tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post2835420742149882953..comments2024-03-28T15:01:21.285-04:00Comments on SleuthSayers: Is That All There Is?Leigh Lundinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921276795499571578noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-82914139456343952052018-02-12T21:37:49.321-05:002018-02-12T21:37:49.321-05:00A good ending is one you go back and read again. L...A good ending is one you go back and read again. Later, after a long time, you read it again and it still works.O'Neil De Nouxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03142721824657611738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-16209450704883263382018-02-12T21:15:21.783-05:002018-02-12T21:15:21.783-05:00Melodie, I can sympathize with the percolating. Be...Melodie, I can sympathize with the percolating. Before You Accuse Me, which came out last month, has notes going back to 2004. The premise and title stayed constant, but almost everything else changed several times. Fortunately, I knew it had to be at least the fourth book in the series so there was plenty of time. Interestingly, I don't think the ENDING changed much.<br />Steve Liskowhttp://www.steveliskow.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-25733060568569792972018-02-12T18:11:11.585-05:002018-02-12T18:11:11.585-05:00I'm one of those writers who always start with...I'm one of those writers who always start with the ending. Then I go back to the beginning and work forward. I need to know the twist that will center my short story. For this reason, plots often percolate in my head for months until I find just the right ending. Then I sit down to write. Melodie Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07870938103759179132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-10958897938455135452018-02-12T18:09:57.727-05:002018-02-12T18:09:57.727-05:00I hate deus ex machina endings. Even in Greek pla...I hate deus ex machina endings. Even in Greek plays, which invented them. (Although they probably go back to Sumer...)<br />Good post.Eve Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03015761600962360110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-89845821377420266402018-02-12T18:09:40.001-05:002018-02-12T18:09:40.001-05:00I hate deus ex machina endings. Even in Greek pla...I hate deus ex machina endings. Even in Greek plays, which invented them. (Although they probably go back to Sumer...)<br />Good post.Eve Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03015761600962360110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-36168464118489462872018-02-12T10:19:27.214-05:002018-02-12T10:19:27.214-05:00Great post, Steve!
Aristotle said (I'm paraph...Great post, Steve!<br /><br />Aristotle said (I'm paraphrasing, here): "Endings should be unexpected but inevitable." Good long-ago advice.John Floydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001712728130488485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-35257558394026230382018-02-12T10:01:02.695-05:002018-02-12T10:01:02.695-05:00Great piece, a subject I don't remember readin...Great piece, a subject I don't remember reading about (which is hard to find after so many years of blogging). I loved "The Lady or the Tiger," but it is a stunt. Not really repeatable, although Ellin, a true master, did a nice variation, as Art said. There was an episode of Law and Order: SVU probably a decade ago, in which the entire case was a he said/she said situation between two awful people. The episode ends with the jury announcing they have reached a verdict. The End. And the point was: It doesn't matter who wins, they are both still awful.<br /><br />I used to wonder how Columbo always knew which suspect to start following around and annoying. Did he just pick the richest person?<br /><br />I always say a great ending should make the reader say: "I never saw it coming, but that's the only way it COULD have ended."<br />Robert Loprestihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08844889305615182897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-49598395820058544862018-02-12T09:11:22.079-05:002018-02-12T09:11:22.079-05:00On the lady or the tiger, though: My all-time favo...On the lady or the tiger, though: My all-time favorite mystery short story might well be Stanley Ellin's "Moment of Decision," which has that open-ending that will force readers to think beyond the last page....though as I've argued in class, it's not hardly unfinished (and that's the beauty of the story really). Art Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02409008167752619352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-17108982964310038342018-02-12T08:33:26.327-05:002018-02-12T08:33:26.327-05:00Janice,
I usually begin writing with a general ide...Janice,<br />I usually begin writing with a general idea of the ending, but it often changes. My biggest problem is figuring out how my sleuth will get that last vital clue. I'm always struggling to avoid the deus ex machina I mentioned above. <br /><br />I think Chris Knopf once said that he usually writes the story with two or three possible endings in mind and eventually chooses the one that feels like the biggest surprise. Then he goes back and changes the details that would interfere with it. Steve Liskowhttp://www.steveliskow.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-50231302044269976572018-02-12T08:24:13.678-05:002018-02-12T08:24:13.678-05:00Good advice. Personally, I find beginnings easy, m...Good advice. Personally, I find beginnings easy, middles very hard, and endings are either nearly impossible of a complete giftjanice lawnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-19471529444935534732018-02-12T05:36:56.956-05:002018-02-12T05:36:56.956-05:00Steve, you hit on a lot of good points. But the on...Steve, you hit on a lot of good points. But the one that really strikes me is the deus ex machina. Somehow the sleuth finds a clue or clues that just sort of appear out of nowhere and voila: case solved. Drives me nuts.Paul D. Markshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15466234708772287399noreply@blogger.com