The Last Fifty Pages

The Art and Craft of Unforgettable Endings

By: James Scott Bell

Narrated by: James Scott Bell

Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

“The first page of a book sells that book. The last page sells your next book.” (Mickey Spillane, American crime author)

What are the secrets for writing a great ending for your novel? How do you leave readers so satisfied that they'll want another book by you, right now? What tools and techniques can shape your last 50 pages into a powerful, unforgettable experience?

In this audiobook, international Thriller Writers Award winner and number one best-selling writing teacher James Scott Bell reveals:

• The five types of endings
• Things that need to happen in act three
• Ways to use the ah and uh-oh emotional wallops
• A simple technique for crafting twist endings
• The most important secret of all: resonance
• The "stew, brew, accrue, do" brainstorming method
• The best way to tie up loose ends
• The most common ending mistakes, and how to avoid them.
• And more!

Listen to this audiobook, and you will come away with a thorough knowledge of why great endings work and how to create them for every novel you write.

©2019 James Scott Bell (P)2019 James Scott Bell

Not Great and Out Of Touch With The Times

Some of Bell’s advice is decent, unfortunately it’s about 20% of the book, the rest being overly long quotations and examples from other books. This is a book that suggests Bell is horribly out of touch with the times, it’s 2019 and he draws almost entirely from old movies, books published before 1995, and Warren Zevon lyrics. Additionally, chapter three has one of the worst most pointless Bible metaphors ever written. Lastly, if an author’s sense of humor are such bad dad jokes that the author self-deprecates them at every instance, that’s your first sign as an author that they shouldn’t have made the cut at all. They aren’t charming or entertaining, they are distractions that cheapen the work. Production-wise I suspect no audio producer worked in the recording, the editing is often choppy, cutting off entire sentences at parts. Also Bell stumbles over words frequently. Low quality all around.

Deep Dive into Ending a Novel

This book right deep dive into how to end a novel, perhaps the most challenging and important part of writing one. With plenty of real world examples, the author lays out how there is no one way to accomplish the task, while also shedding light on the commonalities that great endings share.

Excellent

This is a wonderful examination of everything that should go into the ending of a book, along with a ton of useful tips to really make it shine.

Not bad, not the very best

Agree with some of the other reviews. The useful messages are a bit hidden, and it’s repetitive from some other books he has published. But some useful things to take away.
Wish he had a summary pdf like in the great courses.
On a personal note I don’t like that he was putting down the sequel to Gone with the wind. It’s actually an excellent read and I love it maybe more than the actual book.

Not useful

The author keeps rambling without ever getting to the point. Feels like he's trying to hit a certain wordcount rather than to teach me anything useful or insightful. If you have something to say - say it, don't waste people's time.

must read for all writers.

I enjoyed it thoroughly. lots of great information. I am on board with everything he has listed. I will be listening to it again.

Fastastic

An excellent book on writing that was easy to listen to and understand. He gives valuable information with a sense of humor.
I have many books on writing that I have never finished because they are boring. This one I will listen to again and take notes.

Interesting listen; excellent information

I ordered this book to see if there was useful information for my writing. I came away wit a couple of great tips for writing fiction. If you plan to write fiction, I highly recommend this book.

Always Gets The Message/Skill Across With Clarity

His lectures with both Audible and The Great Courses are informative as well as entertaining. Worth every penny...oops, cliche! DOLLAR.

Extremely Helpful!

Every chapter really gave you something to chew on. His explanations and examples were well thought out and succinct. The author did his own reading and he has a demeanor of speech and voice quality that were easy to listen to.