Types of Story / Novella Endings

[Also]

Several scholars have surely published a systematic review of story endings, but just as surely it's more interesting to make our own catalog.

I'll begin with two or three.

The Decision Point.
For instance, a stepmother realizes ("The Good Son") her stepson is evil. They're in some kind of natural emergency. She realizes she can get away with not saving the stepson. Does she or doesn't she — we never find out. THE END

The Ultimate Irony.
O. Henry's Gift of the Magi. (Man sells watch to buy combs for his wife; wife sells her hair to buy a fob for the man's watch)

The Moment the Character Realizes.

The Moment the Reader Realizes What the Character Does Not

The Moment of Profound Acceptance.

The Moment of Resolving to Change.

The Moment of Unrecognized Sacrifice for Another.

The Moment a Needed Change Does Not Happen.

 

[Hammer]

With the exception of the first (cliffhanger), most of those sound like plot points to me. I think there are a relatively limited number of ways actually to end a story - basically resolution (tie up the loose ends), cliffhanger (don't tie up the loose ends), ambiguity (let your reader decide their preferred outcome), sudden twist (a lot of shorter pieces like flash seem to end like this), back to the beginning (la plus ca change), or epilogue (tell a small story that explains how your plot ultimately affected the characters - like the ending of the movie national lampoon's animal house with a little skit of how everyone turned out)

 

[Naomasa298]

Or the moment absolutely nothing has changed and the MC is right back where they started.

By the way, @Also, I like the deliberate error in your sig.

 

[DLC]

I enjoy using the various subbranches of Bittersweet Ending myself. Sometimes I feel frisky and do the Twist.

 

[Bone2pick]

ambiguity (let your reader decide their preferred outcome)

This is a notable one imo. It’s risky, but when well-executed it can have an unforgettably stirring effect. Lonesome Dove and the Sopranos television series come to mind. Another one is the novel Vision Quest by Terry Davis, a sports drama with the climax being an emotionally charged wrestling match. It cuts to black just as the whistle blows to start the match.

Not only is the reader left to speculate about the outcome, but the abrupt ending helps enforce the theme that following through with the grueling preparation for the match is more important than actually defeating the opponent. Aka the journey is more important than the destination.

 

[Also]

Or the moment absolutely nothing has changed and the MC is right back where they started.

By the way, @Also, I like the deliberate error in your sig.

Fixed, thanks. Not deliberate.