Validation

 I think I understand, but could you clarify what exactly you're asking/looking for? Maybe with an example?

Posted by: @han

I think I'm getting that right. The chap at the end, who no one knows nor cares about, who tells the reader the story is done.

That just happened to me. I reached a satisfactory ending and, on a whim, kept pantsing the story. That was a waste of time. I really had reached the end. So now I have a project that will be trimmed of excess and whittled into contest parameters. 'Rolls up shirt sleeves'  

Recently watched SG1, Forsaken. 

Hammond had a couple of bits in the middle, but at the end (spoiler) as the convicts think they escaped, but actually step onto the ramp in the scg, Hammond has the awesome line, "welcome to earth." Eg. Game over. Job done. Good guys win.

So, there was a main character doing it. Also, there was some extra tidy up back on the planet. So this does both.

King Kong on the other hand, ends with some random saying, "well the airplanes got him", to which Carl replies and that's that.

I'm pretty sure Lord of the flies ended with a he random captain popping up. Did he even say anything? It's been a while.

Predator ends with the pilots exclamation.

But if you do a LOTR job, what are the rules? What should be after it, if anything.

I like the final line.

Terminator nearly had the scientists with the chip, but it was cut. So they were left with Sarah's awesome line, but from the main character.

I may add some more.

While there are some parallels between movies and written word, I think we'd all be better suited to take most of our examples from other works of literature, instead of a different medium.

In Save the Cat, Snyder advised having complementary opening and closing images. The closing image should show how the new normal is a changed world from the old. A character making an observation is definitely one way to do that.

If I can't take from tv or film, my pool is very dry I deed.

I have been listening to audiobooks, though. 

Let's not "cancel" just because we're not all big readers. Writers can come from many backgrounds.

With the changing worlds, that is true. However the I thought/read (it does happen) that the chap at the ends line is to let the reader (or listener, I'll swap to a pony now) know that the story is done/over and there is no more to be told. The bad guys defeated, the kingdom saved, all is now good in the world. 

This is different-ish to just being used to show the opposite of the starting situation, although it can accomplish that too.

I'm struggling to think of written examples, for reasons I mentioned above, Sphere springs to mind, a chap on the boat at the end?

Anyway I'm looking for any rules about this. How could you use a main character or how could you have more stuff after and not ruin the "final" line.

Maybe I should just flip to the end of a few books??

Again, personally, I like the last line from a random (though Hammond's line I mention above is pure genius), but that's just me.

I think it's possible that the "bit more" could be the denouement. The ending of a story usually has two components, roughly speaking--the climax, which carries the heaviest emotional punch, and the denouement, which ties up the final threads and completes the story. You don't always need a denouement, it depends on the story (sometimes, climax and denouement may be the same piece). But if you made promises in the beginning that haven't been paid out, you probably need one.

Thinking about this in the scope of a narrator specifically, though, the first thing that comes to mind is Morningstar, by David Gemmell--though I would add before talking about this that it's been a long time since I last read it, and so my description may be a little wide of the mark in terms of the specifics.

However, in more general terms, the narrator from start to finish is a central character in the story, but not the main character, though his own experiences are central to his narration--however, the main story character is the Morningstar, with whom he was a friend. The story is presented, loosely, in this form:

1) A guest arrives, wanting to hear the truth of the legendary Morningstar. The lead character, a magician who is now old, offers to share the myths, and brushes off the request for the actual truth, telling them that they don't really want to hear that at all.

2) Away from the guest, the character reflects on and recalls the real story, including all the bad and good things about the character. It's narrated from the beginning, and chronicles how this very self-serving, amoral rogue grew into becoming a hero and a legend. He follows the whole story through, to the very end, and that completes the narration.

3) The guest wakes to witness the old man returned to his youth, and leaving through a magic portal--a kind of time-and-space event that links back into some earlier narrated events in the story, satisfyingly closes the loop for the character, and gives the story a brighter, more rewarding emotional payoff than it would have without it.

That may be in the realm of what you're looking for. But to be honest, I don't think there are strictly speaking any rules about this--essentially, do it if it works, and if the story needs it. If it doesn't, cut it. And regardless, don't allow it to overstay its welcome and dilute your story's impact.

I'm still a little unsure of what you're looking for here, but it sounds like you're looking for the best way to end your story...? I agree with @martin-l-shoemaker and Save the Cat/Kitten — those opening and closing images/scenes can be powerful. I also agree with what @doctorjest said above — stories are essentially over once you wrap the story in its pretty climax paper, although a denouement is a nice shiny bow you can tape on as a finishing touch.

You make certain promises and raise certain questions at the beginning (and throughout) every story. Once those promises are fulfilled and the major questions are answered, your story is done. Some stories leave the reader with a memorable final line that resonates and lingers: "He is coming, and I am here." (The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger); "He loved Big Brother." 1984 by George Orwell; "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, just to name a few.

But not every story has to end with a zinger. I read James Clavell's Tai Pan as a teenager, and I've never read it a second time. I have no idea how that story wrapped up, but it remains once of my favorites of all time because the story itself was so good. Same with the Delirium series by Lauren Oliver, and William Forstchen's John Matherson series.

Stephen King's stories have some amazing opening lines and images, but in my personal opinion his endings tend to fall fairly flat. That doesn't keep them from being among my favorites though.

For me, stories are great because of the journey they take me on and the people they introduce me to. It's more about the ride and less about what happens at the very end, as long as all those dangling story parts get wrapped up satisfactorily. There are a thousand and one ways to do that, and every one of them is correct!