Good morning, and welcome to your bonus day! You made it all the way to the end, so here’s a little something extra.
Today we’re writing the very last scene of your book. I know, we’ve only just done your pillar scenes…but seeing the ending is often what pulls you all the way to it. It gives your brain a real sense of closure, and that’s what keeps the momentum going.
One small caveat: I usually say don’t plan your last scene. But you’ve done the work this week, so I think you’ve earned this one, as long as you promise to stay flexible and change it later if your story surprises you.
What the last scene is
If the climax is where your Hero chooses and changes, the last scene is what comes just after. They return to their ordinary world, carrying what they’ve learned, a different person now.
It’s short, often just a page. Its whole job is to land the story and let your reader breathe. So much of it lives in the final image, so choose it on purpose, because it’s the picture, and the feeling, they get to keep.
To write it: echo your opening, put your changed Hero back in that world, and let them do one small thing they never could have on Day 1. Then land it gently and stop while we’re still exhaling. And if your ending isn’t a happy one, that’s fine…there’s still a transformation, just perhaps with a twist.
You’ll know it when you see it:
Finding Nemo: back on the swim to school, and this time Marlin lets Nemo go.
The Hunger Games: Katniss steps off the train, home but changed, carrying what the arena cost her.
Toy Story: Woody and Buzz side by side, no longer needing to be the favourite.
Your homework
Write the last scene of your book. Keep it short, a page at most, and leave us on one clear final image. Quiet and warm, or properly creepy if that’s your genre… either way, let us feel it.
Write in a Google Doc and open the permissions so I can read it.
Hit the button below, paste your link, and get it in by midnight.
Comment to tell me you’ve submitted, then don’t peek until I like your comment.
This is the last scene I’ll give feedback on, so do send it in. It might take me up to 24 hours this time rather than by 8am, but it’s coming.
The doors are open!!!
First, celebrate. You wrote five, and now six, of the most important scenes in your whole book this week. That is no small thing, so give yourself a proper pat on the back.
And here’s my surprise: the doors to the brand-new Academy of Story are officially open. It’s my home for authors, with the lessons, resources, and weekly office hours with me that you need to actually write your book.
(One note: the old challenge videos come off Substack at the end of this week, so the Academy is the only place you’ll find them after that.)
Because you finished, here’s your reward:
Use the code CHALLENGE50 for 50% off your first three months as a Student. It expires at midnight on Monday the 3rd of August, so do grab it quickly.
Any questions at all, email me at shelly@academyofstory.com.
I’d genuinely love to see you inside!
Congratulations on finishing. I’m so proud of you.
See you inside,
Shelly x
