Recently Pixar’s 22 Storytelling Rules circulated on the Internet. Being as the Pixar gave us great movies like Toy Story and Cars, I figure they might know what they’re doing.

Another fun tidbit, my office – the turret tower – was designed and built by a Pixar artist. Fun huh? I feel a bit of connection with Pixar because of it.

I picked rule number seven to discuss today. Here it is:

#7. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

Most writers start out with an idea. We see the beginning. We have an idea of the inciting incident and how it might move toward the middle of the book, but rarely do we know the ending other than, “It all works out.” Or, “They lived happily ever after.”

The end is very critical. Because it should shadow your beginning! The stories that grab us are interwoven with hints and connections to The End.

In The Wedding Dress, I opened with Charlotte going up to Red Mountain to think and coming across an annual auction. I wanted her to stumble across something important there, but I also wanted so show how this orphan girl made good is actually walking on the ground of her ancestors. And she didn’t even know it!

This beginning helped my ending. This ending helped my beginning.

Knowing your ending helps you map out the middle. Think of going on a family vacation.

You know where you’re starting from and you know where you want to end up. What you have to figure out is the middle.

If I want to leave central Florida to visit my family in Tennessee, then I know the route I need to take.

But if I start out to leave central Florida, only knowing that I want to “visit family,” I could end up in No Man’s Land. I have family in Georgia, Tennessee, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana.

I have to know who I want to visit before I can map out my journey.

Same with writing a story. What do you want the ending to be? What take away do you want the audience to have? What epiphany does the protagonist need in order to answer the story question?

Take some time to develop the ending of your WIP. Yes, it can change or be tweaked, but know where you want to go.

A lot of times, I plan book ends. The story begins and ends in the same place. For The Wedding Dress, the book started with Charlotte on Red Mountain. It ends with her on Red Mountain. Though in a very different situation.

In my upcoming book Once Upon A Prince, I opened with the hero and heroine meeting under Lover’s Oak. I ended with them at Lover’s Oak. Again with a very different situation.

So, know your ending. Take a queue from Pixar. They might just know what they’re talking about.

***

Best-selling, award-winning author Rachel Hauck loves a great story. She excels in seeing the deeper layers of a story. With a love for teaching and mentoring, Rachel comes alongside writers to help them craft their novel. A worship leader, board member of ACFW and popular writing teacher, Rachel is the author of over 15 novels. She lives in Florida with her husband and her dog, Lola. Contact her at: Rachel@mybooktherapy.com.