Wednesday, April 13, 2011

When Good Writers Go Bad

Think of a book.
Any book.
Maybe it's your favorite book.
Think of the characters
the plot
the ending.
It's perfect, isn't it?

But now imagine the exact same book

with a different ending.

A BAD ending.

Doesn't it just make you want to EXPLODE?!


This week's Why Wednesday is about books with bad endings. One of my pet peeves is when a book I'm reading has a bad ending. The rest of the plot works out just fine, so do the characters, etc. But the ending SUCKS. When this happens, I have a tendency to throw the book on the floor in frustration.



These are all books I've read lately that have left me wondering "Why?"

Why?

WHY?!

Jodi Piccoult's Handle with Care, Gregory Maguire's Mirror Mirror and another book of his, Lost.

The ending for Handle with Care was significantly more frustrating than the others, for reasons I won't reveal, in case you want to read it. The plot, the characters and their relationships were extremely compelling. I was emotionally invested in this book. That's why the horrible ending was all the more devastating. I threw this book on the ground when I finished.

Mirror Mirror and Lost however, are a different story. The books themselves were just okay. They were books to pass the time. And then on top if it, both of the books sort of have "non endings." The stories just kind of fade into oblivion. You don't even care what happens afterward. And worse? You don't even care that it was a bad ending. It was so bad, you don't even care.

And on a different note....



I had to do it. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

(I'm going to talk in specifics about the ending. If you haven't read it yet or seen the movies, you've been living under a rock.)

Cedric Diggory.
He's handsome
friendly
outgoing
PERFECT.

And J.K. Rowling kills him off.
He dies.
He dies?
HE DIES!

While we're on the subject of Harry Potter let me just say....

Sirius Black
Dumbledore
Lupin
Tonks
Fred


(As a side note, let me clarify that I LOVE the Harry Potter series.
While the things I listed above definitely made me say "Why?" at the time,
I think the overall finished product was excellent.)

But that's beside the point. Kind of.

My point IS...

If you're going to write a book....

MAKE SURE YOU CAN WRITE A GOOD ENDING.

Or else people will throw your books on the floor.

2 comments:

  1. If I ever publish anything I'll run it by you first to make sure the ending is good. :)

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  2. This is one of my favorite blogs EVER.

    ReplyDelete