On endings that don’t feel like endings

Dear Reader,

I used to believe that a good ending in a novel should feel like a door closing — firm, satisfying, final. I no longer think that’s true.

The endings I love most now feel like a door left slightly ajar. You can hear the wind moving through the crack. You know the story continues somewhere, even if the book is closed.

I’ve been revising the final pages of a new manuscript and finding myself resisting the urge to tie everything up neatly. Life rarely offers clean conclusions. Why should fiction?

Perhaps the most honest ending is one that leaves the reader with the same gentle unease the characters feel — a sense that something important has shifted, even if we cannot yet see where it will lead.

I’m still learning how to do this well.

With quiet gratitude,

Claire