I've read good books, and I've read bad books. Some books have made me cry, some books have made me laugh, and some books have made me fall asleep. With all of the reading that I've done, there is one thing that I believe to be the most important aspect of a piece of writing- the ending.
When you read that last paragraph, you were probably thinking, "well, duh..." Of course the ending is important. But time and time again I've been an unfortunate witness to an author pulling me in and grabbing my attention for the first 600 pages, only to completely ruin my expectation with the last 10.
No, "ruin my expectation" isn't what I mean. The ending to The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay ruined my expectations. The ending to Brave New World ruined my expectations. Ruining expectations can create an incredible and unforgettable close to a book. But doing it the wrong way can destroy everything the first x pages worked towards.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!
For example, the ending to the 4 book, epicly long, beautifully written Inheritance Cycle was terrible. The last book was fantastic, and, in the end, the good guys killed the bad guys and everyone was happy. Then, out of nowhere, in the very last chapter, the main character decides that he has to leave the continent forever. His true love doesn't go with him, because she has become queen of the elves, and she can't leave her people behind. They don't live happily ever after, and they don't even kiss once! IN FOUR BOOKS!!! I grew up reading these, and I adore them, and the last emotion the series should have me feeling is not pity for their lost love, and certainly not hatred towards Christopher Paolini!
The point you should take from all of this is, don't just give up at the end. I know your deadline for your publisher is tomorrow, but you don't have to write the last chapter in one night. Ask for an extension! I would be forever grateful if writers would simply take their times with the endings. Nothing ruins my day quite like getting through a beast of a novel, only to discover that the writer decided to take a crap on the last page.
I totally know what you mean. It can be extremely disappointing when a story doesn't end the way you want it to, probably because we tend to make surprisingly deep connections to the characters. I have no doubt that authors, for the most part, do put a lot of thought into endings, but sometimes you just can't agree with their vision.
ReplyDeleteI definitely understand where you're coming from, "A-dawg". I don't know if you read Bel Canto, but that is a perfect example of a good book with a disappointing ending. I had fallen in love with several of the characters and thought the ending would be happy. However, a group of people came in and shot several of the main characters! This was extremely sad and partially ruined the book for me.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you about how a story badly and it's really frustrating. However, I think the author created the ending for specific purpose. I feel like I've read somewhere that publishers don't publish books the moment they've been through editing and stuff. They hold it to get more interest? I don't know, something like that. This might be for another type of media, in which case...my bad...
ReplyDeleteLet's be realistic. While deadlines and/or fatigue might be occasional factors that influence the end of a novel, do we really think these are consistently affecting the way writers wrap things up? I hope not.
ReplyDeleteI do, however, agree that it seems all too common for us as readers to be dissatisfied with endings. So, what are more plausible reasons? Other than not getting a "happy" ending when we had hoped for one? What are writers doing with their resolutions that leave us so unimpressed?