SHORT STORY BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS

BEGINNINGS
    You must convey emotion from the first sentence.
        1.  Your first sentence is extremely important.  You will either hook or lose the reader.
        2.  Consider beginning with a terse exchange of dialogue.
        3.  Begin with a description of the setting and scene.
        4.  Start by describing a character's actions or thoughts.

Consider the following story openings:

    "What will we do now?" said the adjutant, troubled and excited.
    "Bury him," said Timothy Lean.
    The two officers looked down close to their toes where lay the body of their comrade.  The face
was chalk-blue; gleaming eyes stared at the sky.                    -Stephen Crane


    A rather small, young man sat by the window of a pretty seaside cottage trying to persuade himself that
he was reading the newspaper.                                    -D.H. Lawrence

    I knew it.  I knew if I came to this diner, I'd draw something like this baby on my left.  They've been saving him up for me for weeks.  Now, we've simply got to have him--his sister was so sweet to us in London; we can stick him next to Mrs. Parker--she talks enough for two.                        -Dorothy Parker

    Maria Concepcion walked carefully, keeping to the middle of the white, dusty road, where the thorns and treacherous curved spines of organ cactus had not gathered so profusely.  She would have enjoyed resting for a moment in the dark shade by the roadside, but she had no time to waste drawing cactus needles from her feet.             -Katherine Anne Porter

ENDINGS

    "If I didn't know the ending of the story, I wouldn't begin.  I always write my last lines, my last paragraph, my last page first, and then I go back and work towards it.  I know where I'm going.  I know what my goal is."--Katherine Anne Porter

    Endings are just as important as the beginning.  An ending serves to provide closure and to provoke further thought.  A good ending should affect your reader's life in some way (however small) and should cause your reader to recommend your story to others.  Consider these suggestions:
    1.  End your story by going back to the beginning.
    2.  The ending must be satisfying.  It must be complete.  The reader may chuckle with approval or be infuriated.
        Regardless, it should create some emotion in the reader.
    3.  The ending must be right.  For example, don't write a mystery story and have the ending of the story be the fault of a
        salesman never mentioned before.
    4.  Consider both happy and unhappy endings.  Remember, though, that most children's books should have a happy
        ending.  Yet, for short stories, what is true of life is true of fiction; life is composed of both happy and unhappy
        endings.

    Remember that the following types of endings are clichés and should be avoided:
    1.  "And then I woke up."
    2.  "And then the telephone rang."
    3.  "Well, they're bring my supper now, steak and french fries they promised me.  I guess they'll shave my head
        later."
    4.  "The guillotine blade fell swiftly, severing my head from my body."
    5.  "He pulled the sheet of paper out of the typewriter.  The story was done."

    We may refer to these endings as "Scooby Doo" endings.  They intend to shock the reader, but they are so predictable that they simply cause a story to fall flat.

    Another pitfall to avoid is to foreshadow that something big is going to happen and then not deliver.  You do not want your story to be anticlimactic.  However, do not create a big surprise at the end just for the sake of it.  It is perfectly acceptable to wrap up loose ends and leave it at that.

    Making Shapely Fiction gives the following advice regarding endings:
        "Endings in short stories are often muted.  The story has already made its point or it's not successful. . .
The ending doesn't have to provide a surprise.  All it has to do is land safely."