How Long Should the Denouement be? (Short vs. Long Falling Actions)

The denouement, also known as the "falling action" or, potentially, "resolution" (depending on what approach you use), is everything that happens after the climax. It's where any remaining conflict or tension gets addressed and dissipated, where important loose ends get tied up, and where change (or the lack thereof) gets validated. It's also usually where a new "normal" is established, or at least hinted at.

People mistakenly think denouements are all about ending the story quickly. While some writers certainly approach them that way, it's more important to address what I just mentioned if you want a satisfying denouement.

Recently, a commenter asked me about the length of denouements, and even though I responded, my mind has still been mulling over the topic. Generally, my rule of thumb is this: Keep them short enough to stay interesting but long enough to cover the important parts. (The important parts being what I listed in the first paragraph.)

What the word count (or percentage) is, will depend on the story itself, and maybe its genre. Plot-driven stories tend to have shorter falling actions, and character-driven stories tend to have longer. And as the commenter acknowledged, "Obviously, there are different reader and author preferences, and different types of stories." Absolutely. Then this person went on to say, "But I'd be interested in your opinion of a ballpark number of words or percentage of the entire novel what you think is a good length. Elsewhere, I found 2%, which IMHO is a little too short to reward readers."

2% also seems pretty short to me, to be honest. It can be done though. In a 400-page book, that's eight pages, so one short chapter--that might be enough for some stories. A lot of it honestly depends on how much you need the denouement to cover. 🤷‍♀️ 

If all the arcs and loose ends are addressed before or at the climax, then the falling action needs to be shorter. If not, then it likely needs to be longer. If there were a lot of big costs and sacrifices, then it likely needs to be longer to properly validate and render those ramifications. If not, it will likely need to be shorter. If what the protagonist was planning to do once the antagonist was dealt with, was communicated earlier in the story, and that hasn't changed, then we need less time to establish their new normal. Of course, though, we may also have to consider if we need to establish the "world's" new normal too.

We may also ask, how many of these things can we overlay and put in the same scene? Or does the story require us to address them one at a time (more or less)? Usually we want to overlay as much as possible, but sometimes that doesn't work or make sense. Sometimes it's just not as satisfying.

I feel like, in general, positive change-arc characters tend to need a longer denouement than the other arcs, because we need to validate their changes, and how those changes are affecting their lives. Negative arcs tend to have shorter falling actions--I don't think the audience likes seeing someone "damned" establish their new normal (or maybe they just don't need to see it).

With all this in mind though, I decided to consider some short falling actions and long falling actions that worked or didn't work for me. . . .

Short Falling Actions

One of the least satisfying denouements I've ever seen was in (believe it or not) Jaws. The shark is defeated, and the characters are floating in the wreckage. The film ends. I never get to see the characters make it to land, return safely to their loved ones, and "reclaim" the beach as a safe, shark-less area. While there are many things going for this classic, to me, this was its biggest flaw. I mean, land isn't even visible when the story ends. Their boat is completely destroyed. They are in open water. Yes, they do make a raft, but still!

I think this is an example of when creators just want to hurry and end the story. After all the terror of the shark, though, I feel we deserve to see everyone safe, happy, and back to a "normal" way of life. At least, I needed to see everyone safe and back to normal.

The denouement is about two minutes, and it makes up about 1% of the movie. That's too short for me.

On the other hand, while rare, some stories will actually cut the denouement completely off, and make it work. Usually this is done to leave the audience uncomfortable (like in certain types of horror), or to invite them to decide for themselves how the story ends. 

In a creative writing class I took in college, one of my peers wrote a dystopian short story that literally ended at the climax--the pivotal moment where the protagonist has to decide which course to take to resolve the main conflict (a crisis). And it worked really well. The protagonist was an "everyman" character (a stand-in for the audience), and by ending the story there, it asked the audience to consider which action they would take in this dystopian setting. I took that creative writing class over 15 years ago, so it was obviously effective--I read it once and still remember it.

So, in that story, the denouement was 0%. And it worked.

But most of us aren't writing stories like that.

On the short end of the spectrum, I'm going to say 2% of the story is probably a fine length. 3% is great too.

Long Falling Actions

The longest falling action I think I've ever read (by word count) was Inheritance by Christopher Paolini--it was over 100 pages, making up 12% of the story. I haven't read it since it released, so my memory is a little fuzzy, but I recall noticing it was long, and yet not feeling particularly bothered by it (though I might feel differently if I read it today). Other readers were bothered though. It's unlikely it needed to be that long. (To be fair, however, it is the end of a series, and the last two books were originally intended to be one.)

Another story that comes to mind is New Moon, arguably. I say "arguably" because it's debatable. The story has structural issues, so it sort of depends on what you consider the true climax. I think most of us would say it's when Bella saves Edward, and if that's the case, that actually hits at 80%, which means the falling action is about 20% of the book! There is an encounter with the Volturi, but it's not really climactic. The falling action is noticeably dragged out too. 20% is too long to me, and likely a sign the story has structural issues.

Barbie noticeably had a long falling action, but I found it forgivable, because the story packs a lot in, even at a meta level. Neither Barbie nor Ken completes their character arcs at the climax, and some of the main themes and loose ends haven't been resolved, so that had to be addressed in the denouement. While I wouldn't ordinarily recommend this to a writer, I feel like the filmmakers knew exactly what they were doing, and I'm okay with the choice. I think it still works, but audience members did notice and comment on its length.

A long falling action that worked perfectly well for me was The Hunger Games, it makes up about 7% of the book. Nobody complained. Nobody noticed. And it did what it needed to do. It also makes sense that we would need a bit more time to ease the character and audience out to a close after all the trauma.

You might could get away with 10%, but that does seem like a lot. In a 400-page book, that's 40 pages. Probably too much. 

So my personal ballpark number is going to 3 - 7%. But 2% can be fine if it does what it needs to.

Ultimately, that's what matters most.

Make it long enough to cover the important parts, but short enou1gh to stay interesting.