Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41800
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41800
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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.**

Original score: 2