Mar
Neat and Tidy, or Loose Ends?
Here’s a question I got via email last week:
Q: If you know that your series is ending, would you write the final conclusion to the series (with a wedding or moving away, etc) or would you let the future be up to the reader’s imagination?
A: For me, I’d want to wrap things up if I knew it was ending. People follow a series and become attached to characters along the way. They’ve trusted me to tell their story through each book, the last one shouldn’t be an exception. I think I’d always feel as if there was unfinished business if I left things dangling at the end.
That said, one of my favorite things about writing short stories many moons ago was the ending that left readers guessing… Does she die? How does he react to the news? Was the bad guy really who we thought it was?
So there you have it, my two cents on the matter. Now what about you? Which would you prefer?
~Elizabeth
March 18th, 2010 at 6:49 am
I like to see things wrapped up. I want my characters to be happy. I do think that sometimes the wrap up comes too soon. Think Moonlighting. I wanted them to be together, but I didn’t want to watch the show afterwards.
March 18th, 2010 at 8:18 am
Interesting comment, Lynn. Makes sense. I guess knowing where the reader’s passion is with the series…is it the love interest, etc would be the thing to not give up too early yet to not let disappear at the end either.
March 18th, 2010 at 8:19 am
I prefer things to be wrapped up, especially if the author knows that the series will be over.
I’ve read many series when the publisher decided to end the series before the author even had a chance to end the series.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
Dru, I always thinks it’s sad for the readers AND the writers when they don’t get to say goodbye (a known goodbye) to the characters they’ve followed for years.