The Word Cloud

I think good endings are important. But I completely agree with you about spending more time on the beginning of the book than the ending. I tend to do this, too, although the last novel I wrote (yet to see the light of day and probably forever consigned to outer darkness) involved rewriting the final chapters three times until I was happy with them. Even then, I had the nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right.

So yes, you've got to get the reader hooked at the start with the opening chapter but I think you've got to keep your promise to them in the final chapter. I believe that as writers we enter into a contract with our readers when they pick up our work. They've invested their time (and, if we're published, money), in what we've written and we need to fulfil our side of the bargain by keeping them interested and giving them a satisfying ending. I've read so many novels that start off well and then have hurried or sketchy endings, which suggest the writer had run out of time/words/ideas. I always feel slightly cheated by this. I don't want all the endings tied up neatly but I do want to feel that things worked out in a way that makes sense.

I've read of several authors who write the final chapter first, and then write the rest of the book. I suppose this is fine if you know how the book's going to end when you start it. Or maybe it's a good experiment for kick-starting ideas — write the ending of a novel first and then decide how it began?