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How to write a great ending to any story, according to Joe Hill (and how sequels, prequels and spinoffs can ruin it)

Stephen King and his wife Tabitha read J.R.R. Tolkien to their kids as bedtime stories.

Features by Jim McDermott, Contributing writer

Published on Fri Nov 07 2025

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Prose author Joe Hill can still remember the first time he read the Hobbit - or rather, when his parents Stephen and Tabitha King read it to him for the first time. And its then that he discovered what he says is the most suspenseful piece of writing he's ever experienced - it's the moments leading up to when Bilbo encounters the dragon Smaug.

“You could sense the dragon is waiting for the hobbit to give his position away so he can lash out and snap him in two,” he says, reminscing during his spotlight panel at New York Comic Con 2025. “Even at 10 I was breathless throughout the whole scene. I felt like this is about as suspenseful as a piece of work can get. You actually can’t make things any more suspenseful than what you’ve got here.”

And decades of reading and writing have not affected his opinion.

“I’ve had 40 years to reevaluate my opinion since then, and I haven’t changed my mind.”

When it comes to endings, Hill says he learned a valuable lesson from The Natural author Bernard Malamud.

“The right moment to stop a story.” according to Malamud, says Hill. “is when whatever the reader imagines would be more interesting than whatever you can do.”

He offered that this has a lot to say about popular characters and stories.

“I think that’s the reason why Hannibal Lecter was so great when we met him in the first movie, and Darth Vader was so imposing,” he argues. “And it’s why with every passing movie they became less frightening and less interesting. I didn’t want to know that Hannibal Lecter’s mommy didn’t love him and daddy didn’t understand, you know?"

“What I was imagining about Darth Vader and Hannibal Lecter was actually more interesting than any story they could have told.”

Just like yourself, the Popverse staff spends a whole lot of time with our respective noses in respective books. It's why we've come up with stuff like:

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