The ending of my report or story matters a lot, not always a value expressed by practitioners who traditionally wrote articles that could easily be cut from the bottom.
Editors warn writers not to bury the lead. But you can bury an ending, too. So now I just cover the last paragraph and ask myself, "What if my story ended here?" I keep moving up from the bottom until the natural ending raises its hand for recognition.
Over time, I have collected on my workbench a variety of tools writers have used to stick the landing - without making a splash: Close the circle, The tie-back, The time frame, The space frame, The payoff.
Collection
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