Where There's a Story, There's an End

by Brighton Luke

(The only spoilers in this are at the end and will be marked ahead of time so feel free to read up until that point.)

Like many people I woke up today reeling from the second to last episode of Breaking Bad and the finale to Dexter. Novels and TV shows are very similar in that they require a large investment of time from the viewer/ reader, making the stakes that much higher at the end. Get it wrong and people will be angry and feel betrayed. Get it right and win heaps of praise for your brilliance.

For novels especially (even more so than TV shows I would argue) the ending can make or break a book’s greatness. For some stories you start writing it already knowing where it will end, for others it’s not quite so easy and you have to dive in hoping you’ll find your way there. The important thing with both approaches to remember is that any ending will work, so long as you write the story that will get you there. Some genres require happy ever afters, some require a mystery to be solved, or someone to be saved. All of those are important and you should know the general expectations for your chosen genre, but what I’ve noticed over the years as a reader and viewer is that no matter the subject matter no matter the genre the good endings were ones that started in act one.

Good endings are not always the endings I wanted, often times they are not at all what I wanted. I’m drawn to stories about very flawed characters who if you gave them their happy ending it wouldn’t ring true as much as I may want that for them. The key to a good ending isn’t that it be happy (though it can be) is to write one that is fitting. You spend all this time creating characters with vibrant personalities all their own, for the end you have to let them make the choices they were created to make. (And if you really hate the way the characters are going to act at the end to be in line with who they are, your problem isn’t with the ending as much as it is with the way you’ve written them up until that point.)

For me, the reason the ending season to Breaking Bad is so damn good (so far, they better not screw it up on the last one) is not because what I want to happen is happening, far from it. Exactly the opposite of what I said I hoped for at the start of this season is what has transpired. What makes it all so good is that at every turn there are surprises but at the same time the gut wrenching feeling of inevitability, each choice no matter how bad or good is exactly what the character that’s gotten us to this point would do. They haven’t suddenly changed on us for the sake of an ending.

The absolute worst thing I believe you can do to a reader (or viewer) is give them an ending where the characters inexplicably change to create the ending. Dramatic arcs are all about change, but that change has to be organic, it has to come from the story, from the character.

DEXTER SPOILER AHEAD

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I hate that Deb died. (I’m also not yet over Rita dying either, there’s a reason I’m not going to watch Game of Thrones or read Song of Ice and Fire), and I also hate that Dexter died. I find it tragically fitting that his “dark passenger” lived on. The whole show had been a battle between Dexter trying to be normal and the demands of his “dark passenger”. Many times there were those insisting that the normal Dexter wasn’t real. I personally think he was, that’s what made it so heartbreaking, he was so close to winning, but the inevitable fact that for me made this ending work was that the act of choosing to live a normal and happy life destroyed the very person who had helped him conquer his “dark passenger”. When he chose not to kill Daniel Vogel and to instead do the right thing, he chose Dexter over the darkness, but it also killed Deb, and without Deb there was no way Dexter could continue to win out over the “dark passenger” she was his lifeline, when she died, he died.

The bummer part about writing is that you will never get everyone to agree I’m sure plenty of people have many other opinions on that same ending. The only thing you can do as an author is to keep writing and rewriting until you get to that gut punch feeling of knowing this is the ending the story has brought on itself. (And if you get to that ending, and still hate it, please go back and change stuff earlier in the story to get to the ending you want don’t just tack something not fitting onto the end, thanks.) 

P.S. Writers of Will & Grace I’m never watching any shows of yours ever again until you apologize for the train wreck that was the last two episodes of Will & Grace, prime example of characters making choices they would absolutely not make.

P.P.S. What do you guys think is going to happen in Breaking Bad? It’s kind of a similar battle that Dexter had, the internal fight between Walter White and Heisenberg, which one will win? And what novels or novel series do you think really got their endings right, or royally screwed them up? (Also please mark comments with spoilers at the start to let us know which story you'll be discussing the ending to.) 

Tell me now!

by Brighton Luke

It invariably happens that whenever I try to watch a movie I’ve seen before with someone who hasn’t, they pepper me with questions about what is going on, what is going to happen and where they’ve seen that vaguely familiar looking actor before. (This rarely happens with books, mostly because the avid readers I know will cut you if you interrupt them while reading, so I tend not to be close enough to anyone reading for them to ask me anything.) Recently while watching a movie with a friend, she was glued to her seat and watching very intently, suspense was high, so high that she started asking me a bunch of questions. She begged me to know who was gonna die (it was very obvious something was about to go horribly wrong, but no idea what or who). When I answered her questions she visibly relaxed, then got up and made herself an ice cream sundae, eventually coming back in and proceeded to surf the net while half watching the movie.

I killed the movie for her. Then this past week I was watching the same movie with another friend (I’m gonna plead the fifth on which movie I watch so frequently, bonus points if anyone can guess though.) She also started asking me a bunch of the same questions, (all ones that eventually get answered in the movie except for if the mother had been in an episode of Will & Grace, she had) and I knew better now than to give anything away. She was very annoyed with me, but stayed invested in the movie. When the climax of the film happened and all was revealed her tear-filled eyes were riveted to the screen rather than cleaning up the ice cream sundae she spilled over the phone she’d been perusing Reddit on when the supposed gunshot/hammer crack in the movie she was only half watching startled her.

The when, where, and how of dispersing needed information in your writing is a key skill. Not enough information and your audience will be frustrated. You eventually have to give them the goods and reveal the secrets, but if you do it too soon then those secrets will not have the right impact. By the end of the movie both friends knew who died, who went to jail and who just wandered around aimlessly on a pier, but one of them had an emotional reaction; the other one had a sticky phone. The same information had vastly different impacts based on when and how they found it out.

You can’t help it if someone’s friend gives away all the secrets in your book beforehand, but you can help it if you do as the writer. Take the time to look at all the vital moments and information in your novel and figure out when each piece will have the most impact, and see if you have it all in the right place to deliver that impact. The order in which things happen and are revealed will greatly affect how the otherwise same exact story is received by readers, and how emotionally invested they will be in it.

Brighton is a movie-fiend who's learned his lesson about spoiling films for friends—even Jennifer Connelly movies, all of which he's seen more times than the rest of humanity combined. You can find him on Twitter, Tumblr, and motivating the procrastinators of the writing world here.

Boxes Full of Women

by Brighton Luke

There has been a lot of talk going around on social media recently about sexism in certain genres, particularly speculative fiction. The problem of bias towards female writers by some is a big issue tied strongly to the culture of sexism you’d find anywhere else it exists. To try and tackle it all head on as an individual would be daunting and impossible. As writers though I think we’re in a unique position to affect a more subtle, more effective change.

Stories in their myriad forms are how we as society spread, process, and establish our culture. We are all collectively the stories we tell. Some stories are verbal—a recounting to your friends over drinks of the events from the night before—while others are blockbuster films or novels that reach millions.

Regardless of how large the audience, every story you tell is a reflection of you and your culture, and every story you tell adds to the perceptions we all have of the world around us. That’s why stories are so powerful.

Ignorance and insecurity, even if only on some imperceptible level, are the root of the stereotypes and boxes so many of us feel compelled to put people in. It feels safe to define and label everything to know where it fits. This is the box for women, this is the box for men, these are the actions, attributes and feelings you are allowed to have. The more we tell stories that reinforce these, the more true the lie seems in our collective perceptions.

It is easy to tell stories that continue to put people in those boxes, because there are plenty of people out there who are happy as clams to read them to have these notions validated. You have a choice, though; you don’t have to take the easy way out, you don’t have to write those stories that keep everyone locked away into preconceived cookie-cutter templates of what a person is based on their label of man or woman. Look around, and really see people for who they are as an individual—they don’t fit into those boxes. Those are the kinds of characters whose stories will change our culture. Those are the stories that are truly unique, because their characters are unique.

Recently in a conversation about love-triangles it was interesting to see responses about why so many of them seem to be the woman choosing between two guys. It made me sad to hear explanations such as: women like to shop around and can’t make up their mind, and men just cheat and date both. Not only is a belief such as that a narrow way to go through life, you will never truly know anyone if you go into it already deciding what they are like simply because of their gender. It also is a stagnating way to approach writing. Right off the bat that attitude towards men and women cuts off countless possible characters they could have had in their stories. Real characters, who are nuanced and textured and individuals, whose actions are a culmination of their life experiences not just predetermined by their sex.

This idea of vast differences between men and women, these stereotypes, are a fallacy and a social construct. It stymies creativity, individualism and reality. I walked into one of those everything-marts the other day and the girls' toy aisle was a blinding mass of bubble-gum pink. I guarantee you pink is not every girl’s favorite color. [Having just done an informal poll of every woman in my general vicinity right now, there were as many colors named as women I asked. Though the one who said, "That red that's on my Racetigers," (a racing ski by Volkl) really won my heart.] Real life and real characters are far more nuanced than generalized boxes proclaiming universal truths based on their chromosomes. Truly great characters aren’t men or women, they are just people.

As a writer you have the choice, you can write the stories that will change our culture.

Brighton's chromosomes, by the "box" logic, would dictate that he doesn't own Dawson's Creek on DVD, and yet he does. Clearly he has magic. You can find him on Twitter, Tumblr, and motivating the procrastinators of the writing world here.

Things I Learned About Writing From Actors

by Brighton Luke

In addition to this whole novel thing, I also write screenplays, and was in New York this past summer directing a film I wrote, American Dreamsicle. One of the things that struck me was in talking with the actors about their characters, I realized a few things I could take back to my writing.

One of the actors who originally had been considered for Troy, the lead male character, asked if he could be considered for a supporting character, Mercer. At first I was surprised, because I myself am not an actor and I had wrongly assumed that when given the chance people would always go for the lead. He told me that he preferred the Mercer role because the character was really interesting and more of a challenge.

Looking back on it, I did a better job writing Mercer than I did Troy. He was more complex and thought-out, he was driving the plot even when he wasn’t on screen. He may even actually be the main character despite his far fewer minutes on screen. (I know, super embarrassing when you get who your main character is wrong.) As a writer for the screen it is obvious to say: write characters that actors will get excited to play, characters they will fight over to get cast as. I think it’s also an interesting way to think about writing characters in a novel as well, even if no actor will ever portray them. Think of a really kick-ass actor or actress you like and think: would they sign on to play this character? Because if it’s not a role that an actor would get excited about portraying, then chances are a reader isn’t going to find them all that compelling either.

Another thing I learned from the actors about character was about choices. It is so easy while writing to focus only on the big choices, the ones that really drive the plot. Will this character call the cops and report their friend, or will they help them cover up the crime? Big choice. And also a choice already made by the time the actor gets to it. For them the choices they get to make are smaller, choices about how they move, and subtleties in their interactions with others. They add up to a lot, and are something that when writing a novel you as the writer need to be making. I’ve had instances where it’s easy to get pulled into making choices for the character to serve the plot without thinking of what about that character’s personality would actually drive that choice.

The actors were always concerned with what their character’s motivation was, for freaking everything! (Which near the end of a 12-hour day I was tempted to say: because the script tells you to.) I remember one afternoon we were shooting on the pier at Coney Island. While waiting for a problem with the audio to be resolved, I was talking to the actors about the scene we were shooting, where these two characters who are best friends are having their last poignant moment before all hell breaks lose, and it was really important to establish the powerful brother/sister nature of their friendship.

In the script it simply has them walking back down the pier after their conversation, but Sarah Jean, the actress in the scene, suggested that right before they turn to leave they do this little finger touch thing, which is just this one second gesture, that could be so easily left out and not thought of, but it completely pulls the whole scene together and establishes their relationship so much better than any dialogue could. She arrived at that choice by looking back into her character and really thinking what would she do in this moment, not just doing what is convenient. The plot didn't need that action, but is enhanced by it. It’s those little details that enrich the story and make the characters more authentic, because it arises out of who they are.

So going back into novel writing those are some things I’ve taken with me. Write actor-bait characters, and try to look at choices from your character’s point-of-view, not just from a plotting standpoint.

Brighton Luke is a novelist, filmmaker, and purveyor of all things awesome. You can find Brighton (being forced to be much more concise) on Twitter @BrightonAwesome, and at BrightonLuke.com