The Denouement
By Wulf Moon
Did I mention there’s no better gunslinger in Westerns than The Man With No Name? Did I also mention that A Fistful of Dollars has one of the best climax scenes in a Western? There were even subsequent Westerns that copied that scene. Back to the Future II gave a nod to it. But wait! It’s also got one of the best denouement scenes in a Western, too! More on that in a moment.
This pretty bow at the end of your story package happens to be an essential story principle. Miss it and it’s like building a house, but forgetting to put the roof on it. The house might look respectable to the buyer on the street, but when he walks inside, he’s going to say, “There’s something not right with this place. Great entry, smart living room and kitchen, nice master bedroom and bath, but something is off and I can’t put my finger on it ….”
And then he looks up.
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The Denouement
What is a denouement? And how do you pronounce it? As mentioned previously, Denouement comes from the French language and is derived from a word that means to untie or unknot, as in all those knotted up plot twists. An easy way to remember how it’s pronounced is to say they knew ma, only say it with a little dialect, dey knew ma. Denouement follows the Climax and finishes off your story.
It's also called the Resolution. And writing instructor Algis Budrys called it the Validation. Dictionaries define it as the final part of a story where the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved. That definition works for the complexities of a novel with many plot twists and sneaky red herrings meant to mislead the reader. In a novel, the Denouement can be multiple chapters because a novel can have many characters with their own storylines. Some of the knotted up plot twists may need to be unraveled to satisfy the reader, especially if a red herring was played and the reader was tricked into believing the poor butler had done it, when in fact he had not!
But short stories are supposed to be, well, short, so the wrap-up needs to be shorter. Ever read the last line of a fable to a young child? And they all lived happily ever after. That’s a denouement, albeit a very short one. For short stories, the Denouement is usually a short final scene in the story that takes care of any unanswered plot questions, confirms that the protagonist defeated their adversary and got their reward, that they grew from the trials of the quest, and are now ready to return home and use what they gained to restore harmony to their normal world. Are we done?
Not so fast, kemosabe. Or as my Ojibwe ancestors would say, Not so fast, gimoozaabi. There are more secrets to this story element….
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Paid in Full
We’ve established in the last chapter that the Climax is where you provide the payoff to the reader for your promise in the opening of your story. You told the reader your protagonist’s Heart’s Desire; you had the antagonist keep it from them. They’ve gone on a quest and overcame obstacles to get a thing of power to help them beat their antagonist. They’ve dueled it out and your hero won (if it’s a Positive Ending story). He lifts his bloody fist over his fallen foe; she posts a snapshot of an engagement ring on her finger to social media. Victory at last.
Many beginning writers end their stories at this point. They lived to write that complex sword fight with all those laborious thrusts and parries, and at last they got to play their surprise twist at the end when they had their hero cry out “I am not left-handed!” because that’s never been done before. And after another set of thrusts and parries where the writer shows off his extensive knowledge of swordplay--you are using Bonetti's Defense against me, huh?--they have their hero vanquish their foe, lift their bloody sword, and cry out, “Take that for all those locker room wedgies you gave me!” THE END.
But that’s not the end. It may be the end of the Climax scene, but it’s not the end of the story. The story is not complete without delivering on the question established in the opening: Would the protagonist get their heart’s desire or not? That’s the driving force behind the story. So, did they get what they wanted? Pushing back the opposing force definitively, vanquishing the enemy, holding the ship together through the height of the storm, getting that guy to ask for her hand--these are all victories. But the reader still needs bona fide proof that the hero got what they came for. They are a suspicious lot.
They need validation that the promise was paid.
When we pay off a car loan, we expect to receive a receipt. Until we get that, we won’t be completely satisfied. Yes, we know the contract has been paid off. We fought hard for that money, and there were times when we didn’t know if we would make it, but we stayed the course, fought the good fight, and came off victorious. The final payment left our bank account. The lender must surrender the title. But until we receive written confirmation stamped by an authority figure that says PAID IN FULL along with the title, we’re not going to sleep easy. It’s not really over without proof that it’s over. Validation.
The late Algis Budrys used to say it’s like a common trope done in the original Star Trek series. Suppose we see a pitched battle in the climax, and though the enemy is defeated, one manages to lift his phaser and make one last shot at Kirk, and a Red Shirt jumps in front of the blast and drops to the ground. Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy stand over the young man. We know he’s dead, he’s a Red Shirt for crying out loud, we’ve seen this happen a million times. But no, that’s not enough. We still need validation. And until McCoy bends down and runs that tricorder over his body, we don’t have our proof until the authority figure says, “He’s dead, Jim.”
Algis Budrys, or A.J. as he liked to be called, said this was why every Lone Ranger episode didn’t end with the victorious final shootout scene. No, the story wasn’t over. One more scene was needed. Wrongs were righted, the cattle rustlers were driven off, the widow and her son had their ranch back. But you still needed to see the Lone Ranger ride that white horse out of town as the grocer stepped out his door and said, “Who was that masked man?”
Someone outside the conflict had to verify that the Lone Ranger had fulfilled the unwritten contract--he came to save the day, he kicked butt and saved the day, and now he would ride off to the next adventure. We knew life would go on for the Lone Ranger. That grocer just told us so. He even validated the quality of the job done. “Who was that masked man?” was always spoken with admiration. Attaboy, Lone Ranger. You earned that praise. You are worthy.
Let’s go back to Clint Eastwood’s character Joe in the climax of A Fistful of Dollars. I’m not going to say spoiler alert because the movie was made in 1967--I’m betting you’ve had plenty of time to see it. Did I mention it’s my favorite Western? In that final high-noon showdown between gunslinger Joe and the ruthless Rojo family, Eastwood’s character comes back from near death, risking all to save his innkeeper friend who is being tortured to death. He puts the Rojos down, even proving that a man with a pistol can beat a man with a rifle against the rival that almost killed him.
But the story isn’t over yet, even with Joe victorious. For one thing, that was a helluva tense showdown, and as the camera panned back and forth from one eye-twitching gunslinger to another, you held your breath. They had Joe five to one, and he wasn’t at his best, but he found a way to save the day. Now that Joe is safe--whew!--you need a few moments to catch your breath.
The director knew that, too, and had Joe walk over to his friend, changing the dynamics of the scene, entering the Denouement. The casket maker ran out and stretched his measuring line over the bodies, validating that they were dead. Joe was as good with that .45 as we had hoped, and he saved his friend and ridded the world of one heartless band of men.
Now is it over? Nope. We’re only in the beginning of the validation scene and all that it’s supposed to do. Just wait. There’s more ….
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Character Growth and Full Circle Endings
One expectation in Positive Ending stories is that the protagonist must change. They began the story not only with their good points, but with flaws like any other person. Chances are, they’ve got a big character flaw, and it might have been the very thing that got them into trouble in the first place. Maybe it’s even the reason they lost their Heart’s Desire, and now have to fight to get it back. Whatever the case, readers expect the hero to learn something during the course of the journey. It’s called the internal character arc, but let’s keep it simple. Readers hope to see the hero grow a little by the end of the story. Just like in real life, we expect the protagonist to learn from their mistakes.
A solid Denouement provides the proof that the hero’s character has grown.
Back to the Man With No Name, who had a name. Joe. When he first rode into San Miguel, both the bellringer and the innkeeper told Joe about the power struggle between the two rival families that ran the town. Joe stood on a balcony overlooking the place and said to the innkeeper, “Two bosses.” He looked to one end of the town, then to the other. “Baxters over there, Rojos there, me right in the middle?” He paused. “Crazy bellringer was right. Money to be made in a place like this.”
We knew what Joe desired. Money. You could sense his mind spinning with plans to get it. By the end of the story, that desire almost gets Joe killed. But we’ve seen him grow in the course of the story, even set a captive woman free so she can return to her family. He gives her his hard-won money to help her family escape and start a new life far away from that god-forsaken town. By the end of the story, we’ve watched Joe face a terrible ordeal and come out the victor. But we still wonder if Joe has learned his lesson.
Has Joe grown?
As he and the inkeeper stand on the porch overlooking the aftermath of the Climax, the innkeeper reminds Joe that the Mexican army will come looking for their gold. Joe’s response?
Joe mirrors the words he spoke to the inkeeper at the beginning, reminding us of the original promise, but this time with a twist. “You mean the Mexican government on one side, maybe the Americans on the other side, me right smack in the middle? Unh-unh. Too dangerous.” He tips his hat. “So long.”
As a writer with expectations, I cheer inside every time I watch the movie and hear him say those lines. For one thing, I see his character arc fulfilled--Joe has learned his lesson, and he’s not going to let greed make him throw his common sense to the wind again. He almost lost his life playing his dangerous game, and he recognizes the price he paid is too high. He’s able to walk away, even with all that gold sitting unprotected at the Baxter’s. The Joe that first entered the town could never have done that. This Joe can.
But this Denouement features another powerful ending tool and you should know it. It’s known as the Full-Circle Ending. You don’t have to play your ending like this, but it’s my favorite tool in a denouement. It’s tricky to pull off, but done right, I believe it’s the most satisfying ending you can write. Let me show you.
The plot of the story really began when Joe made his statement about two opposing sides, and him right in the middle. That statement began the entire chain of events that led us to the inevitable conclusion. By repeating his opening words in the Denouement, it brings the story all the way around to the beginning, reminding the viewer this is where we began. But now, those words have new meaning based on the journey Joe has taken. He’s been through trials. He’s wiser now, learned his lesson. True, he doesn’t have all that money he desired. But he saved a tormented woman and her family with the money, and he used his superpower to rid the world of some very bad men.
Note that in this story, the Heart’s Desire contract in the opening didn’t pay out what was promised. Instead, because of the journey, it delivered something better. And as we watch Joe ride out of town on the same mule he rode in on, we can live with that, even cheer for that. The Man With No Name (his name is Joe!) is worthy of our admiration as he rides off to the next adventure. Life goes on.
Who was that gunslinging man?
When you write your stories, remember the story doesn’t end at the Climax. There’s one more scene to write--the Denouement. The reader needs those unanswered plot twists untied, they need to know your hero learned important life lessons, and they need validation that you paid out on your original promise, or gave them an upgrade. And if you can do it with a full-circle ending like they did in A Fistful of Dollars, more power to you.
Did I mention it’s my favorite Western?
