Your opening and closing scenes are two of the most important scenes in your entire book, next to the climax. In fact, crafting effective opening and closing scenes will set you up for a successful and compelling novel. But how do you write amazing opening and closing scenes that hook your reader all the way through to a satisfying conclusion?
Story Structure
Think of a scene like a mini story within the overall story. In Blueprint for a Book, Jennie Nash calls the scene “the smallest unit of a story, because it contains its own story structure.” Therefore, each scene should have a beginning, middle, and end, just like your overall story arc.
Cause and Effect
Since a story is constructed through multiple scenes being woven together, a compelling novel begins with an effective scene. This is especially important for your opening and closing scenes, which have the most powerful impact on your reader—one hooks them like an inhale, and the other leaves them feeling satisfied like an exhale. “[T]he point of the last scene is going to prove the whole point of your novel. The point of your first scene must be connected to it” (Nash).
Nash also says, “An effective scene leads into what comes next in the story: A decision is reached that sets up an action or a risk is taken that has a consequence.” How one scene ends should be a clear indication of how the next one begins in a cause-and-effect trajectory. This will be what effectively moves the plot forward.
The Party: Arrive Late, Leave Early
We want to arrive to the party late and leave early. Not too much, of course—your reader needs enough information to understand the setup and feel satisfied by the conclusion. But you don’t want too much exposition in the beginning that you lose your reader before they’ve even reached the action, and likewise, you don’t want to let the ending fizzle out by lingering too long at the conclusion. Start and end with a bang to hook your reader the entire way through and keep them turning the page.
Opening Scene: Arrive Late
Arriving late means starting immediately in on the action. The first two or three sentences are the most important as they will either hook your reader or lose their attention, so it’s a good idea to use this brief window wisely.
Love, death, or enlightenment all evoke emotion and create a strong sense of curiosity that will draw your reader in instantly. Imagine the moment everything changes for your protagonist. Your initial few sentences could pose a question, hint at a secret, or foreshadow an unresolved issue. Yes, you will need to add in a snapshot of their “regular” life too, but for now, just focus on the inciting incident.
You will also want to use your opening scene to introduce your protagonist and the world/setting the story takes place in, but do not fall into the trap of info dumping, or overloading your reader with exposition. Weed through these background details to find the ones that are truly important to your story and weave them in organically.
Closing Scene: Leave Early
Leaving early means you wrap the story up in a satisfying manner, but before it fizzles out. By the end of your book, both the internal and external conflicts must be resolved, loose ends must be tied up, and any lingering questions must be answered. Be sure to adhere to any conventions of your genre as well (e.g., a romance must end in a happily ever after or at least a happy for now).
Echoing or even contrasting elements from the beginning in your closing scene can be a very effective tool as well, like having the protagonists get married where they first bumped into each other. This technique is called mirroring and is a great way to wrap the story up neatly.
Evoking strong emotions at the conclusion, whether joy, sadness, or a combination of the two, will leave your reader feeling connected to your characters and reflective as to how it all relates to their own life. Tie these emotions into the overall point of your story to reinforce your theme. This can easily be achieved through your protagonist’s transformative character arc, demonstrating life lessons learned and growth of character.
Timed Scene Challenge
In Blueprint for a Book, Jennie Nash has an exercise she calls the Kitchen Timer Scene Challenge. I have adapted it into a downloadable for you because I believe it can truly provide some great possibilities and inspiration for your story’s opening and closing scenes.
The rules will not allow you to write a fully developed scene and you may not even finish before the timer rings, but that’s okay. This is merely meant to get you started and help you see a potential route to take. Start simple—you can add detail and nuance later.
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