Does this last sentence sound familiar?

The End.

It's not "And they lived happily ever after," but an abrupt end that leaves your readers thinking about the future of your characters. It might be the closed end that finishes your characters' lives forever. In any case, it's an end, so how will you begin it?

It's time for you to work out a story. Write an outline, or a summary of your novel. Talk about the major characters, their motivations, their back stories, their wants and needs. Describe them if you can. Talk about how they deal with their problems, and then, bring a problem hurtling into their lives. Talk about how they pull through it. Add a problem if you like; add two; heck, add a hundred. Who survives? Who doesn't? What is your story about.

When you are done, tack on "The End" to the end of it. Get your story ready. It's time to start writing your novel.

A Last Sentence for the Month of Showers!

It's time to write a 500-word-or-less story. Pick your plot and setting, but have only ONE character. Your character should not be human.

You read that right. You can have one animal, one fairy, one dwarf, one pencil, what-have-you. Whatever you pick, you need only ONE non-human character.

You also need to use this as your last sentence:

"The rain began to fall."

When you are finished with your work, post it in the Comments section, or provide a link to it. Good luck and happy writing!

A Romantic Mystery, All of Your Own Making

Your mission in this exercise is to come up with your own characters and setting to fit the following as your final sentence:

"She knew, deep in her heart, that now was the time to kill him."

Use this final sentence to end your tale of romance, love, and murder. You have 2000 words or less to write your story.

When you are done, paste your story in the Comments section, or provide a link to your story. Good luck and happy writing!

A Not-So-Last Sentence

You have your choice of characters and plot, and you can use as many words as you want. You only need to come to an ending so that your story will end with the following sentence.

"It was not finished yet."

Last sentence exercises always aim to make you focus your story and to find the many ways to reach an ending without looking like you are forcing the words out. Happy writing, and good luck with the story!

When you are done, post your work in the Comments section, or provide readers with a link to it.

A Last Sentence for NaNoWriMo

Here's a dream sentence for you NaNoWriMo enthusiasts:

"I finished my novel early, and that was that."

True, this is rare, but what if it really did happen? What if you finished your work early? What could have led to your success?

Your job is to use this sentence as the very last one in your short story. You have only a thousand words, at the most, to write the tale. The plot will be entirely your own. When you are done, post your story in the Comments section, or provide a link to it so that other people can read how you achieved your novel writing success.

Good luck, and happy writing!

A Very Short Last Sentence

Here’s another challenge for you: you need to build your story up to fit a very short last sentence. You need to use only 10,000 words (or less) for your story. You have your choice of style, plots, characters, and points of view. You also need to use this as your last sentence:

Yes.

This exercise should help you strengthen your ability to write a story that can lead up to a last sentence as short as the one provided. If you are creative enough with this exercise, you can make up your own endings (happy or otherwise) and work your way to the ending that you want.

When you are finished, post a link to your work in the Comments section. Good luck, and happy writing!

This Isn't the Matrix, But You Could be Close!

Remember the movie “The Matrix?” Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, found that he could be the expert by simply getting a computer program planted into his head. He could fly a helicopter. He knew kung-fu. This plot ploy, dear writer, is now taken. Perhaps you can make one better than it?

Here is your final sentence:

“He was now the expert – no one was better.”

So, what could someone do to become an expert in something? Cook up the most outrageous, most interesting, most creative story in less than 1,000 (one thousand) words. Show off your work in the comments section of this blog, or post a link to your work. Good luck, happy imagining, and happy writing!

Maybe the Child in You can Have the Final Say...

“All that I could think was that it was the most fun that I ever had.”

Have you ever found yourself saying those words? Have you ever thought that all the work that you did was just a whole load of great play? Have you ever looked back and thought, “I was so lucky.” Well, now is the time to tell your story!

This time, you cannot employ fiction. You have to think back on the most fun situation that you've ever experienced, and you have to tell it in the most engaging, most believable, and yes, most fun manner. You can use as many words as you want, and you can pepper your prose with figurative language. You just have to be truthful and you need a good story.

The best writers in the world can turn the most ordinary tales into stories worth cherishing. Bring out the writer in you! Provide links in the comments section, or show off your story!

Good luck and happy writing!

Last Sentence: A Special Shoutout to Teachers!

Let's give a shoutout to all the teachers who have made our lives both better and worse; who have been both inspiration and sources of desperation; and who have enriched our experiences, whether in school or out.

To celebrate our teachers, pick up your pen and get your paper ready. Or, open a new file on your PC and float those fingers over the keyboard. You need to write a short story about a teacher.

Use no more than 2000 words. Pick your setting: you can have a professor in a university or a teacher in a pre-school. Pick your plot: you can have people falling in love or students falling to their knees, begging for a passing grade.

Ah - and use this as your last sentence:

"It was all I needed to learn."

Post your work in the comments section, or post a link so that others can read your work. Happy Writing!

Let's Have a Bit of Drama for that Last Sentence!

It's time for you to get dramatic with that short story. You can make your work as long or as short as you want, and you can put in as many characters as you please. You only need to use the following as your final sentence:

“No: it wasn't the right thing to do, but it was the only thing that mattered.”

So, are you going to examine characters and their motivations for a dastardly deed, or are you going to go the literary fiction route and put in some meditative prose? It's all up to you! Just add your story to the comments, or give readers a link to it so that they can see how well you've built your story up to the last words.

Good luck, and happy writing!

The Last Sentence: Your Work Takes a Vacation (Or Does it?)

Are you ready to build your story from the back to the front? Are you ready to rest your tale on the end? If you are, then get your pen and paper out (or get those fingers poised over your keyboard)!

You are tasked to write a short story. Have your own characters, your own plot, your own descriptions, your own style, and your own tone. Check your grammar. Proofread your work. Post your work, or a link to it, in the comments section of this blog.

Oh, and yes...you are required to use this as your last sentence:

Yes: It was time to take a vacation.
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A Last Sentence for NaNo (Pardon the Delay!)

True, NaNoWriMo is long gone, and novel editing is about to come. But you can still add your ending, over and above the 50,000+ words that you already have. Or you could start work on your next novel! Try out this last sentence and work your story around it for some finger+brain exercise.

"She never looked back."

Write a novel, short story, or book series. Just use that last sentence to fuel your story. Good luck!

A Last Sentence Exercise: Not Quite Stating the Obvious

There's nothing like a great last sentence to cap off a great piece of work. But you don't always have to write out “The End,” especially when you don't think that things are over yet. Can you think of an event that might turn your tale into the cliffhanger of the decade?

Plan out a quick story: tell it like you were telling a friend about something that you had just heard. Or, better yet, tell it like you were telling a friend about something that mattered to you, something that shook you up. In fact, you don't need to write a piece of fiction. You can simply write your story.

You need less than one thousand (1,000) words of prose, and you have to fit this in as the last sentence:

“I didn't think it was the end.”

Post your story in the comments section, or provide a link to it so that people can start reading your tale. Good luck, and happy writing!

The Last Sentence #2: How's this For Even More Ambiguity?

You need to write a 1000-word (or less) story. The characters, names, locations, and plot are all yours. All you need is a good word processor, fingers ready to do some typing, a brain ready to do some writing, and yes, your last sentence.

"There was nothing left."

Now, build your story around that last sentence. Do post your link to your story (or even your story, if you wrote a really short one) in the comments section. Good luck and happy writing!

The Last Sentence #1

Your job, dear writer, is to open your journal and start writing, or open a new file on your computer and start typing. It's time to write a short story of no more than 5000 words, with your choice of plot and characters, and with the style that you want. All that I ask is that you end it with the following sentence.

"She could not weep, but she could harden her heart, until it would break into a thousand pieces and be no more."

Good luck! Share your stories through the comments section, by pasting it (if it's short) or providing a link. Have fun!

A New Class of Tips: The Last Sentence

And so the end had come, but the last sentence had no other sentence before it.

Here's an extra challenge in this class of tips: write the start that leads to the last sentence! You can write an essay, a short story, or even a novel chapter - just make sure that you get to the last sentence that I give.

Wait for last sentences, right here on this blog!