Writing Tip of the Week
?
A Bit More on Endings?
A common phenomenon among inexperienced salesmen is the tendency to continue selling after the sale has been closed. The over-anxious salesman doesn’t hear the clear signals from his prospect that he (the prospect) is ready to become a customer and purchase the product or service being offered. The poor dumb salesman, desperate to achieve what he has already achieved, just keeps on rattling off features, benefits and proofs until the prospect tires of the pitch and backs out of the deal. I have seen this happen numerous times. It’s like watching a friend deliver his “barefoot ‘n pregnant” speech to the National Organization of Women. It’s a train wreck in slow motion and there’s nothing you can do except back away and hope you’re not hurt in the smash up.
Authors do the same thing with the endings to their novels. After writing the climax and finishing with a tidy resolution, they for some reason feel a need to provide the reader more information.
“In later years, Becky and Tom married and opened a small paint store in downtown Independence.”
“In later years, Bottom continued to make an ass out of himself and was eventually put in a home.”
“In later years, Scarlett and Rhett turned Tara into a carrot farm and were never hungry again.”
Seriously, who cares? Tom escaped Injun Joe. Bottom got to act for the King. Apparently, according to the sequel, Rhett really did give a damn. The stories ended appropriately at a place we authors like to call “the end.” An author who inundates his readers with unnecessary and after-the-fact details unimportant to the story breaks the deal writers make with readers - to provide a satisfactory reading experience. That’s closing the sale. Continuing to pitch with details of what happened after the resolution risks that satisfaction clause in the implied writer-reader contract. The writer risks losing the sale (a satisfied reader) and possibly actual sales in the future when that reader moves on to another author who honors the contract.
Quote of the Week:? “Honesty of thought and speech and written word is a jewel, and they who curb prejudice and seek honorably to know and speak the truth are the only builders of a better life.” John Galsworthy
领英推荐
Recommended Reading: Come Walk With Me by Stuart Watkins
Recommended Online: ??YouTube – Horsefly Chronicles with Julia & Phillip Siracusa: Dan Baldwin & George Sewell; Watchers Talk: Is It Possible to Communicate with the Departed?; X2RS: Speaking with Spirits of the Old West; Andy de Codes: Dan Baldwin; Vincent Zandri? from The Writer’s Life Episode 851: Dan Baldwin; Rob McConnell Show: Dan Baldwin – The Psychic Detective Guidebook.
Shameless Self-Promotion:
Contact me at [email protected]
This blog may be shared free provided there is no charge to the audience and the author is credited.
The author is a live human being. I do not include content generated by AI (Artificial Intelligence) software of any kind.
?
?