Happy Endings...Not So Happy?

Have you ever read a book that ended TOO happily?

Too many characters survived? Too many relationships ended in hugs and handshakes? Too many catastrophes were easily averted?

I recently finished reading a book whose final five pages neatly did the following:

• Resolved the love triangle as the protagonist chooses between the two men she's been flip-flopping between for the last three books. The one she doesn't choose is fine with it, just like that.
• The guy she doesn't choose is immediately asked out on a date by a secondary character. The implication is that they'll live happily ever after.
• Four or five characters show up randomly (truly, out of nowhere) like "Hey, we're alive!" Despite the fact that there were numerous overwhelming obstacles in their way. This is not really explained.
• The warring parties (think hundreds, thousands of people) are gonna be just hunky-dory. Forget the angst of the past. Let's sing "Kumbaya" and roast marshmallows everybody.

I couldn't handle it. It was such a neat little ribbon, so condensed and sudden, that I simply could not suspend my disbelief. Maybe if these events had happened earlier, sort of scattered throughout. But no. The last five pages.

It's just unrealistic. I'm all for the hero winning at the end, but there needs to be balance in the force (as it were). This book was part of a trilogy that spent three books building up these insurmountable odds. The payoff of a five page, happy-go-lucky wrap up was so unfulfilling.


When you write, you are making promises to your reader all through your work. When you introduce your protagonist to the drop-dead gorgeous boy, you're promising that something is going to happen there. It doesn't have to be a GOOD thing! She could find out he's a total jerk or that he's an alien or that he's a figment of her imagination, but the promise is made that drop-dead gorgeous is going to play a role. When you set up cataclysmic events to thwart your hero, you're promising that IF your hero is going to win, it's going to be in an even more epic way, not by some simple shoulder shrug.

It's all about keeping your promises.

I know I struggle with endings in my own writing. I tend to stop too early and leave readers feeling unfulfilled (sorry!) so I almost always have to go back to my endings and take my time with them.

What books have you read that made good on their promises? What books had superb endings that are worth waiting for (without giving them away, of course)? Any advice for writing awesome endings?

Quick Tip: Editing #1: Text-to-Voice

Have a text-to-voice program read your work aloud to you. You'll catch things you missed the first time through, or even reading aloud on your own (which is also recommended). The voice will sound strange and electronic at first, but I promise that as you listen, it becomes far less noticeable. Or maybe the machines are learning...

Personally, as an added bonus, I am able listen to my work while I'm AT work this way. I don't do any serious editing there of course, but it helps me stay connected with my story and listen for plot holes along the way. It's also useful as I occasionally hear events that I foreshadowed early on in the book but never actually wrote in later.

3 Steps to Overlording Your Plot Forward

Writing is a lot like being an evil overlord. Your readers are your subjects and you have control over them - you control their emotions, their bedtimes, and their day dreams. You create new crushes and new frenemies for them. So. Much. Power.

Here's the great part about this: you can use your readers to help you BEFORE THEY EVEN EXIST.

Whaaaat?!

That's right. While you are still in the process of writing, you can channel your readers to help drive the plot forward. How? It's as easy as 1-2-3!

1. Know who your readers are. Are you writing for children or adults? Men or women? Adventurers or homebodies? (Caveat: people who are not your "intended audience" will read and love your book. I don't think there are books out there that are exclusively for one group of people and that no one else could enjoy. That is not where we're going here. But having an idea of the target audience is going to help you, not only during your writing time but also when it comes time to query that sucker.)

2. Answer this question: What do my readers want to see next/see more of? Do they want a confrontation between your protagonist and antagonist? Do they want your MC and her crush to end up with some unexected alone time? Do they want to learn more about the diabolical workings of the King? Once you know what your readers want...

3. Give it to them. Or don't. This is the part where you get to play evil overlord (mwa-ha-ha!). Your minions have made their requests and, like God, you can respond in one of three ways: Yes, No, and Wait.

        A. Give them the Yes. You want your readers to enjoy this, afterall. You want them to get their wish of crush-ey alone time. Give it to them...sometimes.

        B. Give them the No. Have you ever wanted to throw a book through the window out of frustration or cried when a favorite character died? Sometimes aswering with "No" is the best way to evoke personal response from your readers and get them truly invested. Afterall, in a world of "yeses," where would the story be?

        C. Tell them to Wait. Your MC is going to end up with Crushey-Mc-Crusherson. But not now. This is where you get to build suspense and tension, and your plot will grow for it.

So there it is, Friends. Three easy steps to Overlord your plot forward. If you're ever stuck, try using this process. Better yet? Keep a list of things you think your readers want and plan out what their answers will be (Yes, No, or Wait). You might get some new devilish plot ideas while you're at it!

Happy writing!

Currently Reading: Enders by Lissa Price
Currently Listening To: Alias Soundtrack, Season 1

Permission for Blank Space in Your Writing

We've all done it. You're writing along, happy as a lark, when suddenly you hit a detail that brings you to a shrieking halt. It could be anything - I need the name of a small city in Italy! I need to know how to escape handcuffs! I need to know who the Prime Minister was in 1963! - and all of a sudden instead of writing, you are sucked into the vortex that is Google.

Don't do it!

I know, it's tempting. I know, "it will only take two minutes," but if you are on a roll, keep writing. Because if you stop to find the name of that charming Italian city, you will never get back to the great scene you've cooked up to happen there. Write the scene, then go back and add in the details.

I recognize that there are some plot points you MUST research before you can write. That's okay. Research. Research your little heart out. Not only is it something you can do, it is something you should do. But research on research time.

The last few chapters of the most recent book I finished was rife with sentences along these lines...
After MC arrived in TOWN, X miles North(?) of where she had been, she realized she had even further to go. But the taxi ride onward would cost at least XX dollars(? find currency of this country?) and she had only XX in her pocket after the last trip.

No, that is not a REAL sentence from what I was writing (Yikes. No.). But you get the idea. Sure, I could have taken the time to find the town, the distances, the monetary amounts, but I could easily continue writing without those details, so that's what I did. The details can be filled in later during times you have set aside for editing or researching, but not during the time you are trying to write.

Give yourself permission to leave blanks and question marks. I promise, once you finish that first draft, going in to fix them is a piece of cake. (Not to mention a wonderful way to make you feel like you're taking leaps and bounds in the editing process. Always a win.)

Writing Advice: Writing Through (or Around) Sticky Situations

When writing, I feel like the first three-quarters of my job is just setting up a situation to be as sticky as possible. The last quarter is getting the situation unstuck in a satisfying way.

While working my most recent project, I hit a spot in the story where I got stuck. Stopped in my tracks, nowhere to turn, back against the wall, stuck. And I stayed stuck for literally years. I loved my story, I knew my characters were where they needed to be, but I had no idea how they were going to get out of their sticky situation.

Finally, out of pure frustration, I started writing around my problem. I had my characters go do other, unrelated things. I let them talk about the problem with each other. I let them get as frustrated as I was.

I knew that the majority these scenes wouldn't make it into the final cut (though a few snippets sneaked their way in). I was clearly wasting time and clearly ignoring the looming plot problem, but it felt good to be writing and it felt good to give my characters room to roam. Then, one day, BAM. Of course. Problem solved.

I knew who was going to live and die, I knew how, and I knew what had to happen to get out of the sticky situation. Writing that last bit came very easily after that.

So, that is one bit of writerly advice for getting unstuck and (perhaps) beating writer's block (which, by the way, are two different things). It worked for me, so maybe it will work for you!

What do you do when you get stuck or have a seemingly unsolvable problem in your writing?