Jan 01 2009
Finding Closure
Great beginnings are not as important as the way one finishes.
– Dr. James Dobson
My last blog discussed what happens at the end of a book, mostly asking for what you readers think works (at least for you). And now it’s my turn, and my reason for the topic–and for my current opinion–is two-fold, stemming both from my own writing (since my book has now come to its “falling action” stage), and from the two books I’ve been (or am now currently) reading.
With regards to my writing, I know what I would like to accomplish. Unlike a romance novelist, I have no urge to explain out the futures of everyone involved, including my main character and her “love interest.” I won’t tell you they get married, for if they do, it’s years and years in the future most likely. I imagine that he’s a good companion for her, and she for him, at least for a while, and I have no intention of making the future any clearer than that. And, honestly, whom she dates is not really that fascinating to me… it’s what happens to her development as a result of that relationship that interests me.
Then again, this novel will also not turn into an advertisement for the sequel. At this point, I don’t really see a reason to have a sequel, and I certainly don’t want such a huge cliffhanger at the end that the climax looks like rising action, and nothing is resolved at all. I’ve read too many books like that lately (see the YA novel Criss Cross, which somehow won an award or two, but which left me completely underwhelmed). I love many books which have sequels, but with nearly all of them, the events within a given book find a logical resolution, one that is satisfying, one that closes up a chapter well, even if some events will not be resolved until later (see Rowling’s Harry Potter series). My book will be a whole book, not a segment of a saga, chopped up into novels so that I can sell a ton of books.
Perhaps I sound upset by this, but part of my feeling stems from reading Robert Liparulo’s House of Dark Shadows. The book isn’t his first novel, but it is his first for young adult readers, and its premise is one I would readily enjoy, for I love haunted houses more than most readers, and a house with a haunted “servants’ quarters” upstairs, where each little room leads the main character into far off times and places, works for me. Even the darkest part of the book, a huge giant-like monster of a man who comes out of the rooms and steals women away, pulling them into the world, from which they never return–yup, a very cool premise. The narration is good, the characters appealing, especially Alexander (Xander), the oldest boy of the family. Overall, I would normally have loved the book, and I did devour it very quickly, staying up late to read the ending.
But that was the problem: the ending. It was a little hard to suspend my disbelief, not that such a world was possible, but that a father allows his family to stay in that place, once he finds out how much danger his family is in. That disbelief is resolved well, near the end of the book, but then the stakes are raised too much, and the end of the novel is a horrifying cliff-hanger. I wish, more than anything, that Liparulo–or his editors–had been willing to try to tell the story in a longer book, rather than leaving such an ending, unsatisfying, even irritating. I’m sure the intent was partly to keep the book long enough to entice young male readers, partly to add to the marketability of future sequels. But this blatant marketable ploy upset me, and I am not sure I want to read the next one. Will it be yet another cliff hanger? The next book is already planned, entitled Watcher in the Woods, but I can’t promise I’ll read it.
Another book leading me to my rambles today is The Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon.
Again, a very entertaining premise, one that speaks to me, since the main character is sent back 200 years to the Scottish Highlands… but even though I haven’t finished the novel, I fear it will end in the same sort of cliffhanger way (since I know it’s part of a whole series). And if I make it through this book, only to find everything unresolved and our heroine still lost, or troubled even more than she is now, in the middle of the book, that won’t appeal to me. I don’t need the tight closure found in so many novels–I kind of like things to be left out for me to decide upon–but I don’t want to have to shut a book on characters still in turmoil.
So, I ask again (and you will notice I have not used the double entendre from my earlier blog), how do you want your books to end? What works for you? What doesn’t? Give me examples, so I can see what you mean more clearly.
Remember, there is no truly wrong answer. What will work for some readers won’t work for others.
I haven’t read either book you mentioned, but they both sound like good storylines even if the endings were unsatisfying.
I agree, also, that a shameless marketing ploy (though useful in other instances…sometimes) is a bad way to put together a book. The editors should’ve known better or had a better plan in place for satisfying their publisher’s criteria.
I may have mentioned before how much I liked Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series. When you finish one book, all the loose ends are pretty well tied up for that story by the end. When you start on the next, you’re much more likely to encounter a reference to Anita’s past experience than a continuance of it. It just keeps moving forward in a pleasing way (I think so anyway). I like it even more for the content, though, lol…handsome werewolves and sexy vampires usually make for a good read with me.
Good luck on the finisher for your novel. I hope you get it right where you want it to be and sell a ton of copies!
I’ll need to look at the Anita Blake series, ambrosiavenus. I think both books have a very interesting premise, and I know this blog speaks against what I already contended when I said the journey is better than the ending… I’ve read about 100 pages more of Outlander, and it’s the getting there that I have an issue with. The two main characters are newlyweds, and the SEX! If they could just get on with it, and have something else happen, for goodness sakes!
At the same time, I am disheartened when an ending simply does what it does to get me to read the next book. I don’t like being bullied, and I tend to get more stubborn when I feel like I’m being pushed in a certain way. And I HATE a book where nothing gets resolved. Each book can build on the last, but the book should be satisfying in and of itself. I don’t have days to spend reading twelve books in a series so that I can come to some sort of ending. I need to be able to digest one book at a time, and feel satisfied with that book.
And Rocketscientist, I agree with what you’ve said about your book. The sequel could be all sorts of things… and the loose ends are tight enough that the story itself is complete. Your next book could be on something completely different, and I wouldn’t whine because I was desperate to know what happened in the last novel.
Like everything, there is a balance to be achieved. And since that’s my chosen word for 2009–BALANCE–I will work on that with my novels.
I agree with everything that has been said, so I won’t repeat it. Closure is good, especially since it’s a good feeling to put down a book with the feeling of closure because I feel like I accomplished something and I’m done. That good feeling would get me to read another book by that author about the same characters.