Trouble at the End

I have a problem.  I'm nearing the end of the first draft of my novel, but I'm not exactly sure how to end it. 

My story has become a trilogy in my head, which complicates my writing a bit.  I have an outline of the high points of each book, but I have to find the happy balance between keeping the first book as a stand-alone novel so that it will actually be publishable, and making sure that the second book is appropriately set up to continue the story without becoming boring filler as so many second-in-a-trilogy books tend to be.

So this brings up a good question: what makes a satisfying and complete ending?  When you, the author, know that there will be more than one book and know what's going to happen next, how do you keep the story self-contained, while still leaving the right number of loose-ends to bring people back for the next installment?

One of my first posts was about the book Ariel, by Steve Boyett.  I hated the ending of that novel.  Now, I don't know if he originally intended it to be a multi-book series (a sequel was published just last year, though the original was published in 1983), but regardless, the ending was dissatisfying and now I have no desire to read the sequel.  I want to avoid that if at all possible with my own readers.

I also recently read the first two books in a trilogy by Celine Kiernan, and I thought the ending of her first book was wonderful, but I'm pretty sure she sold the books as a trilogy, so the ending of the first book is left wide-open.  The heroine is literally walking down a road, beginning a new adventure as she searches for the truth.  Unfortunately, I can't really bank on the fact that I can sell all three of my books in one go.  From what I understand, as a debut author, it's often easier to sell the first one, see how it does, and then sell the remaining two books.  I need the ending of my first book to be a little more conclusive, a little more definite, with just a hint that there could be more to come, in case it ends up being the only one that gets published (sad, but possible).

There are people that will argue that writing is an art and I therefore shouldn't be concerned about the market or whether the books will be published.  They will say that I should focus on achieving my own vision, not appeasing "the man".  They're right to an extent.  I should be focusing on the story, and I should be working toward the vision in my head.  I need to make the book as good as it can be before I worry about the business end of things.  That's all true.  However, those of you who know me, know that I'm too darn practical for that.  I was a business major after all.

Writing is a business, whether you like it or not, and I want my books to be published.  Yes, I'm working hard to make my novel the best that it can be.  Yes, I am striving to achieve the vision in my head and tell a fantastic story.  But I want people, beyond my immediate friends and family, to have the opportunity to enjoy that story, and the only way to do that is to get it published.  I'm not cutting corners, I'm not pandering to the market, I'm simply trying to consider the business angle while I polish and progress.

Which brings me back to the original point: how am I supposed to end this thing?  I suppose I'll figure it out eventually.  I'm going to have to.  I just have to keep writing, polishing, and perfecting.  It'll get there.  I promise.  Seriously.

The end

First of all - I have to apologize for taking so long to post.  I was trying for a two-post-a-week regimen, but work, as in that thing I get paid to do, has taken over my life!  Well, that and I went to Napa for my 3rd Anniversary over Memorial Day weekend (pics up on Facebook for my Facebook friends). 

I have not fallen off the planet and I have not abandoned my blog.  Promise.

On to bigger and better discussion topics.

Today I'd like to talk about endings.  In particular, bad endings.

I just finished reading a book that I had read somewhere was a classic contemporary fantasy novel.  The premise sounded interesting, if a little odd, and it was cheap on the Amazon Kindle.  So I bought it.  The book is called "Ariel" and was written by Steve Boyett, published in 1983.

The novel is set on Earth after a cataclysmic change; a change that altered the laws of physics and brought magic to the world, including mythical creatures like unicorns and griffins.  Technology no longer works,  not even bicycles (which I thought was a little weird considering bicycles are powered by human movement, not any kind of fuel combustion, but supposedly no modern technology could function under the new laws of physics.  Bows and arrows were fine.  Gravity functions as you would expect it to.  Just nothing with a gear or engine I guess.  Anyway...)

The story follows a sixteen year old boy named Pete who's caught at school at the time of the change.  He walks the several miles home to find his house being invaded by a policeman-turned-thug (in less than 24 hours mind you), his friend is raped and killed, he's beat up and left for dead, but survives by the skin of his teeth or some other miracle.  So life on Earth is turned upside down.  A few years later he is bathing in a lake when a unicorn walks out of the bushes.  The unicorn can talk.  Her name is Ariel.  They become friends and go-a-wandering.

All right, there's the set-up.  Why did I choose this book, you ask?  I thought it might be educational.  It's considered by some to be a classic.  So I read it.  It took me awhile to make it all the way through, but I did.  I regret it.

Unfortunately, the story ended on a sour note, at least for me.  A lot of the primary supporting characters end up dead, Ariel runs away from Pete despite the fact that he's just saved her from an evil sorcerer who wants her horn, Pete (who's 21 at this point) runs after her but is seduced by a woman who knows that if he has sex he won't be able to touch Ariel ever again (unicorns can only be touched by someone who is "pure".)  So the story ends with Ariel crying and leaving forever, Pete angry with himself and depressed at losing his "familiar", and the woman who took his virginity living with him even though he mostly ignores and mistreats her.

The ending to this novel has haunted me since I finished it almost a week ago.  For whatever reason, I just can't let it go.  Someone should have been happy at the end.  I understand that it's a coming of age tale and Pete had to have sex at some point, so there was going to come a time when he couldn't stay with Ariel anymore, but did have to end with everyone depressed?  What's the point of becoming an adult if there's nothing to look forward to?  Why does taking on responsibility have to mean that you lose what you love?  It left a bad taste in my mouth.

So what's the lesson here?  People in your story can die.  Sometimes they should die.  Bad things can happen, and your hero doesn't have to be (probably shouldn't be) perfect with everything turning out all right.  But the story can't end on a down note.  There has to be hope.  There has to be love or loyalty or some other redeeming quality.  There has to be something to look forward to.  Without any of those elements, who's going to want to read the sequel?


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Current word count on the novel: 35,024