Everything I know about writing a conclusion is wrong

Author

Jonathan Yeong
February 27, 2025

The biggest struggle I have with writing is finishing.

It was ingrained in me by my high school English teacher that every written piece had this structure: a beginning, middle, and end. Where the conclusion is used to summarise all the points made throughout the piece.

But now, after many years out of high school, something feels off about the conclusion. It feels too plain, too cookie cutter. It might make sense in high school English. But it's too boring in the real world.

I'm on a journey to get better at writing. And I can’t think of a better place to start than with the end.

Reading over some of my recent blog posts, I feel like my conclusions are unsatisfying. Here are some examples:

If you’re wanting to build your design gut instinct, give the above steps a try and let me know what you come up with! You can tag me with your notes / Figma file on Bluesky.

My reading habit is still a work in progress, these tips have been helping, but I have a ways to go before I complete the Goodreads Challenge. I hope these tips have been helpful. Happy reading!

Working on imposter syndrome is a work in progress. And reframing my anxiety this way doesn’t magically make it disappear. But now I have these questions in the back of my mind when I start to think I’m a fraud. I hope they help you.

They're all similar. Summarise points, mention work in progress, bada-bing-bada-boom.

William Zinsser offers this advice in his book, On Writing Well.

"The perfect ending should take your readers slightly by surprise and yet seem exactly right".

"When you're ready to stop, stop. If you have presented all the facts and made the point you want to make, look for the nearest exit"

If you take my post on Building a Design Gut instinct, the paragraph before would've made a much stronger ending.

Our goal is to build a library of patterns that we can draw from. We want to know what patterns work well, and why they work. The other benefit of documenting these patterns is to build an inspo board. When you start designing your own site, you’ll have a well of inspiration.

Like with all learning, there's a chance I'll overcorrect. My future endings may seem abrupt.