In a story, readers don't want to know at the onset which characters’ relationships are doomed or who won’t survive a natural disaster. Their demise may be inevitable if we were further along in the tale, but the reader doesn’t know enough about the characters, in the beginning, to even care.

Leading with the punchline spoils the surprise. Think about it. A comedian wouldn’t share the end of a joke at the beginning of his set. If the audience knows the ending, why bother, right? And, likewise, writers shouldn’t reveal too much too soon either. 

It may be acceptable in our initial draft to get the words on paper, but the ending has no place at the beginning of a book, chapter, or even paragraph. The conclusion is best interwoven throughout the story and revealed like a path of crumbs for the reader to follow. Otherwise, we run the risk of our audience skipping right over our hard-earned words or, worse, not reading it at all.

It is far...