Unhappy Endings

Blink quick and you'll miss it. The End.
I'm not sure whether it's a reduction in attention span or a general trend towards sloppy writing but, based on the numerous books I’ve read recently and what I've observed on the idiot's lantern (TV in case you wondered) that adorns our wall, abrupt endings are definitely in vogue. More’s the pity.

But why do we accept them?


It's not a race!

A typical book will take at least 10 hours to read - probably more; a film, 90 minutes to 2 hours to watch. The storyline is usually:

• Part 1 - grab the attention with something dramatic
• Part 2 - introduce the characters and the situation
• Part 3 - stuff happens
• Part 4 - more stuff happens that changes or resolves Part 3
• Part 5 - the end

In many cases, it almost seems like the author has invested so much time and effort in their work that there's no energy left to inject into the ending. Your current account at The Bank of Inspiration has gone into the red.

The French, bless their little cotton socks, even have a word for the resolution of a story - the dénouement. The official definition of dénouement is the final revelation of the intricacies of the plot - note the words 'intricacies'. This is no 'and they all lived happily ever after' ending, a book must flow like a river from its furthermost spring to its marine estuary and, while there may be the odd waterfall near the source, they just don't belong in the river's lower reaches.

If you reflect on the literary classics, you'll find that endings were not rushed - look at Bronte and Hardy; they didn't just stop on a sixpence. Perhaps it was because books were relatively expensive in those days or perhaps the advent of the computer game and the need for a quick resolution has taken over. Whatever the reason, the abrupt and premature ending of a book gives rise to a poor reader experience and that diminishes the probability that you'll get repeat business for your next title.

Before you type those final two words 'The End' or put your 3 asterisks in the center of the page, just stop and ask yourself if the ending has:

• Received as much care and attention as the rest of the book
• Arisen plausibly and with total continuity of style
• Included all the dialogue (often truncated, I've found) and actions necessary to achieve whatever resolution you've decided upon
• Followed all of the characters to their natural termination points
• Maintained integrity with the rest of the book

I can't give you an all-situations solution but I would urge you to carefully analyse the proportion of your book which you've set aside for your tale’s conclusion. Everyone has their own writing style but I'd suggest that hurried endings and 'linear writing' (that's where the ending is the final thing that you write) have a high level of incidence. With that in mind, write the last section of your book, put it aside for a month or so and then re-read it from cover to cover. Does it seem like the last chapter or so was bolted on a bit like Frankenstein's head? If that’s what it’s like you need to consider very carefully how all of your characters have progressed from the main storyline to the closing paragraph and then undertake some very delicate literary surgery to join the sections together.

Anything less just can't be called a happy ending.

About the author

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How to Boost Your Book Sales

I don't know about you but I like transparency in my business transactions. It's normally something you can insist on - either because it's your statutory right (in the case of public utilities for example) or through the simple act of 'taking the ball away'. For example, how many of you would think of buying some expensive item from a delicatessen counter where the weight of the item wasn't at least visible to you - never mind printed out for you to check on your own scales?

We’d quibble over some relative small-change yet we’re prepared to put our books up with the big distribution companies and hope that they'll be straight with us about how many copies have actually been sold and that our book’s ranking and those of other books in our book’s genre, are fairly calculated and applied. That's a lot of trust to be placing in anyone.

It reminds me of something my old boss used to joke about more lifetimes ago than I like to reflect on: "Open your wallet and repeat after me". He'd say that when he was suggesting someone could be patsied, that they were a soft touch and that they wouldn't ask pertinent questions for fear of being rude.

I'm not casting aspersions on anyone, merely remarking at how trustful we've suddenly become – I hope that trust is justified.

With Mary Ann's blessing, I'm now going to propose something which I hope every author reading this will find relevant and of interest. It won't cost you a bean, there's nothing to buy (anyway) and there are no restrictions attached. In other words, I’m not about to launch into one of those awful, intellect-insulting exercises in thinly-garbed hard-sell.

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Thus, a book selling for $3.00 would accrue $2.10 in royalties from Amazon so we would pay you $2.10 for every book sold through us and a $1.50 book would accrue $0.525 per book in royalties - again exactly what we would pay you.

Using our service to sell your books means extra exposure, more customers (not everyone uses Kindle) and the ability to send customers straight to a sales link using 3 URL's we'd supply you with (one for each format).

Since you don't pay us for setting it up and you get paid exactly the same per sale (although we pay quicker than the big companies), there's absolutely zero to lose and everything to gain. There are no catches, no small print, no nasties. We do ask that you're with us for 6 months (to give us a fair crack at getting our setting up costs back) but that's about it.

This is a win-win situation and one which we hope you'll take full advantage of. For more information, please visit www.anysubject.com/sell