: Re: What are key features and pacing in a satisfying ending to a science fiction novel? My novel has been through multiple drafts and beta reads, and by and large is in good shape. I've learned

@Samaraweera193

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What makes a great ending, in any genre, is that it fulfills the promises of your book. These are different for each book, so there is no one generic answer. The key is to understand what promises you are making and how you are making them.

In my end is my beginning: People like matched sets, your beginning is a foreshadowing of your beginning. A prologue promises an epilogue. A slow beginning promises a gradual end. An abrupt beginning forewarns of an abrupt end. Furthermore, every ending needs to have something that has come full circle and recapitulates a piece of the beginning, and something that has changed, and that contrasts with the beginning.
Genre promises: A fairy tale promises a happy ending. A mystery story promises a mystery solved. A romance promises a couple established. A tragedy promises death.
Moral promises: Typically, readers like to see moral consequences for the characters; the good rewarded and the bad punished. If your book is going to flout this convention, it needs to be signaled.
Put in the effort: Characters are expected to earn their endings. If a character has worked hard, they deserve some reward, if not, they don't --in the reader's heart. The work doesn't actually have to bring about the reward.
Story arc: Every character has a story arc. These arcs tend to need to largely complete, although some can be left open, or just promised. But in general, your main character needs to have learned something, gained something and lost something.
Explicit promises: You want to be judicious with these, but your characters can describe the ending they are seeking before it happens. "I just want to go home!" "If only the dragon were gone..." etc. However, too much of this will tend to steal the energy of the actual ending.

It's entirely possible to have endings that are idiosyncratic, open-ended, incomplete, depressing, frustrating, or any number of other such traits, and yet that still satisfy. The key is that they need to be promised by the book. The best ending is both wholly expected, because it matches every expectation built in the reader, and wholly surprising, because the reader has not expected how to get there or believed it could actually happen. This doesn't need to be a twist! It's much more about maintaining a sense of real emotional tension and uncertainty that can be discharged at the end than it is about actually fooling the reader.

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