Failed Endings

[novella]

I want to discuss with anyone--from readers' and writers' perspectives--failed endings of novels.

IMO, most novels' endings don't live up to their beginnings and middles. It seems to me to the the essential challenge of writing a really good novel: how to write a really interesting, tense, meaningful ending.

Any of the following can be a serious problem:

--implausibility, e.g., a character acts completely differently, the plot relies on too many coincidences, etc.

--resolution too obvious. This would be the simplest, most direct, lamest plot resolution, guessable from the beginning. Sometimes, like in a love story, this is okay, but only if the writing is artful.

--resolution unrelated to the clues/characters that were laid out

--pace and style of the writing becomes incongruous. This is a HUGE problem with many books I've read recently. Like the author just can't wait to end the book and rushes the writing, just to finish.

--author introduces too much new information at the end

--major conflicts/quandaries are unresolved

--key characters disappear from the narrative without explanation. This is just laziness most of the time, and can be okay, as long as the end still resolves most threads.

I haven't read a book with a great ending in a long time.

 

[Wabbit]

I think that it's difficult to end a novel. After all, it's intrinsically an anticlimax. You are right, so many novels start well, but then they end so badly.

The worst ending that I ever read was with the "Night Dawn Trilogy" around 5000 pages just for it to be wrapped up in a slim chapter with a simplistic deux ex machina!

 

[bookclubnazi]

"the polished hoe" by austin clarke

it took 500 pages (very long, meandering, and boring pages) to get to an ending that made me say, "well, duh." and i never can see an ending coming, even if it is completely obvious. that was a very disappointing book all around, and the ending made it worse.

edit: typo

 

[novella]

I always ask myself when I come to a disappointing, unsatisfying ending, Well what was I expecting? What would I have done?

Part of the problem is that in real life stories don't have endings. And in fiction, to a certain extent we want characters that behave believably and are true to their development, which makes it difficult to force them into resolutions.

I like endings that have an element of revelation.

 

[namedujour]

A Shortcut in Time, by Charles Dickinson had a terrible ending. It's a time travel book about a guy who goes back in time, returns to the future and discovers that everything has changed - then the book ends!! The author had this great opportunity to explore and develop the protagonist's reaction and adjustment to the alternate future (like Back to the Future), but instead, he just ends the book. He doesn't even explain how his daughter still exists when the altered future would make her birth impossible.

 

[bookclubnazi]

"a scientific romance" -- another very disappointing ending. spoiler: it was basically a "was it a dream?" ending. it was either real, or a illusion/delusion brought by BSE (mad cow disease). i hate endings like that-- they seem like such a cop-out. the author in those cases must be unwilling to take a stand, to either say, "yes, i'm saying this happened, i stand by it" or to say, "no, this didn't happen, and i think the story is good enough so that you won't feel tricked or ripped off."
incidentally, and i feel like a stupid newbie for asking, but i can't figure out how to hide spoiler text in black. can someone explain, using small words if possible?

 

[Ell]

incidentally, and i feel like a stupid newbie for asking, but i can't figure out how to hide spoiler text in black. can someone explain, using small words if possible?

Enclose the text you want hidden with spoiler tags like this [spoiler ]your text would go here [/spoiler ] without the spaces.

For a failed ending, I'd say "Pattern Recognition" by William Gibson. I really liked this book except for the ending. Everything wrapped up in a way that was totally implausible for the main character and one of the important characters earlier in the book was dispatched with a couple of sentences along the lines of "I guess he went home". Aaargh!

 

[bookclubnazi]

sweeeeet... thanks so much!!

 

[Ashlea]

I know it's a movie and not a book (maybe it was a book first? I don't know) but I hated the ending of The Piano. If the movie had ended with

Spoiler

the main character drowning herself

it would've made sense to me, instead of the tacked-on change of direction.

 

[phil_t]

Catcher in the Rye

It just kinda tailed off into nothing, made me wonder why i bothered really - I enjoyed the way he writes but the whole book was totally directionless, much like the main character.

Phil

 

[Bountyhunter]

I'm a writer (or trying ) and I know how hard it is to end a short story, novel, or whatever. It's pretty difficult, especially when you're eager to move onto something else.

Prey by Michael Crichton was ended just the way I would probably would've ended, but I still think a lot of things went unanswered.

Spoiler

This thing is awesome!

 

[Chuchincakes]

The Rule Of Four...it wasn't a good book to begin with but I dragged myself through it thinking that the ending might be worth it. IT WASN'T.