Is it EVER advisable to include an alternate ending?

[rowriter]

Is it ever advisable to include an "Alternate Ending" in a short story submission to a magazine/journal? I like one ending better but, what if the editor might prefer the other?

[maestrowork]

I would think not. If you can't even decide which ending you want, don't ask the editor to decide for you...

That's my two bits worth.

[rowriter]

Thanks, maestro - that's kinda what I figured, but I thought it was worth a post to see if anyone had done this and had a positive outcome.

[stormie]

Put the ms. aside, then in a week or two, make your decision on which ending works better. Send in only one ms. with one ending.

Hey, maybe you can use that other ending for another story. You never know!

[Barb]

No, I don't think you shoul do that.

For a very simple reason, really: if you're story is written with a tight plot and good characterisation, everything cumulates into *one* resolution.

If you can attach a different ending to your story, chances are, that it is still to "loose", that you tighten it even more.

In my opinion, a well written story has an ending that is inevitable, that leaves neither a room for coincidence or alternatives.

[rowriter]

Thanks for the advice guys! Now I have a bigger problem to deal with - I think I have to write a different ending completely. I don't really know that either of the two endings I have now are suitable for the character. (I'm going to try to find a previous ending from the original draft that seemed to have more 'oomph' to it - why oh why do I sometimes kill the draft through rewrites? lol)
Thanks again! :)

[stormie]

You know what? That's probably why you had two endings. Neither fit. As I said, put the ms. aside and look at it again in a week.

[rowriter]

LOL, well actually it was because I "had" to for a writing course, but you are right all the same! Thanks for the advice. I think I may be writing several different endings for this one, it will be good practice for me.

[Summonere]

rowriter:

Yep, it's perfectly acceptable to include alternate endings for a story in a submission if -- IF -- those alternate endings are necessary to the story. Think of what Tom Twyker did in Run Lola, Run. How many "endings" did that movie have? Three? I don't recall, but there was more than one, and they all worked, by golly. The story would not have functioned without them.

Okay, but that was a movie.

So: A few years ago I sold a story with no less than four witty, clever, and daring endings, each of them necessary to tell the kind of story that I wanted to tell.

As far as I can tell, the story sank without a trace in the literary sea, so maybe it wasn't as witty, clever, and daring as I thought.

But it sold. I spent the money foolishly.

As to your dilemma, yes, sometimes you can muck up a story by twiddling with it too much, and sometimes going back to an original ending is a perfectly fine idea, and sometimes a story is simply as good as it's ever going to be, even if that means not very.

[Jamesaritchie]

Editors do NOT want you to include alternate ednings. Editors want you to include teh best ending, and if you don;t know which one this is, do not expect an editor to pick it for you. That editor will simply gram for a rejection slip and send it back. With many editors, receiving alternate endings is a pet peeve, and can do more than cause a rejection, it can cause a very nasty rejection.


It's your story. You write it. You're the one who needs to decide which ending is best. If an editor doesn't like the ending, he'll say so, and make his won suggestions. But editors do not want a story submitted with alternate endings included..

[Mike Coombes]

Editors do NOT want you to include alternate ednings. Editors want you to include teh best ending, and if you don;t know which one this is, do not expect an editor to pick it for you. That editor will simply gram for a rejection slip and send it back. With many editors, receiving alternate endings is a pet peeve, and can do more than cause a rejection, it can cause a very nasty rejection.


It's your story. You write it. You're the one who needs to decide which ending is best. If an editor doesn't like the ending, he'll say so, and make his won suggestions. But editors do not want a story submitted with alternate endings included..

What he said.

[rowriter]

LOL, Miss Snark certainly wasn't happy about two endings in a manuscript!

See "The Tipping Point," number 6: (http://misssnark.blogspot.com/) (8-12-05)