I’m in the process of sketching out how to end a long-running series. I have the main protagonists, the main antagonists, that there’s going to be a final collision, and how at least one character journey will resolve. However, after looking at some of the “this is the best way to tell the story” essays and articles, I’m about ready to tell all of them to go soak their heads. The author coaches, not the characters. I shudder to imagine what one of my Familiars would do if told to go soak his or her head.

So the easiest for me would be to parallel the end of the older, related series, where a character from the MC’s younger days appears and tries to finish what the bad guy sees as unfinished business. Except … to do that in this run would break two characters.

Then there’s the “saves entire world, gets happy ending,” or the more postmodern “saves world, goes into exile because of weight on soul after sacrificing all that the MC loved to save said world.” Nah, the first one requires escalating things far outside the scope of the series and what the MCs can do. The second one is just icky, and would cost me, oh, every reader who has picked up the series. No, thanks.

One thing actually suggested having the try-fail-try-succeed sequence in three books, so the middle book ends in the MC getting defeated/humiliated/in a lot of trouble/whatever. Again, not what my readers or I want. I have to look at myself in the mirror. Besides, the MCs wouldn’t do it. See: ‘and break the characters.”

So, if you are studying how to shape and conclude a plot arc that you are working out in advance, what do you need to consider? How long you need to resolve the story, how much foreshadowing and lead-in you need, and roughly what your goal for the ending will be, understanding that things may change.

How long to resolve the story? In this case, the WIP (series book 13) plus two or three more. It depends on how the antagonists move, and what secondary plot threads need to be tied off by the end of the series. In-series time that translates to probably two or three years, perhaps longer (or perhaps not). I’m still working on the in-series chronology.

How much foreshadowing and lead in? Hints have been appearing since book eight or nine, or earlier, depending on which antagonist is considered. I’ve already warned that the series will conclude. The protagonists are all working their way to points where a major shift in life paths might be in order, or a reorganization at least, and so those need to be taken into account. This is a generational story, after all, and alas, even in this fantasy world, certain characters won’t live forever no matter how hard they try. Age, foolishness, motor vehicles, livestock all happen to the best of us. So the lead in will probably be two books, like was done in the Familiar Tales series. The first will NOT be a cliffhanger, because I detest those with a white-hot passion.

So what is the goal for the ending? To have the bad guys lose, the good guys win, personal stories reach a good conclusion, and to not have readers hunting me down with torches and pitchforks. It should leave room for a little private speculation among the readers, but also satisfy them that they can stop here and close the books knowing that all is about as well as characters get in my stories. [I don’t do “everything is perfect and they all lived happily ever after.” For one, the thought of physical immortality would cause several of my characters to hunt me down and hurt me. (“How dare you make me live with this bad knee and back, and dander allergy, for eternity? I’ll show you!”) Two, it’s not satisfying given the characters’ development and growth over the course of the books. The conclusion needs to be upbeat, but appropriate for the tone of the stories, and “realistic” in their world. It will also include a solution to an eventual problem for some of the characters, perhaps.

Yes, I’m being vague. I want this to be a general framework for you to think about, and to look at other stories and series and see how they managed it. Even if you don’t know where your series will end, or how, this could be an exercise to see how your characters respond to “what would it mean if I do this ending” and work backwards. Like the advice mentioned earlier in the essay, you might decide that certain things are not needed, or would break the characters, or cause readers to consider channeling a certain Stephen King villainess. Try not to do that to your readers, please.