Ending on the Right Note

When I edit nonfiction books, I find that even skilled authors often end their chapters in an inconclusive fashion. An otherwise engrossing chapter opens with a strong topic paragraph or section, runs through a number of well-researched points featuring clear examples, and then . . .  fizzles out on a tangent. Such a chapter resembles a wind-up toy that runs out of revolutions. The author sometimes seems to realize this deficit and slaps on a final paragraph that voices general outrage or platitudes or whatever fits the book’s overarching message. The reader is still left floundering in a vague nowhere land. How did I end up here?

A useful first step toward creating better endings is to think of them as links. If a book is a train of chapters, the ending of one chapter is coupling to the next chapter. What is the function of a link? It holds, in this case, two boxes of information together. So to satisfy the first condition, an ending needs to sum up what its chapter covers. To satisfy the second, it needs to point the reader toward what will be covered in the following chapter. In this case, the ending of the chapter would point the way toward what will be covered in the next chapter.

Second, you might want to adapt the chapter-ending lists found in many business books. The principle behind these lists is to provide condensed thematic points that the reader can take away from the chapter. In many books, a numbered list at the end of a chapter would seem clumsy, yet the overall idea is still sound. If you draw up the list and then strip out the numbers, you can assemble the sentences into a paragraph or more that provide the chapter’s highlights. At the end, you need only add a sentence or two that conveys the theme of the next chapter. 

The summary can be compiled from a copy and paste. Go back through the chapter and look for the topic sentences in each section. In many cases these are found right after the subheading. If you find that the sentence doesn’t really encompass the full section, drill down deeper. Compile a list of the topic sentences for each paragraph. You’ll probably end up with a list that is too long, but that’s okay. Once they’re all gathered together, you can whittle them down. Prune out those that aren’t as important, or merge two points into a single sentence. You may find, through this practice, that the ending shows you how to better reorder the topics in the chapter.

Exercise: Here’s one more method. Go through the chapter and write down all of  the subheadings, the ones in bold type. Turn them into full sentences. With a minor amount of configuring, you’ve now covered all of the basic points in a narrative paragraph.

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”  —Albert Einstein 

Copyright @ 2026, John Paine