Satisfying blog-entry conclusions

Posts should conclude with a flourish, a grand finale. Don’t save the best for last in a newsier piece, as the reader might never get there. Do hoard a pithy quote or clever observation, something punchy. The last sentence should sum up or nicely round off the discussion.

The theme often comes into play at the conclusion. I more often use a quote or allusion here than the beginning – for a satisfying, folksy note. In Yayoi Drops the H-Bomb, I riffed on Kipling's East is East quote, for example. Some others:

1. The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. And for the Via Giulia, the result couldn’t be more charming.
2. So wiggle into your worn woolens and head off to Never Never Land. Even if you don’t believe in fairies, it’ll leave you clapping.
3. A coin cast into the Trevi Fountain ensures a return to Rome, according to folklore. My motivation won’t be the art, the ruins, the fine wines and food, however precious. No, my euro is for another shot at Zen and the art of moped mayhem.

Are these deep insights? Hell no! But they at least signal a clear and satisfying end to the reader. If you can reward their tenacity with nothing else, end with a bang, not a whimper, as they say in England.

My friend, the travel writer Anna Melville-James, and I call this the "ta-dum" after the snare flourish following a comedian’s joke. Others dub it the "kicker". The impulse is the same: to clearly mark the conclusion and cue laughter (or reflection or whatever response you crave).

A strong ending shows the writer is in control, not merely blundering through a swamp of material, but shaping it. This is by no means a easy task. I still agonize most about the first and last sentences, as do most professionals.

Here's an amazing example by an unlikely source, world-class photographer David Lansing. In his post, The Son Also Falls about Hemingway's children, he uses something small and inconsequential to light up a bigger picture, and, in just a few hundred words, he elaborates a full story. The last line is a marvelous summation, bringing the whole tale together... and with a video clip, no less.

Read it. No, really. Do.