Stone Soup

Where young artists paint the world with words

The international magazine of stories, poems, and art by young writers and artists. Published continuously since 1973.

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Daily Creativity #40: Think about Endings and Try Writing a Different One

Endings are hard. Try thinking about endings as punctuation:

  • Period: it’s all neatly tied up and finished.
  • Question mark: a few things are left open – whatever will happen next?
  • Exclamation point – no one expected that, SURPRISE!!!!!

Take a look at one of the stories you have written recently–or, you can do this as a collaborative exercise using someone else’s story (swap with a friend or a sibling, or choose one from Stone Soup). What kind of ending does it have? Can you try rewriting the ending in one of the other styles? Which one works best?