Open or closed endings?

[Marc]

Hello, fellow readers:

Open or closed endings in books? Good or bad? Just wondering what everyone thinks?

[cheekychook]

Generally speaking, if I get involved with the characters enough to read through to the end of a book then I want to know what happens to them at the end, so I don't like totally open endings. I'm definitely closure-oriented. That doesn't mean the entire life of every character needs to be wrapped up with a bow, I just don't like to be left hanging. To me most open endings wind up feeling like a cheat. Or like they're intentionally not resolving things to leave the door open for a sequel. Either way, not something I enjoy.

[Erica75]

I think this heavily correlates to which genre I'm reading. Mystery, thriller, suspense - I want closure. YA, romance, chick lit, humor - I'm assuming their lives go on after the book, so as long as the main plot line is summed up, I'm okay with an open ending. Also, if I liked it enough to finish it, chances are I'll want to read the sequel.

[wilderness]

I'm OK with an open ending as long as the main plot has been tied up. Basically, that the battle has been won but not the war. I did read a YA where the book ended without anything being tied up and it seriously pissed me off. I did not run off and buy the next book because I felt cheated. On the other hand, I love reading fantasy and scifi series, so I like to have a little something left to look forward to.

[Nick]

Depends on the story being told. The original Life On Mars was going to end on a very opening ending, but test audiences disapproved and they changed it, and while the new ending still works, I think the original, open ending is stronger. And yes I realize that's a television example and not a novel, but it's the first example to spring to mind. Some stories work well by having little to no plotlines tied up at the end; at best they're just a bit loopy. All depends on what story you've told up until this moment. Genre should matter to a point, but at the same time, a mystery that never unveils/captures the criminal can be far better than one in which they are nicked. But sometimes closure goes a long way. It's whatever destroys your U-boats, I suppose.

[deepsesh]

I agree with Erica... if its thriller, suspense, crime etc - i prefer it to be closed. But if its romance - then an open ending is nicer, when you know the characters in and out - and you can imagine up an ending that keeps you happy :)

[heyimkt]

This really depends for me...I think that overall closed endings are more my type of thing, but sometimes open endings are just as awesome. When you as the reader gets to decide, in some ways, what happens to the characters, I think it leaves the ending with a more fresh vibe. But, if the story has lots of loose ends and questions, then the more closed type of ending works best.

But as far as Lost goes...I just don't know what to say about open/closed endings :l

[Marc]

On the subject of Lost, be sure to keep an eye out for Damon Lindelhof's and Carlton Cuse's sure-to-be-mega-bestselling-memoir titled: How We Painted Ourselves Into A Corner and then Took The Money and Ran.

It will be missing the last page.

[polymath]

Closed endings wrap up every loose end. Effective open endings come in two forms that I see.

One, for ongoing sagas, a narrative's central dilemma is resolved, but a larger dilemma arcs over the saga unresolved until the final installment. The Harry Potter saga, for example. Each installment resolves an immediate dilemma and sets back Voldemort's ambitions, but not until the final installment is the dilemma posed by Voldemort fully resolved.

Two, for stand-alone sagas, a narrative's central dilemma is resolved in an afterstory. What I know as afterstory is the events implied by an open ending in the time after the narrative part has concluded. "And they lived happily ever after" is a form of afterstory for fairy tales reduced to a tell. Thomas Harris' Hannibal, the novel, has an afterstory that's not a happily ever after ending, but favoring Lecter's favorable outcome. The film has a different ending, still open-ended and not happily ever after, but favoring Starling's favorable outcome.

[shadow]

Hate open endings unless this is a trilogy or whatnot. If it isn't then I feel like I spend needless time on the book.

[Sommer Leigh]

I like open endings best but I do not like unresolved endings. Just because something is open doesn't mean that it is unresolved and has unsatisfactorily answered all the questions.

I don't like the jazz hands endings where the author seems to be going, "Woooo, what does it mean? It could mean anything! Wooooo!"

I need some meaning.

But I don't like endings with epilogues that string out the character's lives 30 years and give them jobs and marriages and kids whose names inevitably combine the names of several dead characters in homage (which clearly tells me they loved the dead characters way more than they loved their kids who are now destined to a life time of teasing and torment and constant mispronunciation.)

I like to fill in some blanks on my own, and I like the stories that require me to sleuth the answers from the text itself, like with Justine Larbalestier's Liar (Or LOST, if you want to head into tv-land)

The only time I've appreciated the wrap up of a completely closed ending where all the characters involved get a "this is what happens in the next 20 years" was in Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game

[wildheart]

I think if you leave the ending open you are cheating. The problems in that book must be resolved. Even if it is a series I like them better if each book has its own set of issues. Otherwise I just get annoyed. In fact, now that I think about it, any book I read with an open ending I made note of the author and was very wary of picking up anything else by them.

Although sometimes cases could be made for writing open endings. Possibly. But I'd never use them.