One cliché of story telling is the ‘surprise ending’. I remember being, ah, surprised, one time when a person I was speaking to about a comic book story said it was not interesting because they could already guess the ending. They seemed to take it for granted that a good story must have a surprise at the end. I suppose quite a lot of people would say that but it struck me as a rather limited way to think of stories.
Generally, when I read a comic book or a novel it's of almost no concern to me whether it has a surprise ending or not. I find it engaging if the process of what unfolds is interesting. Same goes for non-fiction. I already know that Hitler lost the war, it does not lessen my enjoyment of reading about how it happened. As I recently heard Salman Rushdie say, despite all the talk about 3 act structures and plot points and the climax etc, the only thing that really matters about a book is this: is it interesting?
The end.
Generally, when I read a comic book or a novel it's of almost no concern to me whether it has a surprise ending or not. I find it engaging if the process of what unfolds is interesting. Same goes for non-fiction. I already know that Hitler lost the war, it does not lessen my enjoyment of reading about how it happened. As I recently heard Salman Rushdie say, despite all the talk about 3 act structures and plot points and the climax etc, the only thing that really matters about a book is this: is it interesting?
The end.
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