The wrap up is the final goodbye for the novel, and your last chance to leave readers with a good impression.
There’s a series* I’ve read several times, because the wrap up has such an emotional punch that it pops into my head at least once a year and won’t leave. This is not a mega-bestselling series, and it’s not perfect. And while it’s fun, it also has issues and does plenty of things I could use as examples of what not to do in a novel.
Yet I keep reading it. And not just one book, but five. All to get to that ending.
It’s not the climax that gets me, though that’s exciting. In fact, the ramp up to the climax is also emotion-ladened and always makes me cry. It’s what the characters do in that final scene and why they do it that makes me come back to this series every year or two.
It’s heroic. And uplifting. And sad. And offers a sense that the world is a better, safer place now.
