Comments on: Writing 101 – Beg. Mid. End.

By: Victor

Victor — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:06:35 +0000

No sugar-coating here. A novel with no proper ending just doesn’t cut it. A book in a series should still stand alone as a complete work of fiction complete with resolution at the end. Absolutely. Anything less is cheating the reader. If an author did that to me, they’d only do it once.

By: Wanda

Wanda — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:02:53 +0000

Joelle, I agree. Even if a book is intended as part of a series, it should end with nearly all the loose ends tied up, or at least give the reader the deep satisfaction that we all crave in a book. And, like Kim, I would like to know more of your thoughts on this.

By: Kim Thacker

Kim Thacker — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:25:56 +0000

One more thing. Joelle, what about a book that has an ending the reader doesn’t expect, still resolving, but in a surprising way? What are your thoughts?

By: Kim Thacker

Kim Thacker — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:22:03 +0000

I just finished a popular new fantasy novel (adult fiction) that was 700+ pages long. It was SO well written that I was certain I’d be very pleased with the ending. But then page 500 crept up and I thought, “Wow, this is a lot to resolve….I hope this book has an ‘end’.” Well, 200 pages later, it didn’t. It is the first book in a series, and I loved the writing and the story, but I was so annoyed that it didn’t end! Or resolve at all! It was like someone took a 1400 page novel and chopped it in half. I can handle books that are about 200 pages long and are part of a series where each book “ends” this way, but I felt totally gypped by the author. I mean, I INVESTED myself in this book. I don’t think I’ll read another super long novel without finding out if it’s supposed to be a part of a series or not. I agree that every book, no matter the length or whether it’ll be in a series or not ought to have a beginning, middle, and end. I can tolerate shorter books that don’t quite accomplish the ending, leaving a cliffhanger, but I cannot handle such a long book not accomplishing it. Speaking of long…I’ll sign off now.