Cry uncle! That’s a demand someone utters when they know they’ve beaten you. Where would any dramatic story be without that moment of utter failure, that moment when everything seems lost? There appears to be no light at the end of this tunnel, no hope for the characters you’ve threaded into the heart of your reader.
It’s exactly such a moment that makes the ending that follows—if it’s a satisfying one—all the more memorable. If you, as the writer, can bring your characters to the precipice of disaster, perhaps even sending them over that cliff to a safety net catching them, a happy ending will be even happier for having watched them survive.
Here are a few thoughts on providing a satisfying ending after taking your characters to that moment when they’re crying uncle:
Whatever saves your characters must be logical. If your story doesn’t already involve space aliens, then space aliens mustn’t swoop in and save them. In other words, bringing in any new, convenient, or out-of-the-blue savior to whisk your character to safety will more than likely have readers pitching the book across the room than giving them what they’ve been looking for in a good story.
One good example would be from the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy’s goal has been clear nearly from the moment of her arrival in Oz. She wants to go home, but she must face one obstacle after another. At the end, when everything seems to be wrapping up nicely and the “wizard” is going to take her home in the balloon, all hope is suddenly lost when the balloon gets away and the phony wizard can’t control it. Dorothy’s ride is gone, along with it her hopes of ever getting home again.
Until, of course, the Good Witch Glinda arrives and tells Dorothy she’s always had the power to get home, only she’d needed to learn a few things first—one of them being just how much she treasured her home to begin with.
The story has all of the elements a good tale needs:
A goal — wanting to get home.
Myriad obstacles — even the wizard himself is an obstacle, for demanding Dorothy bring the witch’s broom to him before granting her wish.
A villain — the witch.
The Black Moment — when Dorothy’s just about ready to cry uncle and say she can’t take any more. That moment when her ride home, the fulfillment of her goal, floats away without her. New hope arrives in the form of Glinda—who was certainly foreshadowed on more than one occasion. Finally, the realization that Dorothy has been walking around in the answer nearly since she got there. The story took from its own well of elements the answer to a happy ending.
That’s one of the key things in good story telling. Authors build a story world and we need to USE WHAT WE HAVE. Don’t bring in outside forces to clutter up the focus of the story, use the characters themselves and the bare minimum around them all the way through to the ending.
So, whatever saves your characters must be foreshadowed, but with a light touch so as to keep the reader guessing. They may smack their forehead and wonder why they didn’t see it coming, or they may have it figured out and feel good that they were able to do so. Unless you’re writing a suspense novel where you absolutely do not want them figuring everything out, chances are many endings in certain genres are predictable. In romance, for example, everyone knows the boy will get the girl. Yes, we all read romances for that moment when we know they’ll live happily ever after. But how to get there . . . well, that’s the beauty of each unique story. How will a writer bring two characters obviously meant for each other to the point where all seems lost, and then bring them together?
A couple last thoughts to consider as you build toward that black moment when your character wants to cry uncle:
How does he come to that black moment but still win on his own merit? (Dorothy realizes how much she loves her home, the very place she was willing to leave when Mrs. Gulch gave her trouble.) Usually some form of hope arrives, even if it’s an intangible. In this case, Glinda arrived to give Dorothy the knowledge she needed, but Glinda was a character already introduced.
Lastly, that moment in the story where all seems lost cannot be something that will forever stand between your characters. For example, if the wizard had been a representation of someone important in Dorothy’s life (as the lion, the tin man and the scarecrow were) then the way the wizard let her down would have been like a burr under the saddle for the rest of Dorothy’s life. He was kindly enough, but the bottom line is she knew he was a fraud. So when he lets her down by floating off without her, she’s not really surprised. The usage of this character won’t be a source of tension for her after the last page is turned, because she knows he’s is a fraud anyway. The kindly traveling fortuneteller will go on his way but Dorothy will be home, surrounded by people she loves and who love her. A satisfying ending that sends your characters off to their happy futures.
The moment your character cries uncle is a pivotal time in every story. And it certainly deserves careful attention, because it’s very likely one of the main things readers will remember when they close the book. So strive to have them close it with a smile by being aware of this moment and giving it all the drama and logic a good story demands.
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