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authors, bad endings, books, minor details, nitpicking, novels, poor character development, stories, story loopholes, subplots, telling a story, writers, writing
Not too long ago, I was having lunch with some friends when the usual topic of what book we were reading, or movie or TV show we were watching. Since many of us love either one or all of those mediums, we spent a good deal of time talking about them.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
Not surprisingly, this kind of conversation led to complaints on how a book didn’t explain something well, or a movie ended poorly, or a TV show had a subplot that made no sense. As the complaints went on, one of my friends said, “I think the audience is getting smarter. So writers are going to have to step it up and not get lazy.”
That sounds like a challenge. And a daunting task. I once discussed how it is common for writers of all mediums to cut to the chase in order to move storylines along. It makes sense why we do it. But are we being lazy?
If our endings fall flat, then yes, we are being lazy. If a character does something out of left field, then yes, we will have to explain how that person got out of character, so to speak.
But if a minor detail is not fully explained or developed, does that matter? And what if a major part of our plot leads to more questions that turn into a long list of possibilities, did we as authors not think out our plots well? Meaning, what if our plot creates a domino effect and makes someone say, “Hey, if that were to happen, then XYZ would happen. And this would happen. And why would not that happen? And how then would that happen?” – ad infinitum.
I agree that all writers need to take responsibility for everything they write about, but how much is too much when it comes to explaining our stories? Should we worry about minor details that really don’t effect our stories as much as we worry about major details? And how deep should we go when we analyze storyline ideas? I’m sure many of us wouldn’t want our readers to wonder about the storyline possibilities that we didn’t think about. I’d want to analyze the possibilities thoroughly before creating a story, and knowing I missed a minor detail or forgot about the chances of something else happening would be a little embarrassing for me.
But if we were to be extra careful, would we come up with any storylines? I mean, if one thing cannot be done then neither of the other 10 plotlines, or else the domino effect will come up as I mentioned earlier. Maybe just taking a look at one possibility is enough rather than looking at a much wider picture. After all, wouldn’t we writers drive ourselves nuts if we looked at 20 different possibilities?
As for minor details, I think if they really don’t play a role in the plot or character development, then I don’t see the point in getting tangled up in them. Granted, it may be laziness, but it also may be necessary if they are simply meant to be minor details.
Now when it comes to endings, yes it is imperative that we writers get that right. We don’t like it when they’re terrible, so why have our readers feel the same way when they read our work? Same for character development gone awry or subplots not making sense. I’d say this is when the belief that writers should write a story they want to read comes in. We all don’t want a lousy story or maybe even a mediocre one, so why reduce our stories to that level? And if we are the type to nitpick at every little thing, then we should do the same to our work.
But I’m sure if we were to try that, not only would we give ourselves headaches, but we also won’t get anything done.
Besides, I think it is safe to say that every story ever told has some flaws. Look at the negative book reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. There’s always someone who will find something wrong with a book, no matter how many more think it’s excellent. Remember, writing is subjective. Does that mean laziness? No, it just means that there’s no such thing as the perfect book. We writers can try our absolute best, but we will fall short somewhere. That’s just the way it goes.
I don’t like stories in which everything is explained, because they strike me as unrealistic and forced. Real life is messy, there are lots of loose ends and sometimes we wander through the middle of events without ever knowing the beginning or the end.
So that’s how I write. My goal is to create the illusion that the picture is bigger than the frame, and that my characters have lives that begin before the book opens and continue after the book ends.
I do try to resolve what I think of as the main story arc and give the reader some kind of closure, but I don’t think that readers have to have everything spelled out in detail.
I like that big picture aspect. Sometimes minor details are just in the grand scheme of things.
When I studied English literature two of the books we analysed were Anglo Saxon Times and A Tale of Two Cities. You could take those novels apart with forensic detail and they stood up to scrutiny. With Dickens there wasn’t a word out of place (apparently he wrote a page of notes for every page that appeared in print). If you write a novel you have to take the same approach to it in analytical terms. Take it to bits and if anything is not contributing to the story, characterisation and above all, theme, take it out or rewrite it.
If a reader doesn’t like a novel for subjective reasons that can’t be avoided, everyone’s different. But if they don’t like a novel for structural reasons that’s a flaw with the book and something that should have been addressed before it was published. I think authors owe it to themselves, their readers and their novels to make the final draft as watertight as they are capable of making it.
I agree we as authors are responsible for making our books as tight as possible. I’m not saying we should neglect some parts of our stories just because they are minor details or they may lead to an avalanche of ideas. If anything, we should make sure those minor details are meant to be minor and nothing else, though we can’t stop a reader from wanting to know more if they do.
BTW, making notes on each page like Dickens sounds obsessive, but also something totally up my alley.
Depends what you mean by minor detail. If a character has dyed blue hair there’s obviously a reason for them doing that at some point in their life. It can be one of many details that together make up that character’s personality. But then the use of colour can become something more symbolic in the the wider context of the story, and that then gives the minor detail (of the hair colour) a much more significant meaning and done without any need for explanation. It’s there for the reader to discover.
And as for Dickens: well, there wasn’t much else to do in those days really.
I agree. But there’s also a chance that the dyed blue hair is just how the character expresses themselves, along with their clothing style and maybe tattoos or body piercings. It depends on context.
The only thing that really drives me nuts is an incomplete subplot that fades away and is never tied to the main plot line or resolved.
Yep! That’s like the author realizes the subplot doesn’t work and walks away from it, thinking no one else would notice it. But plenty do!
One thing I really latched onto here was, “…every story told has some flaws.” So very true, mostly because the folks telling them do, too. We all have biases and perspectives that are only ours, and that bleeds into our writing. (If it doesn’t, I might argue you’re not getting “cozy” enough with your work. 🙂 And the readers will bring a whole mess of their own.
Writing is a craft, like being a carpenter. Ask any carpenter if they’ve ever created a perfect project and they’ll tell you no. (If they don’t, they’re lying. LOL) The material/wood they work with is imperfect, they’re tools are only precise to a degree, the environment they’re working in is usually flawed (not a completely square room in existence)–writing is much, much the same way.
Words are imperfect things (they rarely impact us all in a similar way–which is why we work so damned hard to find exactly the right one), characters had better be flawed, and so on.
The point of craft is to work toward perfection even when you know there’s no such thing. Eventually, you get really good at hiding your flaws, so the average person won’t see them. But they’re still there.
Great post lady! Great to “see” you, and hope you’re well! 🙂
EJ
Hey EJ!
That is exactly my point. We writers can’t create the perfect story and there will always be flaws somewhere in there. But we can still strive to do our absolute best, and hopefully, in the process, hide our flaws as you say. Now certainly, there will always be someone who will nitpick at everything because that’s how they are, but hey, let it be. Just do your best and have fun while at it.
Great to “see” you too! Life is good and hope yours is too!