So Not Much Tonight…
Working on the Trademark for Fiction Writers chapters to post here, on some copyright stuff, and having a wonderful dinner with other writers.
And not least of all, doing some writing. So all good. Almost afraid to glance at another movie after that ugliness in endings yesterday. That movie really is a prime example why writers need to understand what their readers are expecting and answer the expectation in some fashion.
And tonight had a fun discussion about one of the best ending writers to ever write, Zane Grey. My Thunder Mountain series is named after a Zane Grey novel. And I visit the same setting in my Thunder Mountain novel as he did in his.
All my fav stories have killer endings. Across all markets and mediums. Just looking at my wall of books, I see The Hobbit. Fantastic ending. I liked it more than The Lord of the Rings because of that. Falling Free, another fav, dynamite ending. Hell even in professional wrestling, the story of The Golden Lovers getting back together, FANTASTIC. I recommend people youtube that if they want to see just how interesting the weekly wrestling serial can be.
I have a whole section in my collection for Conan/E. Howard. His stories have fantastic openings as well as endings. In the end, Conan defeats the beast/wizard and gets the girl. Somehow Conan has divested himself of the previous story’s love interest in time for the next beast, and next love interest. Hahah. I’ll be reading, and enjoying, that same type of story my entire life.
The best ending though, my fav, is from a movie. Aliens. It’s a double ending. Brings to a head the maternity/matriarchal themes of both Queen and Ripley. Yes. Love it. Every time. Huge mecha fight, giant alien, a robot gets ripped in half, little girl is saved, romantic moment fits in well…it’s got it all!
A good ending might leave room for a sequel, I dunno, all I know is that my favorite endings don’t really. The story is complete, the threads are ended. There’s no reason a new conflict can’t start up next week, in the next book, so sequels are still doable.
Zane Grey was excellent.
If you’re ever hanging out near Phoenix, take an hour to drive up into the mountains and tour Zane Grey’s cabin and museum. Fascinating and amusing.