Should You Give Away Your Ending?

The Hard Truth About Pitching Your Story.

In several of my coaching sessions, the pervasive question has been, when you’re pitching your story to a producer, agent, or reader, be it a movie, book, or tv show, how much should you share regarding the ending?

While there is no one answer, and it varies per medium, the most prominent confusion is over how do you hook your audience without giving too much away?  How do you position it so that you’re not giving away your big twist payoff?

When embarking on a writing project, most of us begin with a premise, or a loose narrative, that hinges on a vague conclusion, where you kinda “know” what’s going to happen – what needs to happen – but you’re not exactly sure how yet. For example, you may know that the protagonist, after a soul-searching journey overcomes his or her impediments and ultimately finds redemption. Or that the love story that’s been churning all along culminates in a break up that turns out to be a lesson for growth. Or, for thriller writers (like me), you may have the “scene” in mind where that big surprise that no one saw coming is fleshed out beat for beat. You know “how” it’s going to end, but you haven’t figured out how you’re going to get there. 

This is common. We all question, how much should I outline, and how much should I leave up to discovery, as I write my way through it? 

Personally, I only outline the main beats of my stories. The turning points, and the overall character archs – where I want the story to “end up” and the lesson it’s mean to convey.  And then I dive in and start writing and see where it takes me. Sometimes, this means I get stuck on page 10 or 30, and when I don’t know what to write next, I take a step back, and re-outline it, but only up to a few steps ahead of where I’m at. The word “outline” is daunting. We think of it as an overwhelming homework assignment where if I don’t complete 10 pages with each scene broken out, if I don’t know where it going… then I’m shit out of luck.

But the beauty of writing – of discovery – is in the surprise. If I can surprise myself (with a light bulb manifested in a joyful chuckle) then I’ll probably surprise the audience too. Conversely, if I map out exactly where I’m headed, then it’s likely that the audience or reader will sense it too. 

So let’s say you’ve finished. Your book or script is ready for the world, aka ready for that nail-biting submission (there’s a word with an odious double meaning). You think you’ve got a project that is fresh, structurally sound, and needs to be seen or read.

Turns out, the approach varies depending on what you’re writing, and who you’re targeting.

NOVELS

Agents will tell you that they want to know the ending and that you should give it away in your query email.  They want to know in under 3 minutes what your book is about, and that you have a firm grasp on the takeaway.  Since their job is to ascertain whether they can sell it to publishers, the more they know the better. That doesn’t mean you should write out the whole final scene in your query. No. But you should give them an idea of what happens in a sentence or two. Believe me, you won’t be ruining your whole book by telling them, thinking that now they won’t want to read it. If your entire book (any story!) and labor of love is contingent upon the ending, then your book isn’t ready (ugh, I know).

TV SHOWS

In this scenario, when you’re writing a bible – a pitch document – it is exactly that. You’re pitching what your show is and need to be on the nose. Your bible is a sales document, not a written narrative that can only be experienced by watching it. The common misconception and understandable pitfall is that writers think if they withhold the ending, or even the main story, that the reader will be intrigued and want to read on.  The thing is, you must explicitely state what your story is about right up front, or no one will read further. There is a very fine line between mystery and confusion (and a hard pass).

SCREENPLAYS

With screenplays, it’s slightly different. You want to set the stage and communicate the high concept, without giving too much away in your pitch. You want to leave them wanting more – a cliffhanger. Don’t give it away in your written or verbal pitch. Ever. The key is that if you’ve successfully established the tone and stakes, a manager, agent, or producer will be hooked and get past the first 30 pages so they can find out on their own how it ends. It’s your job to make sure they don’t see it coming.

Which brings me to the common maxim – every ending should be UNEXPECTED BUT INEVITABLE. 

It should surprise us. The character makes a choice that we didn’t see coming, but if the character building journey that precedes it works, it will feel inevitable.

So if you’re embarking on your writing journey, don’t sweat the ending. If you’ve done the intricate, soul-bearing work, the ending will come to you when you’ve arrived upon it.

Because in the end (see what I did there?), and in real life, can any of us really know what’s going to happen?

If only.