On March 5, I wrote about First Lines. Scroll down to see that. Today we'll play around with the opposite: Last Lines.
This is a more challenging (and fun) writing exercise, because we need to think of a story that ends with a given line, instead of a story that starts with a given line. But we're all up for the challenge, right?
Here are some last lines from published books. Again, it's okay to copy a line from a writer's published work as long as we're using it as writing practice, not to publish it ourselves.
Take one of these last lines, and see if you can write about something that happens before this last line. Then finish your story with this line.
- The lighthouse was working. (Mooninpappa at Sea by Tove Jansson)
- His voice was soft, soft but strong, like a hummingbird wing, like spider-silk. (Green Boy by Susan Cooper)
- We lived happily ever after. (A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck)
- "The feast waits." (Runt by Marion Dane Bauer)
- Below him, the stars burst upward, back into the sky. (Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt)
- Richie took a deep breath and entered, walking with them into the darkness. (Demon Keeper by Royce Buckingham)
Okay, have these last lines set your imaginations stirring? Ready for the challenge? Try writing a story that ends with one of the lines above.
Go!
