Of Pens & Promises

One of the advantages to being an editor is the chance to see new worlds through new eyes.  Generally, that glimpse only serves to help the author discover the path to the story she or he has been trying to find on their own.  But every now and then one of those paths leads me to an epiphany.

In this case it was a story with a completely open-ended non-ending.  The story rolled along, leading to a fine shoot-out.  And then, with the protagonist shot and the antagonist on the loose, the story simply... stopped.  The author's intent was to allow readers to decide for themselves whether the protagonist lived, or whether the antagonist got away with murder.

Now, this certainly wasn't the first time I've seen somebody leave a story hanging. But unless you're writing a TV series' season-end cliffhanger where the audience knows they'll get an answer next episode, this kind of non-ending simply doesn't work.  It's a betrayal of the unspoken contract between story-teller and story buyer:  when a writer publishes a story s/he makes a promise to readers that in exchange for their money, the author will tell them a tale all wrapped up in a satisfying ending.  That ending is the real pay-off for the reader's money.  Leave it up in the air and the reader will justifiably feel cheated, and with good reason - and unhappy readers tend not to take their disappointment quietly.  Betraying the promise of a good story is a good way for an author to lose a following.

Have you experienced a story that just left you hanging mid-climax?  (Uh, well, erotica aside, that is...).  Let me know - I'd love to hear your take.

Hugs all around for now -