posted
Okay, I have recently been in a very large debate on ending the novel that is, itself, only a chapter in a series. There are two schools of thought that I am aware of. There may be more, but from what I can see there is
a) end your series books on a cliffhanger. Snap off your manuscript to the point that the reader will have to go out and get the next one or join a mailing list to find out the second it comes out.
b) ease out of the story, set up the next one.
As a reader, the endings of some books that were gaudy cliffhangers have made me actually get up from reading and storm around my house. (The Cell for one.)I have felt betrayed by endings that leave me hanging too much and from that point on, almost have an insecure approach to that writer with each book after. I will crack the book, wondering if the author is going to up and leave me like that again.
But....
As a writer, well, it kinda makes sense.
Something about the series... OSC didn't really set Ender's Game up for a sequel, but didn't seal the story off either. I was glad to find out there was more to the Wiggins' story and I read the sequel not because I had to find out what happend next to Ender, I had closure there, but more because it was a fun story and I wanted more enjoyment. The last one in the Shadow series seemed set up for sequel, with a mild cliffhanger, and I'm dying to know, like speculating and really, really, really want to know. reeeeeally.
So, how do you end a book, when you know -and your reader knows- the story isn't over yet?
posted
My rule of thumb (and advice I wish I could have given to the late Robert Jordan) is: resolve something, but leave something unresolved.
For example in my trilogy WIP, my first book involves a lot of people trying to find out the identity of their phrophocised hero, so I end the book revealing who the hero is but leave the fate of a character up in the air. I resolved the main problem but still had a cliff hanger. The second book resolves more completely, but as the baddie is still at large hopefully the readers will read the third book to find out the end of these people's story. If nothing is resolved at the end of the book then I feel like the book was filler and in long series (like Wheel of Time) you can end up with 1000s of pages of 'filler' in a row, which leads people to stop reading the books, or at least stop buying them until the series is complete.
posted
I get very aggravated by stories that end on cliffhangers, and in one case at least I refuse to buy or read the next story even though it's long since been published, just on principle.
I think it's OK to leave things open, leave a few issues unresolved, but the main plot and even to some degree the major subplots need to be wrapped up. It is a much more satisfying experience for the reader.
I think it violates the contract with the reader to say "well, we ran out of pages but I won't tell you what happened yet." (Not that this is what you're proposing, just giving you my point of view.)
I think any time (again, not saying this is what you're suggesting...just having an opinion here, LOL) we're writing with an eye toward some future book we haven't yet written, some future market of readers that we're hoping to tap, some future dollars we hope to earn, well we run the risk of shortchanging the *current* book, the current readers, the current task.
posted
I would recommend you have an open ending in that at least some of the characters live on. Complete the story, but don't kill all the characters and have everyone live a happy ever afterlife (how dreadful!). Since this is a series, I assume you have no plans of doing this.
My point is that as long as your characters are "living and breathing," people are going to return to your story if they like what you've written. I can think of several authors who have become unbelievably rich and have written things that I felt dipped into the subpar area after they had established the series - this should be a crime!
You, on the otherhand, are apparently still hungry and wanting to write your best stuff yet. Don't cop out with a cheap parlor trick. Please tell us a complete story, and these interesting characters can find new bear traps to fall in again the next time!
Oh, and before someone brings up Tolkien - TLOTR was written as a single novel, but Tolkien's publisher said it was too long and made Tolkien break it into three books (also reaping the profits X3). And yes, most of Tolkien's characters did live happily ever afterlife, but it was truly THE END.
posted
I too like novels that have a satisfying ending, that allow you to choose whether or not to buy the next book in the series.
I think that today there are too many umpteen-book series on the shelves, where the ending is clearly contrived to drive the sale of the next book. I refuse to purchase them, to get sucked into the publisher's steady revenue stream.
If I read a novel which presents itself as a standalone and ends with a requirement to read the next in the series, I refuse to buy the next book and avoid that writer's stuff in future.
I think the book needs to be faithful to itself and its readers, not sales--and somehow, that is more likely to assure more sales.
quote:My rule of thumb (and advice I wish I could have given to the late Robert Jordan) is: resolve something, but leave something unresolved.
I think this was the strategy for Harry Potter, and it seemed to work really well. The book would have a complete arc, but it also slowly built up a larger arc spanning the entire series.
As for cliffhanging endings, well, GRRM's SIF series pretty much all just end. So really either strategy could work.
I'm struggling with this same issue. My duet was originally planned as one book, when I realized there were two stories in there. Alas not enough material for the magical trilogy. But Book 1 pretty much ends on a cliff hanger. The more urgent arc of the story is completed but there's a pretty overwhelming unknown. I don't know how else to end it. It just seems like the right thing to do for this story, so I'm gonna do it and see what happens.
posted
I pertty much no longer buy any series of books until the series is finished. Many years ago "The Wheel Of Time" annoyed teh crap otu of me by not even pretending a partial resultion of any significance at the end of its books, and, brilliant though "A Song Of Ice And Fire" is, the wait between books is just absurd for a reader. I did buy "The Lies Of Locke Lamora" and thankfully the first book is mostly self-contained - but I'm not planning to buy any further ones as yet.
I like fantasy sagas if they're done right. As noted; elements of a greater whole. You can have all sorts of plot layers, and you can wrap up significant elements to give a book a satisfying conclusion while still leaving opeen ends to bring the reader back next time. Sadly, many writers honestly don't seem to bother at the moment, and I think that's lazy and unprofessional and honestly believe it harms their work. More people might come back for the next book in a series if they know it's going to include a satisfying resolution, rather than effectively jus buying an extract of a much larger work, with the next extract maybe several years off down the line.
posted
I'm against anything that's not complete-in-one-story, or complete-in-one-book. I feel cheated when I read a book, and then have to wait for another book in the series...worse, I pick up a book and find it's third or fourth in a series, and I can't figure out what's going on unless I buy other books.
I figure if I feel cheated, a lot of other readers will feel cheated as well---and that'll hurt sales in the long run.
Write your books complete-in-one-book. Leave room for a sequel, but not an absolute cliffhanger need for one.
(It's my understanding that Tolkien's publishers expected to lose money on The Lord of the Rings...that they were publishing it as a work of art...that nobody was more suprised and pleased than they were when it took off. If it had failed, a lot of people might have never seen anything beyond the first volume---they were going to cut down the print runs for them.)
posted
I read the Wheel of Time without knowing it was incomplete, too. The entire series was building towards climax that never came and dissapointment abounded. I was angry until I found out that R.J. passed away and then I felt kinda petty about my needing to know whining. But that is something that I keep in mind as I try to get the transition part of this book right.
My problem is the word limit unknown authors have to stick to for publication consideration. I can be longwinded in writing. Its hard for me to cover a period of time where there isn't a great deal going on, like a week or so, but I can make an hour drag out over four chapters. Of course, there are lotsa huge developments. But I wrote the second book because even though I left the first book complete, I still felt there was more to the story. And I didn't even get to the central event that my second story was supposed to be about until about 140 pages into my writing (that's unformatted, single spaced pages) and I was already sitting on over 80,000 words. So, I still want to tell a little more. For me, telling "a little more" means another book.
I was just unsure weather or not to set it up with a need to know what happens next ending. I think it would be wise to not set it up like that unless I have the next book already finished and ready to go at the same time as the second. Just-in-case. You all seem to have the same reaction I do to endings that leave you teetering on the edge of satisfaction. I wouldn't want to have a grudging interest in my work.
posted
I had the same issue on my triolgy. Book I ended, not on a cliff hanger but before a large action section was about to begin. It did resolve the main issue in the book, which was character driven - ie the MC accepting responsibility for who she is and her people. The agent that read the whole thing was "disappointed" in the ending. The editor who read it strongly suggested a later ending point. So, now I'm revising.
I think the days of serial stories are done, for now. Now readers, editors and agents want stand alone links in the same chain for a series. So, I'd suggest #2 - resolve a main conflict line, leave another or several others unreasolved and ease out while setting up the next.
HP is a good example. Each immediate threat is resolved - Voldemort does not get the stone, Harry survives the triwizarding tourney - but the larger threat/promise - that Voldemort wand Harry will come into direct conflict with only one surviving is still outstanding until the last book.
Terry Pratchett "got away" with a cliff hanger in The Color of Magic probably because it was his third published book and well, the cliff hanger made sense. I haven't checked the release date of The Light Fantastic which finished that story line but I suspect they came out close in time. See, "Series/Sequels - post # 3 beginnings and endings" - http://www.hatrack.com/forums/writers/forum/Forum1/HTML/005019.html
posted
If a book ends on a cliffhanger and doesn't resolve anything important, then I'll never buy another book from that author--even if the sequel is already out. I feel betrayed that I put that much time and money into the book only to find that the author didn't fulfill the bargain. Since this trick ticks me off so strongly, I'd never write a novel series like this.
If a book ends with the promised important question resolved (like 'who is the prophesized hero'), then I may buy the next book and read it. But if I'm expecting the bad guy to be stopped in the current book and he isn't, then I probably won't bother with the next book.
So my vote is to at least resolve something important in the current book. I'd also pay very close attention to what reader expectations you're setting up at the beginning of the book. Is the focus/promise at the start fulfilled at the end? If so, then the reader will be satisfied even though not every question is resolved. If not, then you've lost at least a few readers.
[This message has been edited by DebbieKW (edited September 10, 2008).]
posted
I've passed up a couple of promising series just waiting for them to be complete, or, at least at some point of closure. George Railroad Martin's series comes to mind---I enjoyed and was influenced by his early work, and would like to see what he's been up to since---but my notions of what and what not to buy remains fixed.
Of course, I understand the Harry Potter series is complete now. I have all seven volumes now (four were gifts, actually)---but I still haven't gotten around to reading anything past Volume One, which I did at the goading of my niece and nephew. I should read this, maybe. I've been told it's pretty good.
*****
I belatedly remember this issue has had blowback on my own work. During my Internet Fan Fiction period, I put together one series, five stories before I gave it up. I had already reached this philosophical point, and was determined that no reader need read any earlier story of mine for the individual stories to make sense.
That, and I was exposed to a lot of other Internet Fan Fiction series. Nearly all of these suffered from this---worse, even, than published books, believe me---and in some cases you have to have read a hundred or more separate fanfic pieces just to understand what's going on in this particular writer's universe in the story before you.
I think I succeeded. It was probably the most-praised work I did in the form.
posted
I remember when I finished Ender's Game. It was such a ride, I *knew* there had to be a sequel. I was desparate to know if one was planned, and jubilant to find out it was already published. And that read like a stand-alone.
Isn't that what we all strive for? Just knock their socks off...
Printer-friendly view of this topic
