How can I make a talky, idea-based concept enjoyable [closed]
Closed by System on Jan 31, 2019 at 21:37
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I'm writing a psychological novel about different characters finding the meaning of their lives. But the ending reveals it was all part of an experiment (properly foreshadowed). Someone was trying to deduce an all-encompassing theory based on these individual cases. Said someone is presenting his theory in an attempt to save his people from a certain problem.
This is the part that I've come to worry about, since it's all dialogue, discussing the events of the book, comparing characters and putting their struggles into a larger and more technical perspective than they had themselves.
What are some ways I can make this kind of ending interesting without making it into a drawn-out, abstract, dialogue-heavy info dump?
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Twist should be quick.
Ideally, within a scope of a short paragraph reader's world should be turned upside down and the general idea of what was really going on must be formed. At this point, reader likely should have some burning questions ("But why?" "But how?"). Those questions also should be addressed without delay.
So if your twist needs a lot of pages to get explained, that is not a good twist. Only if the concept itself is very interesting, the reader may appreciate that.
What you can do to improve that? Try to spread your "infodump" throughout the preceding chapters so that the reader get generally familiar with surrounding concepts and conflicts while not losing the interest. This may be difficult without spoiling the big twist, but you should try.
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I think your instincts are correct. This structure isn't going to work as is. But that doesn't mean you can't build a great novel out of these pieces. I'd suggest one of three paths:
1) Drop the ending entirely: Does the book work as a psychological piece about people finding the meaning of their lives? If so, why do you need the ending? It might be important for you, the author, to know that it was all an experiment, but the reader doesn't necessarily need to know. I've encountered any number of books and movies that would have been much stronger if someone had just cut off the last chapter or last fifteen minutes.
2) Forget about making it a surprise: If the experiment narrative is an important one, don't try to shove it all into the last few pages. Develop it over the course of the book, in parallel to the main narrative. If you still want a twist, maybe you can withhold the information about how the two narratives intersect. For comparison, consider the first episode of This Is Us where we view several seemingly unrelated plotlines, only to see in the last few minutes how they all connect.
3) Make the ending minimal: This is kind of a combination of options 1 & 2, and essentially the same as @DPT's answer. Write the story in such a way that the twist ending can be explained in a couple sentences, rather than over the course of an extended chapter. "As John and Mable embraced, Dr. Von Brun turned to his assistant. 'Well, that experiment turned out well.'" FADE TO BLACK
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NOTE: I am answering the original question about surprise endings.
As a general rule, surprises and twists are welcome. Readers enjoy predicting the outcome and we don't always like to be right. The surprise can't be out of the blue or implausible. But rather, a possibility that was always there, even if the reader didn't think of it.
What you're talking about is the kind of surprise where everything is revealed to have been fake. "It was all a dream." Or, in your case, "it was all an experiment."
Not the sort of surprise that endears authors to readers.
You need to give the reader an investment in the outcome. Don't let your reader feel cheated, that they became emotionally involved with characters who weren't real (in the sense that characters are real to be begin with). That they cared about struggles that were, in the universe of the book, completely fake.
For your ending, foreshadowing is not enough. You need to bring your reader in on the punchline. Or at least make it a strong possible explanation for what's happening. One book where this works is Sophie's World. It starts off as a regular narrative but turns out to be one big philosophy class.
Leave the reader guessing but don't leave her/him in the dark.
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