Blog Post 1.2
I have always had trouble with conclusions. For some reason, I can never end an essay or any other writing piece in a satisfactory manner. It always feels awkward or clumsy, regardless of how great the rest of the work sounds. In reading the chapter on leading sentences and end sentences I think I might have found some advice that could help.
Zinsser says, “The perfect ending should take your readers slightly by surprise and yet seem exactly right. They didn’t expect the article to end so soon, or so abruptly, or to say what it said. But they know it when they see it.” (Pg. 63) When I write a conclusion I usually try to simply reconnect with the first paragraph and recap the whole essay. Zinsser is suggesting that I should try to offer readers a bit of a surprise instead, at least for creative nonfiction writing. Rather than reconnect to the beginning I could offer something slightly new but still related. Although I don’t fully know how to do that, the idea is stuck in my mind and is certainly something I will attempt in the next piece I write.
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