When is a Story Finished?

For some people, this question can have an easy answer: it’s finished when the conflict or final scene has been resolved.

For me, it’s hard to say when a story is finished, since I always have this feeling that I can keep going and carry the story forward even after it’s ended. When I reach the last paragraph of a story, I will ask myself if it should keep going, or if it would be superfluous if I did. But by that point, after writing tens of thousands of words (if it’s a novel), I’m already exhausted, and I’m happy to end it so long as I can take a break. Of course, that ending could change once I started editing the story. I’d say to myself, why did it end here? There’s more to be said, story arcs that need to be wrapped up.

If there is a lingering question of “what if” after I’ve ended a story, or events or scenes that haven’t fully been explained, I will continue to add to the narrative despite where I originally planned on ending it.

And for short stories, I like to end it on a note that I leaves a strong impression or a thought provoking idea for the reader rather than wrap it up as a complete narrative. The structure for a short story is more conducive to that kind of ending, since they can function more as an idea(s) or “food for thought” rather than a story with a clear-cut plot.