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Endings are difficult and you need to be careful about being predictable. You also need to creature closure and not draw it out for too long. After years, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to end Legends of Windemere. One thing I did decide on is that there was going to be a few twists and turns heading into the grand battle. Yet, I’m not going to do the whole ‘fake ending’ trick because that’s just cruel after 15 books.
Many of the twists will revolve around the fates of the characters and how the battle will be going back and forth. I’ve said a few times that nobody is getting out of this intact. It could be a physical reminder or a mental one, but you can only find out when the book comes out. Seriously though, I think throwing a small curve in the ending isn’t a bad thing. People do love small surprises and action adventures like what I write have a dependence on a ‘wow’ factor. It shouldn’t come before good storytelling, but you can have the two work together. Much of it depends on setting things up in previous volumes to make sure the ending works.
To be honest, I tried my best to set up for the twists while not making them obvious. A few hints that things weren’t what they seem and an allusion to the Baron having some influence over the champion prophecy. The specifics weren’t designed until I did the final outline for the finale earlier this year. Even then, I changed some things around when I was doing the writing. It’s nerve-rattling to do this because you don’t get a second chance at an ending. Previous plot twist mistakes can be explained or undone down the road in a volume with some creative writing. In the last volume, you’re setting everything in stone and every twist has a risk. Fingers crossed that I pull it off.
So, what do you look for in an ending twist?
Legends of Windemere 
I really like it when the ending isn’t quite what I expected. All the clues were there, but they led me in another direction, then “wham” something a bit different. If you’re really brave, you could end with a big musical number.
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Are musical numbers possible in books? That and Guardians of the Galaxy already did that. Anyway, I found clues to be tough here. Spent more time trying to leave various options open for each character. They all have a dream for if they survive, which I hope makes the deaths a surprise.
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That seems right though. In fantasy, you can have a character who knows it’s coming, but beyond that they would make plans and have dreams.
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I’m never sure how to do anything with precognition. Seems to make things messy unless you go the Casandra route. Think that was the one who could see the future, but was never believed.
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It would be rough, because they would know the outcome ahead of time. Other heroes would want insight, and even readers would want to know some things. Best to have them as a side event if at all.
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Or limit the ability. I read a manga where a character had an eye with the ability. It only gave them visions of a minute into the future at most. They were also really weak soon after using it.
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Another cool thought. The Stygian Witches were a long and dangerous journey away, and they wanted to eat their visitors.
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For some reason, I always got them mixed up with The Fates. Did they show up beyond Perseus’s story?
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They might have, but that’s where I remember them.
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Same here.
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I like to be surprised ~ awestruck but not disappointed. My mind often betrays me, because it’s very good at anticipating the ending. A twist that comes out of nowhere but is truly believable is a thrill. All thought forms are measurable energy. Dream energy might be strong enough to thrust your characters into an alternate reality or another dimension, leaving their (dead) bodies here but catapulting their spirits into a new adventure ~ an adventure left to the imagination of the reader 🙂
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I can see that work in a magical world. My only worry would be people expecting the characters to get a new book. Part of what I’m trying is to give some closure. I found that I prefer stories that have definitive ends because I fear my characters going until they’re no longer interesting. Read a lot of books that fell to this problem.
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As a reader, I wouldn’t expect more books if it was made clear that the new adventure was to be of my making. “The fabric of their new world is to be woven by you, dear reader. Imagine . . . and create!” 🙂
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Guess I just see too many people refusing to accept a series is done. That seems to be more common these days than when I was younger. Then again, I can think of a lot of series that never ends like Law & Order and James Bond. Not to mention all American comics.
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You could invite readers to take up the torch and continue the saga 🙂
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I don’t know. Inviting others to take the reins of my world or even the characters doesn’t sit well with me.
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You’ll figure it out, Charles 🙂
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I try to make twists have at least two directions. I can then pick the direction given the storyline. my hope is the twist is both unexpected and believable since I laid in enough information for the reader to accept they have been legitimately had.
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Sounds like a smart tactic and goal. Surprise and believability seem to be key from what I’m hearing.
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I think so. It is easy to spring a surprise out of the blue but the readers will feel cheated because the author didn’t give them a chance to figure it out. The story will have a fake ring to it.
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True. Though shock deaths are still a big thing now. I think that’s the one arena where you can’t easily foreshadow without risking a big spoiler.
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True as well.
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I don’t mind a twist if the author did the work of foreshadowing the possibility of a different outcome. I don’t like twists done just for shock value. Many of those seem empty.
I recall a trilogy where the author led the readers to believe that a certain outcome was going to happen. But in the last book, she threw a curve ball. There was never any indication that the ending might veer in a different direction. Many readers were outraged. Granted an author can do what he or she wants in his/her series. But no one likes a bait and switch.
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Foreshadowing is tough when it comes to a character living or dying. I think it requires leaving both doors open in this case. Not sure if deaths in battle count as shock though.
I’ve heard of various series like that. Do you remember which one it was?
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You could put an epilogue, as Rowling did with the Harry Potter books, where some years later Harry took his kid to Platform 9-3/4 and reflected that his scar hadn’t hurt once in all that time. Tells you what you need to know about the character’s life going on in a satisfying way.
If you’ve ever got to the end of a Bioware game, they have a series of codas relating the outcome of the braided plotlines. Some are more bittersweet.
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There will be an epilogue that takes place a few years later. Though, I put it more as a final chapter section instead of its own thing. Honestly, I’m more concerned with the outcome of the battle.
Never played much of the Bioware games. Still on a PS2, so I’m very far behind in that world.
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Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio.
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Thanks for the reblog
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You’re welcome.
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