Why I’ve Written Open-ended Endings
Mild Spoilers ahead...
So some people hate it when a book ends without a complete resolution. Not me. While I often like books that tie up everything with a neat bow, just as often I find myself liking the exact opposite.
My first two novels finish with the main character about to do something new, but don’t let the reader see him doing it. And there were reasons I did this that honestly had nothing to do with setting up for a sequel. In fact, when I finished and published both, I had zero intention of writing sequels for them; I wanted to move on to other ideas and projects.
It’s all about main story. If the main story has been “concluded”, then the novel is over. In both cases for me, the ending was a sign that the protagonists Jake and Elliot had moved significantly from their starting points to a different way of approaching life. In Jake’s case, he had been hiding from and suppressing The Animal; at the end, he has found the strength and confidence and determination to confront it directly. In Elliot’s case, he was a committed loner who wanted absolutely nothing to do with people and wanted to seek safety in solitude in the wilds; at the end he has completed a mission helping someone become safe and sees that there is another opportunity to do the same, even if it risks his own life.
WE DONT NEED TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
It’s the same at the end of Stephen King’s Cell and Trent Jamieson’s The Business Of Death: the reader can imagine what comes next, but the character’s journey has ended. The movie Three Billboards also: both characters have grown a hell of a lot and there is a kind of resolution for them ... just not of the main mystery.
But life is often like that. Life rarely ties everything up neatly. Often other opportunities come for us from the very challenges we’ve finished battling.
I’m interested in your thoughts. What open endings to books and films have pleased you and which have irritated you? Do you think open endings and cliffhangers have a legitimate place in literature?
So some people hate it when a book ends without a complete resolution. Not me. While I often like books that tie up everything with a neat bow, just as often I find myself liking the exact opposite.
My first two novels finish with the main character about to do something new, but don’t let the reader see him doing it. And there were reasons I did this that honestly had nothing to do with setting up for a sequel. In fact, when I finished and published both, I had zero intention of writing sequels for them; I wanted to move on to other ideas and projects.
It’s all about main story. If the main story has been “concluded”, then the novel is over. In both cases for me, the ending was a sign that the protagonists Jake and Elliot had moved significantly from their starting points to a different way of approaching life. In Jake’s case, he had been hiding from and suppressing The Animal; at the end, he has found the strength and confidence and determination to confront it directly. In Elliot’s case, he was a committed loner who wanted absolutely nothing to do with people and wanted to seek safety in solitude in the wilds; at the end he has completed a mission helping someone become safe and sees that there is another opportunity to do the same, even if it risks his own life.
WE DONT NEED TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
It’s the same at the end of Stephen King’s Cell and Trent Jamieson’s The Business Of Death: the reader can imagine what comes next, but the character’s journey has ended. The movie Three Billboards also: both characters have grown a hell of a lot and there is a kind of resolution for them ... just not of the main mystery.
But life is often like that. Life rarely ties everything up neatly. Often other opportunities come for us from the very challenges we’ve finished battling.
I’m interested in your thoughts. What open endings to books and films have pleased you and which have irritated you? Do you think open endings and cliffhangers have a legitimate place in literature?
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