Are alternative endings the way forward? I think not.
On Thursday, the Independent posted an article titled “Did they all live happily ever after? That’s up to you…” where Dalya Alberge reported what Newcastle-born author Caroline Smailes came up with. After receiving one too many opinions on how her books should end, she decided to go “book game” on her readers by allowing them to choose different endings.
Now, this looks a bit like 3D. How? Both 3D technology and book games were invented respectively in the 1980s and 1990s with an initial interest by the public that soon faded away. Both ideas returned in our current times as highly developed answers as to what future can bring into our lives. To the point that HD and 3D technologies are now implemented in many television sets. What about book games? I remember my cousin buying books which allowed the reader to skip from one chapter to another depending on what you wanted the characters to go and how you wanted the plot to develop. I was sceptic back then, I am sceptic now.
Surely the invention of e-readers allows the choice for alternative endings in a much more structured way. One won’t have to skip from one page to another but just click on the desired path.
Why? Because I think the reader HAS TO trust the author. Who is the reader to know what’s best for the characters and the book’s plot? After all, it’s not the reader the one who came up with the characters’ profile, background history and all the details that make the book one single piece of art. Because that is what it is, a single piece of art (stress on the word single): it’s unique, one, unos! As a writer, when I develop the plot and the characters, to me they are real and I could never publish a book with different endings. I might be allowed to change my mind in the writing process, but once it’s published, that’s it. I must be sure the ending is one and the readers find out as they read. How is a plot believable if you leave it open for readers to choose? This might sound as an old-fashioned perspective on things, but there is no way that this is the way forward for books and e-books alike!
5 Comments on “Are alternative endings the way forward? I think not.”
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Honestly, whatever happened to the good old paperback copies of Huckleberry Finn and the Great Gatsby? What’s wrong with one, memorable, brilliant ending? I’m quite sad to be growing up in a culture that’s quickly abandoning the tangible, sensory beauty that is actual books with actual endings.
I recently wrote about how much I dislike 3D, and – likewise – I disapprove of this alternative ending trend. Like you say, the writer is the one who is in charge of the world we have in our hands. Then who are we to decide what’s going to happen in it?
Now, if we could do this in real life, that would be cool. We could just say, ‘hey, I didn’t like that ending of grandpa dying, let’s rewind and take a different road there’. But we can’t do that, and I have a hard time accepting it in literature as well. It feels fake, for some reason.
You’re both absolutely right and I agree! The Dandy Lion, I am also saddened by our society in the way books are treated, but it’s up to us and to new generations to highlight the beauty of books and e-books. I’m thinking it’s a contemporary trend led by the excitement of the release of e-books but it will eventually settle and both books and e-books will live happily next to one another!!!
To Maudlin, it’s absolutely what I thought too! Today’s society is somewhat addicted to controlling everything and I’m sure frustration/depression is often the result of people’s addiction to modern day technology. We cannot “go back” or “undo” a real life event. And the more humans try to live their life as if they’re in charge of it like a video game, the more frustration is bound to grow!
Thanks for both of your comments!
I don’t think I have ever come across a book with alternate endings… only in movies (which doesn’t really fit there either).
But I agree fully with your thoughts. The book is one story, imagined by one person, and in my opinion, having alternate endings might just be another way to create an audience.
And on another thought, if there were alternate endings to every story – there wouldn’t be a need for critical thinking of review, hence you could always make a book your absolute favorite with the best ending “ever”…
// Spontaneous thoughts from a humble reader
Exactly! I completely agree with your comment