When books "self-destruct"

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I love reading.

It's literally my favorite thing to do and a hobby I always feel guilty about neglecting.

However, one thing I've noticed is that there's a common thread shared by about 99% of my bookshelf: most of those books tend to severely undermine themselves toward the end (sometimes in the very last pages!), for reasons I'll soon get into — a phenomenon I have since christened "self-destruction."

And what's this "self-destruction"? It's this very annoying thing most authors do when it comes to wrapping up their stories, which consists of going against what had been exquisitely (and painstakingly) built over hundreds of pages, usually in the form of manufacturing a very awkward and tacked-on happy ending, the unearned redemption of an extremely flawed character (usually the main one), or a deus ex machina that turns the tables in their favor, even though they were shown to be perfectly capable of dealing with whatever problem stood in front of them beforehand.

Seriously, it's amazing how many authors are afraid of ending a story on a sour note or allowing the main character to become either the villain or irredeemable.

Out of all the books I have read so far, only about five had authors brave enough to show imperfect, bratty, selfish, or simply unchanged characters by the end. Which isn't to say that growth hadn't taken place, only that whatever timeline the story operated on wasn't enough to change them to their very core. And those are the stories I keep returning to because their authors understood that change happens over time and miracles are in short supply.

It's not that I want characters to be sad, only for them to arrive at good conclusions using the tools they were shown to already possess.

I always hate it when unearned endings parachute into stories I had been loving.

 

[Majora Fi]

Who would have thought that film industry isn't the only one in decline?

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

I don't know that you liked reading.
Wait, are you on the writers guild so i may expected that

 

[A man on a computer]

Sometimes, and I mean SOMETIMES... I like stories that just "end" no epilogue, no resolution... The story just stops. That way you don't get any crappy cliffhangers or happy/sappy endings. Just like real life, alot've things don't simply get resolved.
Uh.... On second thought I don't really know what I want from a story. I guess I just want it to be satisfying without being dumb or thoughtless.

 

[random0nonsense]

I know exactly what you mean and have a very specific example. David Eddings's last fantasy series written before his death, The Dreamers, was a four volume series that was adequate - clearly not his best work, but not terrible by any means - until the final chapters. I don't want to go into details in case someone wants to actually read the series, but essentially at the very end one character develops god-like powers and negates everything that happened over the course of the four books.

A conclusion like that doesn't just suck, it makes you question why you even wasted your time and money on this.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I don't know that you liked reading.
Wait, are you on the writers guild so i may expected that

Who doesn't like reading?

I know exactly what you mean and have a very specific example. David Eddings's last fantasy series written before his death, The Dreamers, was a four volume series that was adequate - clearly not his best work, but not terrible by any means - until the final chapters. I don't want to go into details in case someone wants to actually read the series, but essentially at the very end one character develops god-like powers and negates everything that happened over the course of the four books.

A conclusion like that doesn't just suck, it makes you question why you even wasted your time and money on this.

Woaaaah. That's a really bad way to cap off a series.

I'd have been seething... but some of my favorite books have killed themselves just like that, too.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

Who doesn't like reading?

Right, i usually don't dedicate too many time to reading since well... my main hobby was always video games but i am reading Death Note and the page from where i downloaded it have plenty of mangas and comics.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Right, i usually don't dedicate too many time to reading since well... my main hobby was always video games but i am reading Death Note and the page from where i downloaded it have plenty of mangas and comics.

I like reading kid & YA stuff myself — way too many things remind me of my age already, so it's nice to just look back at a simpler time and age.

 

[JustLooking123]

Do you think external events might be involved in them?
Like a fight with the publisher, or the author being tired and wanted to deliberately kill the series or such?

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Do you think external events might be involved in them?
Like a fight with the publisher, or the author being tired and wanted to deliberately kill the series or such?

Nah, they are just scared of bad reviews.

 

[Tsukishima]

Something that I tend to love in storytelling is when things end inconclusive or a mystery. What happened to our protagonists? Did they ever deal with the threat? I think it's such a heartthrob when writers manage to create such a tangible, tasteful universe that successfully creates a world filled with intrigue and complexity of subject matters that things feel uncertain, propagating anxiety and at the same time, leaving all readers with room to interpret things their own way and creates such interesting discussion about the book.

 

[JustLooking123]

most of those books tend to severely undermine themselves toward the end (sometimes in the very last pages!), for reasons I'll soon get into — a phenomenon I have since christened "self-destruction."

It's difficult for me to understand the reason behind such endings as well...
I haven't been an author who published a book or anything like that... so i lack the experience-based information.

But if i want to talk about the stories themselves, i think ending a chapter is better than ending the story as a whole... because when a chapter ends, there are still unresolved matters... and depicting them is important to show "this is resolved" and "this isn't resolved yet" or "this new problem is born out of the solution".

Creating a real ending for a story is not easy... because the story's world is still going on... and even if we reach a point where everything looks good, that's just "a point in time", and things aren't going to stay good forever.

I think the writers who create a universe are doing a stronger job.
Each story happens in the same universe, paying attention to another corner of it, while also depicting the bigger picture.
In such stories, even when an arc ends, everything is not resolved... the world is still going on with all its problems... but some of the problems that were the focus of that arc might be resolved.