If you’ve already written the first half, good…but I get the impression that you haven’t and at the moment you aren’t interested in it. If that’s the case, don’t write it. Do the king-coming-back-after 16 years story. And if the backstory isn’t relevant LEAVE IT OUT. Yes, it’s interesting (enough that you originally thought you’d make a book of it), but that doesn’t mean it belongs in the story. Put in as little as you can get away with and still have the reader understand the current action. You can always write a prequel later, if you get interested.

My other problem is that the 2nd half is told in first person by the king’s 16 year old son, and I am neither 16 nor a male, this poses problems, but has nothing to do with endings. So I shall end this.

I should also point out that some writers never consciously identify their central problem or story question, and this works just fine for them. I rarely, if ever, actually lay it out in those terms. But if something’s wrong with the ending, and I can’t figure out what, then going all analytical and figuring out whether I’ve solved my central problem is often very useful.

And what sort of problem are you having with your multi-strand epic?

Chris – Thank you! It was both fun and tearing-your-hair-out work.

Tess – What you’re describing is what I call “validation” – the fact that you see the characters at peace at last “proves” to the reader that it’s really over. It’s usually a change of pace in an action-oriented novel, but it doesn’t have to be if it’s a comedy-of-manners or an introspective, character-oriented piece.

Chicoy – Oh, good point! I forgot that one – the folks whose endings don’t work because they provide closure for the wrong thing! This gets exceptionally tricky when the writer thinks the main problem is one thing, but the reader thinks it’s something else.

Michelle – Yes; getting the minor plot threads tied off in advance of the climax, in such a way as to make the climax worse, works brilliantly sometimes. I tend to think of it as kind of an advanced technique, though, because if the writer isn’t careful the subplots can feel as if they’re still unfinished, or even end up detracting from the big climax instead of building it up.

Cf end of DEADLY HALLOWS, last part of LOTR….

And sometimes – particularly in a long and complex story – wrapping up all subplots would be wrong; life *isn’t* that neat (and you want to leave room for sequels). Finding and answering the main story question will end the story without being too glib and too coincidentally partnering up everybody and solving every mystery.

(In an unrelated note, if you ever want to do a post about plotting multi-strand epics, PLEASE DO because I am completely and utterly at my wits’ end.)