Larry Cohen Quotes

The most important thing is how the season ends.

How a piece ends is very important to me. It's the last chance to leave an impression with the reader, the last shot at 'nailing' it. I love to write ending lines; usually, I know them first and write toward them, but if I knew how they came to me, I wouldn't tell.

The most-asked question when someone describes a novel, movie or short story to a friend probably is, 'How does it end?' Endings carry tremendous weight with readers; if they don't like the ending, chances are they'll say they didn't like the work. Failed endings are also the most common problems editors have with submitted works.

How you leave the reader is so important - not the climax; I call it the 'exit feeling'.

The end of a story must be stronger rather than weaker than the beginning, since it is the end which contains the denouement or culmination and which will leave the strongest impression upon the reader.

My favorite thing about movies is the ending, and so all my favorite movies have really great endings.

You have considerable choice in how you end your fiction. For all stories, the basic rule is the same: Choose the type of ending that best suits what's gone before.

For me the end of a book is just as exciting as it is for a reader.

The good ending dismisses us with a touch of ceremony and throws a backward light of significance over the story just read. It makes it, as they say, or unmakes it. A weak beginning is forgettable, but the end of a story bulks in the reader's mind like the giant foot in a foreshortened photograph.

Endings are the toughest, harder than beginnings. They must satisfy the expectations you have hopefully generated in your reader - not frustrate them, leave the reader grasping at elusive strings.

I believe in picking a strong ending.

Resolution and conclusion are inherent in a plot-driven narrative.

It's often the case that the most strained moments in books are the very beginning and the very end - the getting in and the getting out. The ending, especially: it's awkward, as if the writer doesn't know when the book is over and nervously says it all again.

Dessert is probably the most important stage of the meal, since it will be the last thing your guests remember before they pass out all over the table.

The main thing for me is I really like strong endings. If there's a strong ending, you can take more time in the beginning, your first act can be really quite different.

There is a certain sense of loss when a series ends.

A story really isn't truly a story until it reaches its climax and conclusion.

Now you know the rest of the story.

The biggest regret I have about 'Rubicon' is that we didn't end it. Sometimes you do these shows and you don't have the opportunity to get closure. Stories are supposed to have a beginning, middle and an end.

More than working toward the book's climax, I work toward the denouement. As a reader and a writer, that's where I find the real satisfaction.

And in real life endings aren't always neat, whether they're happy endings, or whether they're sad endings.

If you make a trilogy, the whole point is to get to that third chapter, and the third chapter is what justifies what's come before.

I know that all good things must come to an end and I've had an incredible ride. I just want to end it on the right note.

I write where I can see things happen, and then things get glued together. I do have the final scene, but that really is an epilogue. It's not part of the plot.

I often find that writers who disavow the importance of an ending are just not very good at endings.