In general, do you like things to be specific?
I’m inching my way to the end of my WIP which raises the ultimate question, even for me.
How does it end?
The question isn’t what happens…but how it happens, how it’s written, how it plays out not for the characters but for the reader.
Do you like a rock-sold ending to a story, all questions answered…or something obscure? Do you want to make up your own mind about what happened or have it spelled out for you, literally? I like being influenced or led to definitive conclusions. I like to sigh. I like to be satiated. I don’t need a happily ever after or to be told every detail, although I do appreciate a short epilogue where appropriate. But something that is ambiguous – up for debate – doesn’t usually do it for me. I want closure as I close a book, even if I know there is obviously more to the fictional tale.
One of the best interviews I’ve read recently is in P&W this month, where editor Chuck Adams reminds us that writing is less about writing than it is about storytelling, and never to lose sight of the fact that if we’re writing for publication, ultimately, we’re writing for the reader.
So as a reader, what are your favorite — or least favorite literary endings? And how do you decide how to write your own endings? And of course – be specific!
My favorite ending is when the princess kicks out the scumbag disguised as a prince and then he drops dead. Or is that a beginning?
Okay, for real. I’m not a writer, but it doesn’t get any better than this.
Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.
I don’t like a plot to be all tied up neatly with a bow, but I do want that feeling of a full meal. A real winner leaves an open door to future scenarios and possibilities for me, but not big gaping holes which make me want to throw the book in a shredder.
Fern: You are very creative in both #1 and #2. Thanks for the early morning chuckle (followed by an appropriate grimace).
Angie: Any examples to share? I feel the same way. I don’t like when everything is neat and perfect, because that’s not real (at least not for me!) But I like the sense of peace within the characters, and excitement for whatever is next…even though we may never know what that is.
My professor tells me I must site my sources. The poem above is the last part of Song of the Wandering Angus by William Butler Yeats.
I like endings with an abstract feel, even if it’s only the final paragraph. Something where you really get inside the character’s mind after following their story. In a way, it gives me a feel for the emotional place the story left me at. I just finished The Ice Queen, Alice Hoffman. She did this. Elizabeth Berg will do it, too. Open House closes this way. I think We Are All Welcome Here did too. That one I thought was especially moving. I like a closing that leaves me thinking.
I like endings that are a surprise, but still happy.
I like endings that make me laugh or completely knock my socks off. If it’s predictable it’s creatively remedial and boring. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if it’s happy or sad, as long as it’s believable and intelligent. By the way Amy, Congratulations on getting to this point with your WIP! I’m tickled pink for you and my fingers are crossed for you to sell it and realize your dreams.
You know, I’ve written some endings that we’re, gosh, not even ambiguous. Just sunset, girl and boy holding hands, telling each other they love each other, that sort of thing. And some readers will interpret that as ambiguous as to whether they go on to live happily ever after. (Um, is it just me? Is that not pretty clear?)
So now I very methodically go through my stuff and make sure every thread is ended very, very, very clearly. I stop short only at writing, “and they lived happily ever after.”