“I didn’t like the ending,” I said to my favorite college professor. It was my junior year of undergraduate, and I was doing an independent study on Victorian literature. I had just finished reading The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot, and I was heartbroken with the ending. Prof. Gracie, with all his patience, asked me to think about it beyond whether I liked it or not. He suggested I think about the difference between endings that I wanted for the characters and endings that were right for the characters, endings that satisfied the story even if they didn’t have a traditionally positive outcome. Of course, I would have preferred a different ending for Tom and Maggie Tulliver, but the ending they got did make the most sense for them.
“我不喜欢这个结局，”我对我最喜欢的大学教授说。那是我本科三年级的时候，我正在进行一项关于维多利亚文学的独立研究。我刚读完乔治·艾略特的《弗洛斯河上的磨坊》，我为这个结局感到心碎。格雷西教授耐心地让我思考一下，而不是我喜欢与否。他建议我考虑一下我想要的角色结局和适合角色的结局之间的区别，这些结局满足了故事，即使它们没有传统上积极的结局。当然，我更希望汤姆和玛吉·图利弗有一个不同的结局，但他们得到的结局对他们来说确实最有意义。
This was an aha moment for me, and I never thought about endings the same way again. From then on, if I wanted to read an ending guaranteed to be happy, I’d pick up a love romance. If I wanted an ending I couldn’t guess, I’d pick up a mystery (悬疑小说). One where I kind of knew what was going to happen, historical fiction. Choosing what to read became easier.
这对我来说是一个顿悟的时刻，我再也没有想过会以同样的方式结束。从那时起，如果我想读一个保证幸福的结局，我会选择一段爱情。如果我想要一个我猜不到的结局，我会选择一个神秘的故事。一个我知道会发生什么的故事，历史小说。选择阅读内容变得更容易了。
But writing the end—that’s hard. It’s hard for writers because endings carry so much weight with readers. You have to balance creating an ending that’s unpredictable, but doesn’t seem to come from nowhere, one that fits what’s right for the characters.
但是写结尾——这很难。这对作家来说很难，因为结局对读者来说意义重大。你必须平衡创造一个不可预测的结局，但似乎不是凭空而来，一个适合角色的结局。
That's why this issue of Writer’s Digest aims to help you figure out how to write the best ending for whatever kind of writing you’re doing. If it’s short stories, Peter Mountford breaks down six techniques you can try to see which one helps you stick the landing. Elizabeth Sims analyzes the final chapters of five great novels to see what key points they include and how you can adapt them for your work.
这就是为什么这期《作家文摘》旨在帮助你找出如何为你正在做的任何类型的写作写出最好的结局。如果是短篇小说，彼得·芒福德会分解出六种技巧，你可以试着看看哪一种能帮助你坚持着陆。伊丽莎白·西姆斯分析了五部伟大小说的最后几章，看看它们包含了哪些要点，以及你如何将它们改编成适合你的作品。
This issue won’t tell you what your ending should be—that’s up to you and the story you’re telling—but it might provide what you need to get there.
这期杂志不会告诉你你的结局应该是什么——这取决于你和你正在讲述的故事——但它可能会提供你到达那里所需要的东西。
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