On Writing a Novel Well - What Is Meant by the Reveal in a Story?

In writing, the reveal is the key element that explains what has
enabled a story to hold the reader's interest, and a component that is
generally retained until the last possible moment. Many a book is
judged by how well this is handled. If the work is strong, commonly
this is because the finale contains a riveting reveal, yet it doesn't
always mean this occurs at the very end of the story. More on this
later.Certain Genres Lend themselves to Great RevealsBy their very
nature, mysteries and thrillers are the most obvious genres for which
scintillating reveals would seem best suited. But romances, fantasy,
YA, and every other genre demand a reveal. If not, a story's premise
would never be accepted by the reader. Material falls short when the
narrative doesn't finish with a powerful enough reveal. Simply, the
ending doesn't live up to the plot elements. And nothing is more
frustrating for a reader than to be left unfulfilled because a
plausible "answer" didn't materialize.At Times it Works Best to Write
the Ending FirstI often suggest to authors who habitually have
struggled with endings to write them first. In this way, they can
craft material to meet the standards their respective reveals require,
and not the other way around. It's sort of like writing a joke, since
commonly the punchline is created initially and the material leading
up to it is figured out later.The Reveal and the Denouement Can Be the
Same, but Not Always It's easy to slip into the mold of thinking that
a reveal and a denouement are always interchangeable, but they aren't,
and this is the point I was making at the end of the first paragraph
of this article. For a literary example, in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE
DAME, while Quasimodo's bones turning to dust at the very end is
indeed startling, the booties earlier being assigned to Esmeralda is
the reveal the reader has been "waiting for."Examples of Books with
Great Reveals Stories don't require the planet to be saved via a
24-style, heart-stopping set of reveals. What makes a work
memorable--and as a byproduct, often remarkable--is a reveal that
enables the reconciliation of an "open" plot element, or which adds
and answers an unexpected twist set up by an earlier plot point.Some
of my favorite reveals are provided via the classics, with THE AGE OF
INNOCENCE perhaps illustrating the quintessential example of a reveal,
since the "entire story" happens 100,000 words into a 101,500-word
work. In the more contemporary market, I liked the way Amy Tan
finished THE JOY LUCK CLUB, E. L. Doctorow's treatment of BILLY
BATHGATE, and Ken Follett's heart-warming conclusion to THE EYE OF THE
NEEDLE.