Well it happened again.
Have you ever been reading a great book that you have a hard time putting down? You can't wait to finish it and suddenly you slam it shut. It made that turn. It started leading you into a direction you desperately did not wish to go.
This happened to me last night. I am on the second book of a very exciting trilogy. The second book is almost finished and this disheartening thing happened. It led me to thinking. How many times does this happen to others, and do these people finish the book or put it aside in disgust? I myself plan on finishing, hopefully I am wrong in what my head is predicting will happen. Stay tuned.
So where are these thoughts leading me today? What I am referring to above is not a character being hurt. I would want to finish to see what the outcome would be. This is something I do not want to happen in a characters life that will make the outcome different from what I have been waiting and hoping for since book one. Will this author do such a thing? This would be tragic. As a writer I am vowing to myself not to let this occur in anything I write. We want the guy to get the girl, or the happy ending that we are expecting when that carrot has been dangled out in front of us. Am I wrong?
As I finish editing my first novel, I will be looking for this and in future works that I do. The best books end happily. I does not matter how well written or how much adventure or suspense is in a novel, without a happily ever after it is to me a great disappointment.
Maybe it will still work out, because editors know that readers want satisfactory endings. The only times I've seen authors not do this is when they have an agenda and they want to make a point (often not one I agree with) and they're driving it home despite the pull for a better ending. The movie Mrs. Doubtfire comes to mind. I hated the ending. My husband hated the ending. You wanted reconciliation and the guy to get the girl, but it didn't work out right. You felt it in your gut and it BOTHERED you.
ReplyDeleteIt did. It turned out to be a wonderful tear-filled ending. (In a good way)
ReplyDeleteI hated Mrs. Doubtfire. Good example. When Sally Field looked up at Robin Williams with their children and life thye had built together and said, "We're different, we've grown apart." I wanted to scream. You self-centered women! What happened to commitment? It's not about feelings! Was this man beating her? Having affairs? No! He just needed someone to stand by and believe in him.
Sorry, thinking about that movie always makes me mad. Hollywood and their agenda!
Hollywood agenda. They wanted to make the unhappy stupid ending like it was the right choice, but it sure wasn't.
ReplyDelete