How much information can you withhold until the end?
- Thread starter Averon 2011
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I like it when books leave questions. I just finished Ben Kane's Forgotten Legion trilogy, and the end of the third book leaves quite a few major questions and I really like it that way. I can decide how I want the book to end, not how the writer specifically wants it to end. So it depends on what you want to do and how you want the story to be. Do what feels right and see how betas like it.
I agree with HistoryLvr above about leaving questions. I don't have any great reasons why, but I do. As for dispensing information throughout, I think there is a fine line here. You want to withhold enough information to keep us guessing, but at the same time, you don't want to withhold so much that you end up with an info dump at the end. The most recent example I can think of is a book I just finished. It had a great voice, gave little hints throughout about one of the main character's mysterious past, but then at the end it almost felt like the author had gotten tired of writing it! We learn the entire story of her past -- the reason I'd kept turning pages -- in one conversation between two people. Very disappointing.
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The climax and aftermath are the payoff for all the setups you have created along the way. An explanation isn't a payoff of any kind.
Sure, tie up all the loose ends. I'm someone who likes that in an ending. But you shouldn't be explaining new stuff to the reader. That's for earlier.
Sure, tie up all the loose ends. I'm someone who likes that in an ending. But you shouldn't be explaining new stuff to the reader. That's for earlier.
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As long as the general questions are answered, the big "why" in the story has run its course and it's 99.9% clear to the reader, it should be enough, especially if you're not going to be writing a sequel for said book. If you're not planning a sequel, I wouldn't recommend putting in any new information after the climax, especially something that would make the reader think: "wait, what?" When it comes to moral issues, that's a little tougher to wrap up, but one that can be left unanswered.
Throughout my book I've hinted that my MC has a dark secret in his past that is only ever hinted at. His father is never going to tell him the truth, and the only person who can tell him the truth appears near the end.
I don't think it hurts to keep a sense of mystery past the pay-off.
I don't think it hurts to keep a sense of mystery past the pay-off.
AmsterdamAssassin
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You have to tie up the big issue at the climax, but you don't have to show what happens to each character. Just the main characters will be enough.
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I write mysteries and you really do have to answer 'the big question' or the main one. And that will happen in the climax. What's nice, is if a few pages after the climax, or even on the last page, you give everything a nice little 'twist.' Turn things upside down or a bit sideways, if possible.
And leave your readers thinking - not guessing - just thinking.
And leave your readers thinking - not guessing - just thinking.
If you have to explain too much to the reader after the climax, maybe you didn't do such a good job of setting up that climax. An ending shouldn't appear too mysterious to the reader, which means the author's job is way more complex than just withholding information from the reader. To me, the best climaxes are ones where all necessary information has been given, but in a way that gives me that "I should have seen that coming" forehead slap.
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I agree that the forehead slap is necessary! If it's just a big infodump at the end with zero or very little set-up throughout the rest of the book, I feel cheated and annoyed, because it seems like the solutions (or whatever you're explaining) have come out of thin air. There needs to be just enough of a thread to follow back to the beginning so that I can pull on it and say, "Yes, that was there, not sure how I missed it!"
I also prefer the infodump to come from more than one source - not just one character revealing the secret/knowledge to the protagonist, but several characters, or a character and something that the protagonist connects to the issue himself. If just one person is babbling on about the mysteries of the book it puts me in mind of the "villain's monologue" which I feel is a cheap tool and too often contains too much information at once. My two cents!
I also prefer the infodump to come from more than one source - not just one character revealing the secret/knowledge to the protagonist, but several characters, or a character and something that the protagonist connects to the issue himself. If just one person is babbling on about the mysteries of the book it puts me in mind of the "villain's monologue" which I feel is a cheap tool and too often contains too much information at once. My two cents!
What NeuroFizz said. Also, as a writer, it should be amusing to set up the imminent self flagellations.
I concur with the whole "forehead slap" thing. I just finished reading "Killing Johnny Fry" by Walter Mosley, and had that experience for the first time in a long time (and I read a lot).
It was a very rewarding experience, and caught me totally off guard.
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A good denouement is one of my favorite parts of the story. Sometimes it's missing in movies and I find it really unsatisfying. I don't just want to see some guy lying on the ground and have someone say--he'll be okay. I want to see him up and walking around or dealing with the consequences of getting shot. Something.
I want to know that these characters are tying things up. Because a climax doesn't tie things up. It often doesn't explain things beyond the one big issue. It just takes care of the crisis. I don't necessarily need an answer to everything, but I want that sense that things go on, that we do know what happened and to who.
Don't cheat me!
I want to know that these characters are tying things up. Because a climax doesn't tie things up. It often doesn't explain things beyond the one big issue. It just takes care of the crisis. I don't necessarily need an answer to everything, but I want that sense that things go on, that we do know what happened and to who.
Don't cheat me!
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Practical plot points such as "How did Billy escape from the high-security prison?" should be explained and not simply dismissed. That's the sort of thing the reader wants to know. However things like "Did Mary forgive Billy for robbing the bank?" can be left unanswered.
Eleven.
Not a single information more.
Seriously, this is a nonsense question. "Information" isn't quantifiable, and you can't know how well what you've done works without specific critiques.
But it's also a bad practice for an author to play "I've Got a Secret" with readers.
caw
Not a single information more.
Seriously, this is a nonsense question. "Information" isn't quantifiable, and you can't know how well what you've done works without specific critiques.
But it's also a bad practice for an author to play "I've Got a Secret" with readers.
caw
Goblet of Fire had three separate characters lecture for a combined forty pages to explain away every little plot point in the book.
That said, Rowling has a license to print money, and the rules don't apply to her.
That said, Rowling has a license to print money, and the rules don't apply to her.
Apparently, you are correct. I stopped reading the Harry Potter series after book 2. I felt like someone had taken all the worst bits of Tolkien (plus a few other authors that I won't read again) and put it all together.
Don't get me wrong - I respect what she's done. She's helped get a lot of kids really keen on reading. She's gone from living pay cheque to pay cheque as a single Mom and is now almost as wealthy as Queen Liz. Good for her.
I just can't bring myself to enjoy what she writes.
Exactly
If you feel you have to explain the ending in a "did the reader get it?" way don't worry a lot of new writers feel that way, they don't trust their own story telling ability.
1.) respect the reader intelligence
2.) don't withhold things to just withhold them
3.) trust your story as above, give the reader what they need to figure it out and refer to number one.
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To me the climax is the payoff, the literary orgasm everything has been working up to. But that isn't the end. Not to me. There are still end scenes. Maybe after solving the crime, capturing the villain, the MC goes home and finds the house empty, a note on the table, "I'm leaving," and he realizes he hasn't quite paid enough attention to his wife. Or he comes home to his apartment exhausted and realizes someone is inside and he pulls his gun, goes in, the light in the bathroom is on, he slowly pushes the door open and there is his girl friend putting her toothbrush in his holder. "I thought I'd surprise you."
Me. I like a little snuggle time after the climax. I really hate, wham, bam, thank you ma'am endings.
questions and mystery are a good thing
There's a fine line between leaving questions open ended, and telling everyone the answer. Obviously, the big questions s/b answered in a satisfactory way. But in my opinion the best endings leave some aspects open to interpretation by the reader. Now, if you can put in a little twist or surprise at the end (who really did send that warning letter?) that catches the reader by surprise while making them reevaluate what they thought they knew, so much the better.
Four months after I'd basically finished by novel I added a few sentences at the end that cleared up a few plot questions, while making the reader reconsider information that had been presented earlier. A minor twist, not involving the main characters, but one that made the ending more satisfactory and used only a few words.
There's a fine line between leaving questions open ended, and telling everyone the answer. Obviously, the big questions s/b answered in a satisfactory way. But in my opinion the best endings leave some aspects open to interpretation by the reader. Now, if you can put in a little twist or surprise at the end (who really did send that warning letter?) that catches the reader by surprise while making them reevaluate what they thought they knew, so much the better.
Four months after I'd basically finished by novel I added a few sentences at the end that cleared up a few plot questions, while making the reader reconsider information that had been presented earlier. A minor twist, not involving the main characters, but one that made the ending more satisfactory and used only a few words.
As a reader, I tend to prefer that, too. Books that resolve the plot in the climax and then just end don't really do it for me. I'm like Shadow_Ferret, in that I like a little mental TLC afterwards. The author got me to this emotional and mental high. Hold my hand and guide me just a little longer as I recover from that high, and leave me with a few unanswered questions so I begin to think about what I just read, on a deeper level.
Books that do that get read again. And again... And they make me look forward to their next book.
I agree wholeheartedly. You don't have to tie up everything nicely. Leave room for a bit of discussion afterwards.
Also, a good way to provide details is to scatter them about the story like breadcrumbs. The astute reader will be thrilled that he/she is picking them up. Other readers may pick up only a few, and if they have any questions, may feel compelled to read your book again. And that's a good thing!
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