Endings Matter:
How to Leave Behind the Right Impression
8 Endings linger. They remain in our minds after we look away and move on to check email or cook dinner. Have you ever read a book or watched a movie that was great right up until its ending left you feeling completely let down? Most of us have, and I’d be willing to bet that whenever you remember it, you think, “It would have been good, but it had a bad ending.” Yet how much attention do you pay to the ending of the marketing or outreach materials, grants or articles you write to advance the great work you do? Here are two tips on writing good endings.
Tip #1: Each piece of writing has many endings, not just one.
Of course, the last sentence or idea of your piece is an ending, but so are the last part of each section, the last sentence of each paragraph, and the last phrase of each sentence. Notice how your mind pauses on the sentence at the end of each paragraph. Notice too how it plows through the beginning of each sentence, but pauses after the period, so the end of the sentence lingers longer and sinks in deeper.
Tip #2: Think about the feelings, images, and ideas you want to leave in your readers’ minds, and end with them.
If your goal is to leave a good impression of your organization, then feel free to talk about all the problems of the world, but end on a high note with specific and powerful language about your organization’s capacity to solve them. On the other hand, if you are writing a need statement in a grant, by all means end the section and even many of the sentences with strong, punchy statements that show how direly the world needs your work.
Examples:
A. “Black Lives Matter is not just about police violence. An estimated 40-60% of black women are sexually assaulted by the age of 18, and their lives are important too. We need to lift up this issue as well.”
Ends weakly with the vague language of “this issue as well,” leaving little impression at all. The disturbing statistic is also less noticeable at the beginning of a sentence.
B. “An estimated 40-60% of black women are sexually assaulted by the age of 18. Black Lives Matter is about them too.”
Gives the statistic its due attention with a full sentence, and ends with a concise, punchy, powerful idea.
A. “We think of ourselves as an economic change agent for our community, not just as a mortgage lender.”
Leaves the reader with the image of “just a mortgage lender.”
B. “We think of ourselves not just as a mortgage lender, but as an economic change agent for our community.”
Leaves the reader with a positive image. We have the exact same two phrases, just in the opposite order, but doesn’t it feel more uplifting?
Hal Portner
As always, Erica, your writing exemplifies its message.
Erica
Thanks so much, Hal!
Jeannie Newman
These two examples also sound like the yin and yang endings, or female and masculine. The first in each example is almost apologetic, as if the writer is ending a sentence on a questioning note.
One important point here, I think, is that while it’s easy to explain the concept when we see what you have written, the difficulty lies in recognizing it in our own writing. We all have blind spots, which is why we need coaches and editors and mentors. Thank you for sharing your Flight Log.
Erica
Thanks for your thoughts, Jeannie. I would add that apologetic or insecure writing is not feminine in itself, but the result of a culture that teaches girls and women to be unsure of themselves. I have also seen plenty of writing by men that ends with negative thoughts when it would be stronger to end with positive ones, and vice versa. It would require real research to find out if women actually do this more than men. People in general often tend to pay attention to strategically crafting the final ending of a piece, but do not do the same for endings of paragraphs and sentences.
Yes, it is often harder to correct your own writing. I try to provide tips in my Flight Log articles that could make that a bit easier by giving ideas to watch for, and if people want more help, you can of course hire me to help strengthen your writing, coach you on how to become a better self-editor, or give yourself space to specialize in what you are best at and delegate the writing needs to me.
Jeannie Newman
Aha! Excellent point regarding culture as opposed to actual feminine characteristic. Thanks for the reminder not to generalize, or perhaps I mean, to stereotype. Good stuff, Erica. I appreciate you.
Erica
Thanks Jeannie! I appreciate you too, and love that you brought such important thoughts into the conversation.
Bonnie Lambourn
Great examples, both great. I felt especially so the second one. I had such a negative knee-jerk reaction to mortgage lenders in A. and saw them as positive in B. To see this simple rearrangement, and feel such a strong reversal emotionally to the rewrite.
The first one felt more confused and lost initially.
Reading these is a great reminder of HOW to reread for revision. Placing a purpose clearly in mind and asking the right questions helps so much. Asking someone else to read for their response is also a great help – and to read aloud. Often we miss something visually, that reading aloud or listening can help. I have learned this in picture book writing critique group. Sure that is meant to be read aloud – but it has reminded me of language confusions like you showed here.
And you are so concise! That is often my issue. Concise means clarity – and less visual clutter. Even though I know this, I can forget and want to put down every little thing.
Thanks for sharing!
Erica
Thanks so much for sharing your reactions to the article, Bonnie! I’m very happy to hear that you found it so helpful. Reading aloud can really help a lot to get you to respond as a reader to what you really wrote, instead of as the writer who already knows what you wanted to convey. Conciseness absolutely does mean clarity, and richness too. It means focusing on what is truly important in your writing, and polishing it to a smooth shine that removes the dust and debris around it. By cutting out the less meaningful words, you also make what is left feel rich and full. Too many people mistake conciseness for dry, simple language that leaves out the details, but when done well, it is a condensation of all the good stuff, and makes the writing more sumptuous instead of drier.