It\u2019s not that I\u2019m in a fight. But I\u2019m disagreeing with someone and as polite as we\u2019re being, as much as I rate the fella, we\u2019ve come back to the same point many times this year and neither of us will budge. I can\u2019t actually tell you the details because it\u2019s about a book of his that isn\u2019t out yet \u2013 and, besides, if you knew everything then you might take his side. <\/p>\n
But I can try to present a case to you that I think applies generally to writing and drama and fiction. And by chance it also applies very directly and specifically to a piece of my own that I\u2019ve been working on this week.<\/p>\n
In both mine and this fella\u2019s, the last moments are key. With mine it\u2019s a radio play and it\u2019s all about the penultimate sentence. With his novel, it\u2019s about the past page.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s much further down the line with his piece than I am so I got to read it finished and as one of several readers he asked for opinions. I can tell you that my summary opinion was that it\u2019s bloody good and so scary that I was reading bits through my fingers. <\/p>\n
Only, he wanted to know a specific opinion about a specific thing. What exactly did I think the last page meant? I told him and actually felt a bit on the spot because while it was excellent and maybe a key reason I like the entire novel, what I thought about it seemed bleedin\u2019 obvious to me. But of however many readers he\u2019d had, apparently I was the only one who understood it.<\/p>\n
Bully for me. <\/p>\n
Except because of this, he plans to change the ending. To make it clearer. And that\u2019s our fight: whether he should or not. Now, he\u2019s going to win because it\u2019s his book but in the middle of our emails about it, I stood up to make my point. I actually stood up even though we were emailing. I got to my feet because I am so certain that I am right. I\u2019m never certain I\u2019m right and yet here I am, standing up and steadfast.<\/p>\n
His ending is a real punch to the throat, it is the kind of powerful head-jolt moment that a writer would give their last kidney for. He argues that this doesn\u2019t matter, that it\u2019s worthless if most people don\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n
I argue that there is no possible, possible way to simplify this single-point ending yet also keep its power.<\/p>\n
So his position is that it\u2019s better to have something every reader gets. And mine is that if you do this, then what they get is tepid water when they could\u2019ve had moonshine-strength alcohol. He wants something for everyone, I want something brilliant. I envy this man\u2019s writing and one of the reasons is this power that he\u2019s willing to throw away.<\/p>\n
Let me describe my own nearest equivalent, the thing I\u2019m writing this week. It\u2019s also not out yet and it\u2019s actually so early days that the odds are it will never reach an audience or at least not in this form. Nonetheless, it\u2019s mine so I can tell you that the penultimate line is someone saying her name.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s all. Just her name. It\u2019s a point in the play when I officially reveal that someone is really someone else \u2013 and it comes about 40 minutes after the audience will have figured that out anyway. Only, I want the audience to be ahead of me here because when they finally hear the name spoken, it then tells them a second fact that they will not have got. I do like the trick of it, I do like the surprise, but it\u2019s also important for the character and what she\u2019s been going through.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019m proud of this next part: I wrote that line, I wrote the sentence that is simply her saying her name, and in that context, at that point, it made me cry at the keyboard. Honestly. Consequently that single line is the reason I must get this play made. The power in that penultimate line is my reason for writing it at all.<\/p>\n
I just know both that audiences will have guessed the first part of it and also that given where it sits in the play, some will miss its import. Inescapably, you know the play is ending when you get to this line and I think it\u2019s a beat that comes after you expect all of the plot and character to be done with.<\/p>\n
Perhaps I could move it up earlier, but then it wouldn\u2019t have the bang. I could skip it completely and just end the play a moment sooner. Accept that it\u2019s no longer an ending, it\u2019s just where the play finishes. <\/p>\n
But this sentence is an end, it is the snapping of the suitcase being closed on the story. It\u2019s also the best sentence I\u2019ve ever written, so, you know, there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s not that I\u2019m in a fight. But I\u2019m disagreeing with someone and as polite as we\u2019re being, as much … Continue reading