How long should a novels ending be?

Question

For a novel. I know for the ones I've read the climax and ending is usually brought around in about 7-10 chapters. I would like to know because I want it to be quick and have a good impact, and not long, boring and drawn out ... but I don't want to to be too quick or too slow. What is a good way to do this in, to wrap up a novel?

By 7-10 chapters I meant that the ending takes roughly around that to tie up all the loose ends. The story itself is longer, but this is the usualt length after the climax, I find.

Answer 1

The average length of a novel is between 90 and 140 thousand words. Always refer to your work in number of words. 7 - 10 chapters sounds kind of short for me to reach the climax. I would estimate that you should reach your climax at about 3/4 of the way through. That allows you for plenty of time to resolve everything and tie up all backstories and subplots. It also allows for some kind of an epilogue if yu want one -to establish the protagonist's life after the conflict that affected him. I refer to that as "Ground Zero Plus". HIs life has returned to "normal", but it will never be the same because of what happened during the conflict and his attempts to resolve it. Depending on the length of your chapters, I would estimate you are way short hitting your climax in chapters 7 - 10. What is your word count at present? If you want you can e mail me that information and I will advise you further. Pax - C

Answer 2

When you write a story correctly, the last act's final climax will provide deep meaning to your readers. You want them to ruminate on the meaning so it is necessary to end your story quickly. Most of the endings go on for maybe 5 to 10 pages...not much, but that's the good thing about them. If you feel you need to go on for several more chapters, then you should rearrange how you're writing yours story and where your last act's final climax resides. So tie up the loose ends and drop the curtain and let your readers reflect on your story's meaning.

Books are hard to see concrete examples how this is done, but take a look at movies or television shows which follow the exact same form as novels (stories). When you see the last act's final climax, look how much longer the film continues the story -- it's not long at all, just enough to tie loose ends, which is anywhere between 5-10, maybe 20 pages in a novel.

Whether you're bringing your ending in too soon is a different issue altogether.

Answer 3

I think a great way to end a novel is to keep it pretty simple but not too simple so that the reader doesn't understand it. Ending with a TO BE CONTINUED is OK if there's a trilogy to be going on but not soo hot for a novel with one book. Novels with a bad ending would be Julies Wolf pack left ya hanging, who killed red robin, didn't understand ending, and Lord of the Flies great story bad ending.

Answer 4

The ending should be the falling action of the climax or the climax itself. Depending on rather or not you want to make a sequel to your book.

Answer 5

Okay, i have the shortest answer for you.

AS LONG AS NECESSARY

you can write only 5 sentence if you can fit it into five sentence. Or it can be 7-10 chapters or more.

CHeeRioS