When the Ending Changes Everything

Last month, I binged on all things – books, movies, TV shows - creepy. The results? I yelled at two terrible movies, spent enjoyable chunks of time with solid entertainment, and was blown away by one movie and one book. 

 

Hunter Hunter is my kind of movie: dark, disturbing, tense. I was uneasy the entire time I watched it, gaze riveted to the screen. Until the ending. It was so gory I had to look away over and over. And, yet, the ending absolutely fits the story so well that I can't call it gratuitous. It haunts me to this day. (I don't usually talk trigger warnings, but this ending is not for the faint of heart.)

 

Come With Me by Ronald Malfi is a horror novel for people who don't like horror. In fact, I'd call this more mystery with paranormal elements than anything else. It's atmospheric, creepy, heartbreaking and lovely. Though parts of it felt kind of slow, it still stayed a solid 4 stars for me. Until the ending. When I got there, I gasped then flipped back through the book, re-reading certain moments with fresh eyes. The ending added a whole other layer that had me in tears. It leaped to 5 stars and is easily one of my favorite reads of the year.

***** 

 

How was your October/Halloween? Anything you read/watched that you'd recommend? Are there any endings that haunt you from books/movies/TV shows? What's next for you in November?

The End Is Only The Beginning

I recently blogged about first lines and first pages - First Line Fear, First Page Panic. But let's not forget about The End. 

"Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle.

They read it to get to the end.

If it's a letdown, they won't buy any more.

The first page sells the book.

The last page sells your next book."

(Mickey Spillane)

I think this holds true for all stories, for all books, not just mysteries. As a reader, I don't need the ending tied up with a sparkly pink bow. I like a good wrap-up, with maybe a few loose ends so I can imagine the story continuing to unfold beyond the pages. I'm good with a vague ending, one that's open to some interpretation. I don't care for cliffhangers, though. I don't want to feel manipulated into buying the next book in order to see how this one ends. 

As readers, we put time and often money into a story or a book. We put our trust in the author, believing that he or she will deliver from start to finish. 

As writers, we're responsible for safeguarding that trust. We must bring our readers out the other side happier, more entertained, more satisfied than when they started. We need to leave them better off for reading our work. 

So, as readers, what's your favorite kind of ending? How do you feel about cliffhangers? As writers, how much time do you spend perfecting the ending versus the beginning? How do you leave your readers wanting, not needing, more?

Over the Cliff I Go

Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment on last week's IWSG: Path or Cliff? post, where I dithered about which writing project to work on next. As you can see from the title of this post, I went over the cliff and went with the "Ugly Horror Manuscript" now known as UHM….

I greatly appreciated all your thoughts, advice and encouragement, and I feel better, more ready, to aid my protagonists in their fight for survival and to grapple with my nasty protagonist and her cohorts. 

I do have two questions/issues/problems to pose to all of you wise ones out there:

1) Is it weird that I don't have an ending in mind? I usually do, and it's kind of freaking me out that I don't this time. I have scenes that happen toward the end but that's it. Do you usually know your ending before you write? Or do you discover it as you go? 

2) I recently downloaded Scrivener, and I'm looking forward to playing around with it and maybe using it for UHM. Do any of you use Scrivener? Any suggestions for how to make the most of it? Would it be better to use it for a fresh, new ms instead of one that's already got a few versions written plus lots of notes and scrawls that would have to be entered into Scrivener? 

The End is Near . . . or is it?

The majority of the stories and novels I write start with an image. Occasionally, I hear a few lines of description, narrative or dialogue, but it's usually visual, my own silent movie scene. This moment, while often the impetus for the work, is not always the opening scene. Sometimes it falls in the middle or even at the very end. It can change slightly but it rarely disappears. It's sort of like a hidden mental hook I hang the whole story or novel on.

The Camp NaNo novel I'm continuing to work on has that. It's got lots of characters, too many plot threads to count, and some scary (I hope!) blood-and-guts-but-not-too-gory scenes. What it doesn't have? An ending.

I pretty much always have some idea of how the work is going to end. It might be vague, but it's there. Not this time. I've got loose and frayed plot lines that need to be knotted up. I've got characters moving toward an end point . . . but none of us know what that end point is or what will actually happen when we get there. And I don't like it. I like to know where I'm going, how long it will take to get there, what happens once I do. (Why, then, am I a writer, with all its unpredictability and uncertainty? Probably a post for another day.)  

So, as my characters and I move toward the cliff's edge with no rope bridge in sight, I ask what you all do with your stories and novels. How do you start? Does a character speak to you or does the plot present itself first? Do you know the ending ahead of time? Or is it always a surprise to you?