Edit the Exit: Why Scenes Lose Momentum at the End

Most editing advice obsesses over openings. Writers are told to obsess over first paragraph hooks and inciting incidents. They learn to polish the front door until it gleams, then wonder why readers drift away by page 50.

The problem often hides in quieter places: scene endings.

A novel rarely collapses because its scenes begin poorly. It stalls because scenes end without momentum. The story keeps moving, yet nothing drives readers forward. They turn each page slower. Pauses between reading grow longer. Eventually the book closes; not in anger, but indifference.

The tricky part is that weak exits often disguise themselves as tidy, not broken. A character finishes an action, conversation, or thought: Next chapter.

Many authors mistake the act of completion itself for an effective scene ending. But completion is the enemy.

A scene should not resolve all tension. It should hand off tension to the next moment while adding at least a little more. Editing for momentum means learning to cut scenes late and leave them unresolved in the right ways.

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