R. Garrett Wilson

Where should a writer end a book?  Should all loose-ends be tied up?  How about leaving a hook for another book?  Should a book end differently if it is part of a series versus a stand-alone novel?  Are there rules for this?

The last two novels I’ve read have left me a little unsatisfied at the end.  One book, the beginning of a trilogy, ended in the middle of a chase.  I chewed out the person who recommended the book to me (he can influence my job security, and I chewed him out anyway – that’s how mad I was).  Who ends a book during a chase?  The other book tied up every possible loose end to the point of absurdity.  This novel’s ending also had a few predictable elements (which isn’t always bad, but rubbed me a little wrong this time).  Not going to mention the books by name, or their authors.  I’m probably going to read the rest of the trilogy, and I love the author of the other novel.

A while back there was a book, second of a trilogy, which changed writing styles right at the end and summarized a lot of events instead of writing them out.  Based on that, and similar sections in the third book of that series, this author is off my “hot” list.  In my opinion, this particular series should have been four books, not three, with the extra book inserted between the second and third novels.  Perhaps this author was under a lot of pressure to put out books quickly, and chose expediency over quality of work.  It’s a shame, too, because her first novel of that series was one of the best that I have read.

I can name every book I’ve ever read that has had an unsatisfactory ending – the ending means that much.  We all (assumption here) would like to have good endings to our novels.  I’m no expert; I just know that some endings work and some don’t.  So, I’m going to ask a few questions.  You can contemplate on them, or answer them in the comments (I would love to learn from your experiences and thoughts).

As a writer:

• How early do you start planning your ending?
• Do you foreshadow the ending of your novel?
• Do you purposefully make events in your novel lead up to the ending?
• Do you tie off every loose-end or leave some as a hook?
• Do you use any rules or metrics for how long your endings are?
• Are your endings different for stand-alone novels than novels in a series?

As a reader:

• What do you expect of endings when you are reading?
• What do you dislike?
• How many bad endings can you take from one author before you decide that’s enough?
• Do you think a writer should ever rewrite and rerelease a book (like Lucas did with the original Star Wars movies)?

 A clap echoed down the corridor.

“The coast is clear,” translated a short man with bags under his eyes.  His khaki shorts and matching shirt were more wrinkled now than when we started.  He tried to act calm, but the perspiration gave away his anxiety.

Myself and three others refugees moved down the pristine hallway with the short man bringing up the rear.  We tried to act normal, just in case we came across someone or were spotted by a security camera, but it was difficult.

He tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, “You want them to take a lead.  Trust me.”  We paused long enough for the others to put fifteen yards between us.  Just as we started to walk again…

The young couple sat opposite each other on the train, giggling often at their private jokes.  The jokes weren’t that private: she would sign to him and he would respond.  But most people couldn’t read sign language, at least not in the speeds in which they were signing.

Mr. Duffard watched them off and on for the first thirty minutes he was on the train.  Then the girl shrugged her shoulders and said, in a very clear voice, “I’m bored.”

Both the boy and girl then talked, in normal voices and not always while looking at each other.  Mr. Duffard bit back a smile, somehow glimpsing into part of their world, seeing part of their private joke.  His smile lasted until the train began to slow.

As the couple gathered their belongings, so did he.  He didn’t draw any attention of the other passengers, who all seemed to now see the transformation this couple underwent.  The passengers did not notice that Mr. Duffard left a bag behind, nor did they notice how closely he followed the couple off of the train.

When the couple approached a waiting…

“Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.”

T.S. Elliot

This is my 101st blog post, and today I would like to talk about writing in general.  There is a huge disparity between how many people write a novel, and how many people make successful livings off of novels written. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of money in writing, it’s just not as evenly distributed as some of us would like.

So, how am I going to bring you up to date in my Writing 101 class?  How am I going to let you in on all that money?  Well, by talking about the rules of writing.

“There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

W. Somerset Maugham

This is absolutely true, well, maybe not the “three” part.  There are rules for writing a novel.  There are your own rules, agent rules, publishing house rules, and reader rules.  Everyone is going to have a different set of rules (TOR is going to have different rules than Disney Hyperion).  There are even different rules for the USA as there are for Europe.

Some sets of rules allow head-hopping, some don’t.  Some rules demand writing in past tense, others don’t.  Some rules despise the use of “ly” adverbs, others don’t.  In the end, there are so many different rule sets that it becomes obvious that even the experts can only tell you the rules that worked for them, not the actual rules of success.

I will give some rules I have heard over the years.  Pick the three you like – or maybe pick the ones you think will help you sell your book:

• Don’t use “ly” adverbs
• Have tension at the end of every chapter
• The protagonist needs to have an arc
• Don’t head-hop
• Write in past tense
• Don’t info dump
• Only use “said” and “asked” for attributing quotations
• All main characters have to be multidimensional
• Strictly avoid semicolons
• Show, don’t tell
• Only have characters change when events change them (this is my favorite as a reader and writer)
• Don’t overuse any specific word – watch out for “I” when doing first person
• The climax must be inevitable based on the earlier events
• Use (or don’t use) metaphors for sex scenes
• Handle scenes in date/time order, never go back
• Start with a meaningful moment and use flashbacks for background
• Use (or don’t use) profanity/slang/accents/colloquials
• Realism is important

Whatever rules you picked, make sure they don’t get in the way of the story.  In my mind, the most important rule is to have a compelling story – a story that is compelling to you, the writer.  You have to love the story enough to write it out.  You have to put the world, and all of its temptations, aside long enough to put the story on paper.  Everything else is trivial in comparison.

So, my three rules (as if my opinion matters to the majority of the writing world):

• Love the story enough to get it on paper.
• A far distant second rule, the story needs to be written in such a way that others can see it the same way you do (this is where most of those other rules come into play – the smaller rules we get hung up on).
• And third, the storyline and characters must be compelling to others, something they would want to read, can’t put down until they are done, and can’t stop thinking or talking about until they have started into the next great story.

As you may know, I ride the train every day.  There is a conductor who I often come in contact with, let’s call him Jake Spinner.  The first time I saw him, he was chewing out a man who was smoking in the restroom.  He actually kicked the man off the train.  My first thought, “I don’t want to tick-off that guy.”  That was more than six months ago.

Jake has been nothing but nice in the last six months.  If he knows you use a monthly pass, then he can help you out on days you forgot it.  If you have forgotten your lunch money, he might offer some of his lunch or a loan of a few dollars.  Jake jokes with you.  Most importantly, he goes out of his way to let you know he remembers you.  Jake is an all-around great guy.  That was Jake until today.

Today, a senior citizen who was in good health (possibly better health than I am in) tried repeatedly to sit in the ‘senior seating.’  This particular train doesn’t have ‘senior seating,’ it has seating for the disabled and seating for everyone else – he wanted to sit in the disabled section.  Jake was having a hard time explaining that ‘the disabled section wasn’t a senior section’ to the elderly gentleman, and it quickly escalated.  The argument was classic – both scary and funny at the same time.

The elderly gentleman repeatedly said, “I understand way you are saying, but…” or “Your right, your right.  However…”

By the end of the argument, we were halfway to my stop.  For most of the second half of my trip, Jake was going up and down the aisle mumbling to himself – occasionally I could make out a word or two, like “senior seating.”  Jake never said “Hi” to me, he never checked my ticket, and he never even looked my way (at least not while I was watching).

If I had not witnessed the argument, then Jake’s behavior would have been out of character.  I would have wondered, “What happened?”  There would have been an information gap that would have nagged at me.  In real life, I can ask, “Hey Jake, something bothering you?”  In a book, I can’t.  I only see what the author presents to me.

To keep readers engaged in a story, an author has to keep characters in character.  A big part of that is making sure to include the events that shape the changes in their life.

The following is a set of writing exercises involving personality traits:

• In 3 minutes, describe all the traits you like in a person.
• In 3 minutes, describe a person who you know who has most of these traits.
• In 2 minutes, describe which trait is best and why.
• In 3 minutes, describe all the traits you dislike in a person.
• In 3 minutes, describe a person who you know who has most of these traits.
• In 2 minutes, describe which trait is worst and why.
• In 4 minutes, merge the two people together into a believable character.  Be sure to include your favorite and least favorite trait.

A man, exceptional in both height and thinness, raced under the flap of the tent.  Shouting, trying to be heard over the mummer of the 600 or so people who were carrying on conversations while they ate, “Jake is about to be shot!”

Most of the mess hall began to quiet as they turned to the lanky man.  Hushes and shushes echoed from the far depths of the tent and the sound of spoons and forks hitting plates rang in the areas closer to the door.

“What did you say?” came a cry from about two-thirds the way back.

“So soon after his father died?” questioned a very portly woman not ten feet away.

The lanky man, jumping onto a table between the portly woman and an even wider man, shouted, “Jake thought it was time to get it over with.  They’re going to shoot him…”  A boom cut off the word “now.”

The news carrier hopped off the table and sprinted to the flap, ducking through with three others that were moving just as fast as he was.  Just about everyone in the tent was up and pushing their way to the main flap or any of the side flaps.  Only a few waited: a group overweight men and women, all easily as big as three or more average people; four devilish looking men in top hats, all playing cards with only a revolver in the pot; and a young couple who were trying to gather a half dozen or so animals that were spooked by the commotion.

As they all raced together, their eyes searched for the cannon.  Upon arriving to the firing point and observing the cloud of smoke rising for the contraption, they all turned in horror and wonder.  And then they – midgets, freaks, ugly women, burly men, and hosts of average looking people both in an out of costume – saw him.  Nestled in the safety of the net, giggling as boys often do after having overcome a stressful moment, was Jake Spinner II, the 12-year-old son of the late, great cannonballer, Jake Spinner.

From PSU Software Engineering Orientation (the activity is not important, learning to work in groups using the tools supplied by PSU is important):

You and your companions have just survived the crash of a small plane. Both the pilot and co-pilot were killed in the crash. It is mid-January, and you are in Northern Canada. The daily temperature is 25 below zero, and the night time temperature is 40 below zero. There is snow on the ground, and the countryside is wooded with with several creeks criss-crossing the area. The nearest town is 20 miles away. You are all dressed in city clothes appropriate for a business meeting. Your group of survivors managed to salvage the following items:

• A ball of steel wool
• A small ax
• A loaded .45-caliber pistol
• Can of Crisco shortening
• Newspapers (one per person)
• Cigarette lighter (without fluid)
• Extra shirt and pants for each survivor
• 20 x 20 ft. piece of heavy-duty canvas
• A sectional air map made of plastic
• One quart of 100-proof whiskey
• A compass
• Family-size chocolate bars (one per person)

My extra-serious response:

Use the axe to collect kindling and larger pieces of wood.  Use some of the whiskey and cigarette lighter to light the newspaper and steel wool, and then the kindling and larger pieces of wood, and from there a forest or tundra fire.  The fire will attract media and rescue workers.

In an area away from the forest fire, strip out of clothes and use those plus the extra change of clothes to create HELP and SOS messages that would be visible from the air.  Everyone cuddles under the canvas in a non-wooded area – should be warm with the body heat and fire.

Use the rest of the whiskey to have a good ole time while waiting for the rescue team.  If things get too boring, the Crisco and compass should make for an interesting “spin the compass” game.   Save the chocolate in case the rescuers have marshmallows and gram crackers.

The gun would only be needed if the whiskey runs low.  The map is pointless.

A.     Yelling at and belittling others encourages them

B.     Conversations should wander while rarely touching on subject matter

C.     Derogatory remarks are encouraged, especially when they are unrelated to the issue at hand

D.     Expect others to do their part even if you don’t do yours

E.     Reliance on the “group effort” is good enough

F.     Participation in group discussions is totally optional

G.     Inflammatory expletives are helpful in conveying ideas and concepts

H.     Proofreading is unnecessary when other group members are willing to do it

This is something I did for a class. Obviously, these are not the keys to meaningful work groups.

For those that don’t know, my daytime profession is a Programmer/Analyst.  I haven’t often mixed my daytime profession with my weekend and evening passion, but today I’m going to. 

Here are some programmer/writers talking to a potential agent about their upcoming works:

COBOL CICS:
For that information, you need to look at the glossary – um, here.  And just so you know, here are the maps, and the appendices.

LISP:
That’s what sets this apart: it’s like a normal thriller/mystery, but you start with the solution and work back to the problem.  People don’t really like to think, and this novel solves that – it almost thinks for them.

ALGOL:
I realize that you don’t fully comprehend the subject matter.  To be honest, we both kind of expected that.  Here, look at this phrasing, it’s like poetry.  This is Pulitzer winning material.

Pascal:
I think you missed the forth chapter, right after I defined all of the characters and locations.  See, here in chapter four I clearly layout the path that the entire story will take.

Java:
Loose ends?  No, there aren’t any.  That’s just garbage.  No one will pay attention to that – it just goes away.

RPG:
Do you ask these questions of your younger writers?  I’m too close to retirement to waste my time on things like this.

.NET:
The reader doesn’t need to be burdened with all that storyline.  Here is the story I want to present, and I will keep all this other source material with me.

Assembly:
I know I’m only using one and two syllable words, but I’m not sure the reader can comprehend much more than that at a time.

C++:
Yeah, it all links together.  You just have to make sure you read books from group A before reading books the books from group B.  Other than that, it doesn’t really matter what order you read them in.  Readers will make the appropriate associations.

Web:
I know.  I totally get what you are saying.  I thought it could be done in 13 chapters as well, but when I got into it I found that it needed to be 268 chapters.  Trust me, this is better.  And look, it was written in 42 separate languages.  It’s possible that no one will understand all of it, but they don’t need to.  It will reach millions!

Database:
You see, the appendices and footnotes tell the reader how all the stories are linked together.  This is too big for just the main series, so sometimes you will have to stop reading and jump over to this other novel to get the rest of the details.  This is really the most efficient way.  If you want, I could combine it all into one series, but it won’t be as streamlined.

Mainframe:
The reader doesn’t need to see everything.  This genre has been around for a while and the readers already have some expectations and background knowledge.  They don’t even want to see everything at this point.

Object Oriented:
No, that isn’t a stock character.  He’s derived from a stock character and then reused over and over throughout the series as if he is a stock character.

This may seem like a strange post, so bare with me.  Keep in mind, I am 6’2″ – the same size or shorter than many characters in current fiction.

I just got a new showerhead – one of those with a cord.  It sits in a cradle making it about 7 inches taller than my previous showerhead.  This is the first time since I was 12 that I had a showerhead as tall as I am.  An inch higher and I could stand under it, something I haven’t done since I was 11.  What I realized is that I’m not really used to showering with the water coming out at face level.  Sure, I don’t have to bend or crouch to get the shampoo out of my hair, but I’m use to the water hitting my chest – to having dry eyes unless I go out of my way to alter that.

So why did I bring this up?  Because details like this are missed in a lot of novels and movies.  Height alters a lot of things.  A male hero does some deed and takes a shower, letting the water run across his face to clean the sin away.  That’s got to be a short hero or an uncommonly high showerhead.

These details are missed, a lot.  There are plenty of places where you see accommodations for shorter people (my favorite is the bar in Silverado), but writers seem to forget accommodations for tall people.  I don’t fit on a single or full bed – queen and up for me.  I can’t push the average stroller without bending, same goes for lawn mowers.  I have to bend down to walk into most sheds.  Chandeliers and ceiling fans are always a point of concern, at least until I verify I can or cannot make it under them.  Head rests on recliners often push on my shoulders in a very uncomfortable fashion.  My knees normally push against train, bus, and theater seats.  I couldn’t drive most of the early mini-pickups.  I’m not saying life is bad for me, just a little different than someone who is three inches shorter.

These details (notice the repetition from the above paragraph) can bring a reader into a story when done well, or out of a story when done poorly or ignored.  Height is just one detail.  What about people who are colorblind, suffer through arthritis, are obese, fight (or give into) addictions, have allergies, is missing a limb, lost sight, can’t hear, suffer fears, acts impulsively, has ADHD, and so on?  Do you really know the details that matter?  When creating a character significantly different than yourself, don’t hesitate to find someone similar to your character and observe them, ask questions, and maybe even let them read a scene or two.

Don’t let something as simple as a showerhead ruin the realism you have built.