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Fiction Corner

Alison Hawke

Endings

In school I was told there were three types of Shakespeare plays; ones where everyone died at the end (tragedies), ones where everyone got married at the end (comedies), and the other ones (histories). I've been catching up on some reading lately, and I wanted to talk about endings. Most recently I've been reading Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds and Manifold Time by Stephen Baxter, and I watched the film Unbreakable. There are spoilers below.

Manifold Time is first of a series of books. I'm not entirely sure how you can have a series when you destroy the universe at the end of the first book, but somehow Baxter has managed it. I didn't like this ending, because all that survived of Earth was a bunch of intelligent squid trying to outrun the destruction of time and space. It was a depressing ending that came after a long, dull look into the far future of mankind, which was also depressing. This book is definitely a Shakespearean tragedy ending.

Revelation Space is the first novel from prolific short story writer Alastair Reynolds. It starts slowly, switching between three groups of characters, each separated from the others by space and time, thanks to slower-than-light-speed travel. Once the three groups start to converge, it is a lot easier to follow who is doing what, and a lot more tense. The story includes a lot about computer simulations of people, discussions on whether simulations are truly alive and capable of development and growth. Two of the main characters end up as computer simulations at the end, their physical selves eliminated. To me, that counts as death, however perfect the copies are. Another dies and is reconstructed. Only one character survives in human form. This ending was a lot more satisfying than Baxter's because no-one destroyed the universe, and loose ends were wrapped up nicely. The story kept my attention all the way through.

Then there's Unbreakable. In my view, this is a really good story with a surprise ending. Watching it a second time I was looking for hints to the final surprise and I found a few. Not enough that I would have guessed the end, and few enough that I didn't feel like an idiot for not guessing. Elijah Price, comic collector and art gallery owner has been watching the newspapers looking for one phrase: "There is a sole survivor, and he is miraculously unharmed." David Dunn is that survivor, the only person to walk away from a terrible train crash. Price gradually convinces Dunn that he is unbreakable, the exact opposite of Price with his extremely fragile bones. Price believes Dunn is a hero, like in the comic books. Price is Dunn's mentor, showing him how to use his abilities to protect people. The ending was, to me, a real shock, but it made perfect sense.

If you read or watch something, you have invested time and effort in that story. A bad ending feels like a waste of that effort. A book that is worth reading is Beginnings, Middles and Ends, by Nancy Kress. She splits people into those who struggle with their beginnings, middles and endings, and offers help to each group. She says that an ending must deliver on the promises you made in the rest of the story. Kress also gives four things a climax must do:

• satisfy the view of life implied in your story.
• deliver emotion
• deliver a level of emotion consistent with the story
• be logical compared with the rest of the story

The ending for Unbreakable worked because it explains Price's behaviour, his obsession with finding a hero, and doesn't seem out of place in the story.

I think you should give endings a lot of attention. It's what people talk about afterwards, and a good ending will keep a story in your mind.