How should I end my short story about a small town?

Question

Hey ya'll. I'm writing a story 5-10 pages for a Creative Writing class and i'm burnt out on stories. The story is about a small, secluded mountain town that was build by a rich eccentric man. I want the town to have a secret, scary or not, but something. I have written that the 'maker' of the town wanted to hand pick who came in and wanted to make sure no one left. I can NOT think of an ending....PLEASE HELP!

Answer 1

The rich, eccentric guy is really a ghost. He's been dead for years but cannot move on because his spirit is so warped and twisted. He originally built the town in the early 1800's and wanted to be seen as a great leader of his town but he was too greedy and controlling. He owned all the land and raised his land rent rates to astronomical prices, he loaned money but charged unbelievable interest rates, no one could do anything in the town without his approval. He was a true tyrant.

Eventually the townspeople grew tired of his dishonest business practices and tried to leave the town. Of course, they owed him money and could not leave so, late one night, they all banded together and set fire to his house and he was killed in his sleep.

Since then, his spirit has been trapped, trying to maintain control over his land and his town. He hand picks people who are descendants of the original townspeople in the hopes of trapping them in his town forever.

At the end, one person escapes from the town into the nearby woods but when he goes back to rescue the others who weren't allowed to leave, all he finds is a ghost town that obviously hasn't been inhabited for many many years.


Okay, it's cliched, but it will work within the parameters you have set for yourself.

Answer 2

the secret could be like something i saw on tv but it was a real long time ago
okay see this really rich lady had her 20 servants go to the dengeon naked and then she'd punish the bad ones by tying her down and making small cuts and drink her blood then when she was done, she killed them. her fetish is blood
how it could end is that one of the sevants survives and runs home to get better cause she lost a lot of blood and then she finds a way to bring down the lady
change it the way you like
**or maybe since this is a man you're talking about, he could have many wives and one of them found out about it. then she rallies them all together and they kill him
**if you want a happier ending, the man is attracted to one of the girls, she's maybe 15, he brings into the town and makes laws so that she isn't allowed to see any other guy, she resists at first then runs away she comes back as an older woman, 22 maybe and eventually marries the old guy
if you need anymore ideas, i'm full of them, contact if you need anymore

Answer 3

The maker knew the world was going to end and the only safe place on earth was the town. Some of the people that wanted to escape the town found out at the last minute that there was some nuclear attack on the world and they find out the maker of the town saved them and became their hero....or something like that

Answer 4

Corey Doctorow says that there are only 2 stories:

1] Someone enters town

2] Someone leaves town

Clearly since you've set up a scenario where no one is supposed to leave the climax should be when someone DOES leave. Once on the outside of the town the secret should be obvious.

Answer 5

In this a guy that has lived in the town all his life is talking about the secret of the town

"Well it just Goes ta show ya people sometimes don't like to talk about the past. now we don't talk about how it happend or when it happend we just know that it did happen whe know that Jonathan Marks Did Kill His Wife and his family and then went out of town and we all do know that he was found bout a weak latter a few towns over, sure he was dead shot himself with the same gun that he shot his family with but like i said we dont like to talk about, now if ya want to talk about the town the good things that happend there well then i will ive been here all my life and i aint afraid to talk about that kind of stuff but.......... never Jonathan Marks."

Answer 6

Go watch some old Clint Eastwood cowboy movies like High Plains Drifter, Fistful of Dollars or the Unforgiven.

Answer 7

i do no longer think of i'm ever probable to return to my small city after having lived in huge northeastern cities, yet i extremely think of you may circulate back. as quickly as I say "my small city," I propose ~6,000 people. it is in basic terms too small to have something of pastime different than petty small-city squabbling. (don't get me incorrect - I had a great youthful people - yet there is in basic terms plenty extra in a suited city.) 30,000 people seems to me to be adequate which you would be able to "make your guy or woman relaxing." Is the close by "smaller midwestern city" sufficiently huge to have activities communities (farm communities are ok), a pair of paintings galleries, and a few actual stable eating places? I guess it extremely is. And, which comprise your larger salary and (possibly) decrease fee of living, in keeping with hazard you will additionally be waiting to take the kinfolk for the occasional holiday to the huge city back east. i think of it is elementary to underestimate the fee of being on the factor of kinfolk. i'm fortunate: i've got moved up right here, and it is precisely the place all my cousins and grandparents stay.

Answer 8

How about having the characters being connected in some unknown way. Maybe by evil deeds or related biologically. Bringing it altogether in a fast pace at the end could be really cool. What do you think?

Answer 9

Give it a surprising twist - whatever you do, avoid predictable and cliche. Maybe in the end, HE could be somehow removed from the town by strange means. Thus he'd get his just rewards.

Whatever you do, please use the spell-check feature and also double-check your word usage. You'll get a better grade if you polish the story and eliminate the errors.

Good luck!

Answer 10

he hand picked people who were related to him (though none of thehand-picked knew this) . they all had a common ancestor witha terrible genetic disease. at the end, everyone's disease manifests (pick something, like advanced leprosy). the rich man brought them together b/c he saw his mom die a horrible death and wanted to rid the disease from the general population. or maybe he was rich and philanthropic and was working on a cure, made from some ore int he mountain