“Then my mom woke me up, and it was all a dream. The End.”

I was teaching Grade four and using a writing workshop approach. The children wrote wonderful stories, and as I met with them individually for our writing conferences, I frequently came across the  

“deus ex machina” ending doing the dirty work. 

Deus ex machina is a plot device where an unexpected, artificial, or improbable event suddenly resolves a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story; any sudden, unearned plot twist—like a miraculous rescue or a last-minute discovery—that saves the hero without proper setup. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

I valued that my young writers knew their story needed an ending and that this was a start. I read a story in one of my U of T writing classes that used a dream to explain and resolve the conflict. I didn’t like it. I leave dream explanations and endings out of my writing.

So, what makes a great ending? After investigating this and trying to answer it, here is what sticks with me.

David Lodge, critic, professor and author - from his book The Art of Fiction  - “One might say that the short story is essentially end-oriented inasmuch as one begins a short story in the expectation of soon reaching its conclusion, whereas one embarks upon a novel with no very precise idea of when one will finish it.” 

 Dennis Bock, Instructor - Writing Short Story Fiction at U of T, said to keep the beginning and the ending close. 

Author Leigh Himes: “I’ve often felt that your first chapter is what sells your novel, but the ending is what sells you as an author. I’m not saying a rollicking start isn’t important—as are characters, voice, plot, and theme—but a great ending is what will leave your reader satisfied, enthusiastic, and wanting more. It’s certainly not easy. Endings have to do a lot of things. They have to give your reader the most exciting, gripping moment of the journey; they must uncover, explain, or wrap up plot lines; and they must be calibrated so perfectly that they don’t feel tacked on, contrived, or out-sized. Oh, and all the while, they must stay true to the characters, tone, and themes of the book.

A tall order, but not impossible, especially if you ask yourself the right questions. Here are some that helped me:

Does the ending feel inevitable… but also unexpected?

Can you sum up the ending in one line—or do you find yourself having to overly explain it?

Are you confusing climax with resolution?

Does your climax answer the question posed at the beginning of the book?

Is “deus ex machina” doing the dirty work?

If you are stuck on the ending, are you overthinking it?

I read several internet articles on endings, and as a result of these and my previous knowledge, here are my “new” insights into writing endings:

• Writing endings of short stories and flash fiction easy. I plan what I feel is a “grabbing” beginning with a conflict or inciting incident and come back to it in the ending. 

• I have not figured out the climax and resolution in my novel. I feel that when I do that, the ending will be present itself. As a result, my next step, before I get back to writing the next 50 000 words of my mystery novel, is to figure this out and write a draft ending.

• After writing this draft ending, I will use Leigh Himes’ paragraph about endings as a checklist of sorts:

Does my ending:

1. - give my reader the most exciting, gripping moment of the journey?

2.- uncover, explain, or wrap up plot lines?

3. - calibrate so perfectly that it doesn’t feel tacked on, contrived, or out-sized?

4. - stay true to the characters, tone, and themes of the book?

Writing is a passion. Writing is exciting, and most times, writing is fun, but there is always room for new learning and new insights. Write on! Draft ending her i come!

Take care

Gail