We’ve already talked about all the main components of a book, and we have one last one remaining. What has to be here, and what is it about at all? It seems, by the plot, everything has already happened. What else is there to write about?
A Soft Exit
It was obvious that the reader has to be brought into the world of the book softly and confidently, so that they believe in the world the book has created. Without achieving that result, there would be no reason to count on the story’s success. But is the same kind of soft exit needed?
At first glance, it might seem unnecessary. The reality of the world the reader lives in doesn’t require separate confirmation. They understand the realness of their own life on their own. So there’s no need to bring them in here — they’ve simply closed the book and gone off to deal with their own affairs.
So is there no need to build a soft exit out of the book? There is — but for different reasons. A properly constructed resolution forms in the reader the feeling of completion of the process associated with reading your work. The final pages have to show them that this thing has both a beginning and an end — finalizing the image of the manuscript as something whole and powerful.
Of course, someone might point out that there are books with open endings. There are books that create in the reader the need to construct the plot themselves, or to think through the meaning of what’s been written. But the question is that this kind of book had to give rise to exactly those processes. At the same time, such a book is just as complex, and it doesn’t break off at a moment when nothing is yet clear. In such cases, a certain ground is created — from which the reader pushes off in their thoughts and dives into the world of their own experiences and reflections.
With this understanding, you can take any good book with an open ending and you’ll see that there is a foundation laid there, which moves the reader into a different state and directs them along a path of searching. Beyond that, you have to understand that any good book will leave an aftertaste and provoke the reader into certain thoughts and reactions. Which means the ending of a book is not the end of what is written in it.
Is It Time, or Am I Just Tired?
Before writing the resolution, ask yourself the question: is it time to finish the book — or am I just tired of writing it? This is a very important practical point. Writing can inspire and give remarkable feelings, but at the same time it can also drain strength and even your inner fire.
At a certain stage, fatigue will start to make itself felt, and you may simply want to step out of this process. Don’t step out. See the work through to the end — which is a good resolution. A little effort, and you will have something completed and beautiful. That’s far better than the inner reproaches of conscience over not having finished something small, the inspiration for which is now lost, and which may not be coming back at all.
Writers Are Human Too
Read what you’ve written — but not in the role of someone checking their own text, in the role of a reader. This piece of advice doesn’t suit everyone. Some prefer to roll into the resolution immediately after the climax has been written. But if you’re sitting here right now reading this article, then a stop, as such, has most likely happened. That means there’s time and the opportunity to look over what’s been written and to better understand how, exactly, to bring your own story to its close.
Remembering
Try to recall your own mood, or the central thesis of what you’d planned to write. It can happen that here, in the resolution, is exactly where it needs to be placed — especially if it wasn’t found in the other parts of the book.
Inertia
Writing the resolution is similar to the work of an engine that’s already been disconnected from its power source. It’s still spinning its little wheels inside, but at the same time there’s only one path open to it: full stop. That, precisely, is the rule which has to be strictly observed in the finale of a book. You have to pick up the inertia of the climax, and then bring all of it to a point where nothing is moving and nothing is happening.
If, however, even for a second, some kind of local acceleration starts up in you, that means there was something you didn’t finish writing in the previous parts of the book. Go back and look into the question.
And Finally
The resolution is the writer’s last opportunity to say something to the reader. That, first and foremost, is what it’s worth being used for. Everything that might have seemed unclear. Everything that wasn’t covered by the other parts of the book.
The dynamic quality of the events of the climax pulls attention onto active action. The main body leads us along and reveals the world. The resolution can sum things up — doing this in a calm mode, where you can place light accents on what is very important, but for which there was no obvious place in the other parts of the book.
This is very similar to all the other manifestations of our life, where it’s critical not to lose what a great deal of effort and soul has been put into.
— I write fiction on commission. If you have a story you want to see told, here’s how we can work together. More on writing and the craft of books — in the blog.
Vasyl Kovalchuk, 30.04.2026
