Surprising, Yet Inevitable: Finding an Effective Story Ending
In Aristotle’s Poetics he observed that the best endings are both "surprising, yet inevitable." We don’t see it coming, but when we read the ending we can’t imagine it could have ever happened another way. In this session we’ll take a look at some effective stories endings and unpack the journey the writer took and the hints they left along the way that lead us to this powerful dénouement.
Instructor: Ellen Birkett Morris
Ellen Birkett Morris is the author of the short story collection Lost Girls (2020) and Surrender, a poetry chapbook. Her work has appeared in journals including Shenandoah, Antioch Review, South Carolina Review and others. She was a finalist for the 2019 Rita Dove Poetry Prize, semi-finalist for the Story Quarterly Prize, and winner of the Bevel Summers Prize for fiction given by Shenandoah. Morris has an MFA from Queens University-Charlotte.