By Kelly Bridgewater
For the past two weeks, I have discussed
opening lines and ways to strengthen that saggy middle, but today, I have a
question. Why do most books have the same cliché ending?
Funny question, isn’t it? Something I
have been thinking about for a while.
Every contemporary romance, historical
romance, historical, romantic suspense, and mystery does it. Does what? You
might be asking.
The ultimate question: Why have the same
ending? You know, the ones I’m talking about. The wedding or the proposal at
the end of the book. The mystery solved and the bad guy taken to prison while
the hero and heroine look lovingly into each other’s eyes, promising to be
there for each other until the end of time.
But . . .
When you watch television, majority of
televisions shows do not sum up their entire series by the end of an episode.
They prolong the big fight or the bad guy until the end of the twenty-two
episode series. By doing this, the creators, writers, and producers are tempting
the viewers to come back week after week, panting for what happened with the
cliff hanger the week before.
One of my favorite shows that did this
was Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Ever
season, Buffy and her friends had to fight some ultimate evil like the Master,
Angel, the Mayor, Glory, Adam, or the Priest, but every episode ended with
Buffy being farther from defeating her enemy. It made me anxious to come back
and see what happens next week.
But
books are not that way. They sum up the mystery by the end of each volume. Even
if the book is part of a series. Fantasy is the exception because I have seen
them end the story with the hero and heroine on the run while the reader has to
wait for the next book to find out what happens next. Some examples are: The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R.
Tolkien, The Song of the Seare by C.
E. Laureano, The Staff and the Sword
by Patrick Carr, and The Storm Siren
Trilogy by Mary Weber.
One of my favorite authors, Steven
James, breaks this mold too. In each of his Patrick Bowers’ books, he creates a
conflict and solves it by the story’s end, but there is an overarching mystery
that haunts every single book. Waiting a whole year for another one of the
installments drove me nuts. I wanted to know what happened now.
Here is a quick example: In Knight
(which is one of James’s best book in my opinion), Bowers solved the mystery
that was the driving force of Knight,
but James taunted his readers by dangling a mystery to lead to the next book. Read
the last couple of lines in the book: “Sunlight spilled and sprayed around him.
Wet screams echoed through the tunnel. And the Knight began to tell a brand-new
story to the curious, waiting world” (492). As a reader, I thought the mystery
was solved, but James drags me in and begs to return to The Bishop. After finishing Checkmate
last December (which is a great ride by the way), I finally found out who the
Knight truly was. It only took four more books to find the answer.
As for my own three-part series, I am
tempting to accomplish the same thing. I’m creating a story where the
individual mystery appears to be solved, but by the time the reader opens the
next book, they were wrong. I know it is different, but I think it will be neat
if I can pass it off.
Would you read a story that is not
neatly finished by the first book? What do you like about books or movies where
nothing is left unsaid?
Kelly, you've made a good point. I'm near the end of first draft of a suspense novel. I had intended it to be a stand alone, but have since thought of two sequels. I have a clue planted at the end that will lead into the next book.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, I read Mary DeMuth's Daisy Chain trilogy. The killer wasn't revealed until the third book, but she kept the suspense through all three.
Thank you for stopping by and commenting, Joan. I need to read Mary DeMuth's.books. Thanks for the suggestions!
ReplyDeleteI think it can be a tricky balance to provide enough resolution that the reader's satisfied with the end of the book, while leaving enough unresolved to make the reader actively seek out its sequel. That's one thing I loved about Jessica Dotta's Price of Privilege series. Some goals are achieved in each book and the story moves forward, but enough is left unresolved that I couldn't help but read the next one ASAP! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by and commenting, Karen. I greatly appreciate it! I agree it can be a tricky balance, but as writers, we do whatever we need to do to make the readers happy.
ReplyDelete