THE END?

One question I’ve been asked more and more is what my original ending was for Enemies of Doves. If you’ve followed my journey at all, you’ll know that my first editor forced me to change the ending! 😉 Well, maybe forced is too strong a word, but she STRONGLY encouraged it.

If you haven’t read Enemies of Doves, you probably want to turn back here. I’m going to try to answer without being too spoilery, but I will be discussing the ending and the mood of the ending in vague terms.

When I first started writing, I already knew what my final scene would be. I could see it clearly and feel the emotion of it. It was the scene in the prison that is now right before the ending of the book.

I’m not really a happy ending type girl. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I enjoy it when a character gets everything they wanted, but I also like endings that make me ugly cry. In short, I like the ending that best serves the story and sometimes happily ever after just doesn’t ring true.

A prime example for me was The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman. It’s one of my favorite books, and also the book that made me cry longer and harder than any other book I’ve read. It made me question my own morals… in short it made me feel deeply. Lucy-Grace tracking down Tom after Isabel had died was just about as bittersweet as an ending could be. Would have it been beautiful if they all had been reunited? Of course, but I don’t think it would have stuck with me all these years later. It certainly wouldn’t have prompted me to pull over my car  so I could sob on the side of the road like a crazy person. The book had a tragic mood all the way through, so a happy ending would have felt forced and fake in my opinion. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah is another ending that was perfect, in spite of things not working out perfectly for the characters. This is the kind of feel I wanted for Enemies of Doves.

My grandma was a first reader and editor of my book and kindly suggested I may want to change something about the ending. I told her thanks, but I just didn’t see any way I could work that out. She proceeded to tell me her version of ending where it did work out. This is the same grandma who made me read The Gone with the Wind sequel, Scarlett, before her because she couldn’t bear to read it if Scarlett and Rhett didn’t end up together. She said, “The first time I read it, I just knew she’d get him back after the book ends because she said you would. If I find out all these years later she didn’t, I won’t be able to stand it.” Amazing isn’t it how real characters can become to us? How we imagine them living on beyond the final page.

I took a break when submitting to publishers and agents to hire a developmental editor. A developmental editor’s job has nothing to do with grammar, but everything to do with content. They analyze your plot, your writing, and tell you what works and what doesn’t. The number one thing I needed from her was to cut down my word count so Enemies of Doves would be more marketable.  I had already cut so much that I didn’t think anything else could go. Every word was precious to me. Enter Lourdes Venard, editor extraordinaire.

Lourdes got me down to the word count I needed and greatly improved the entire book, but there was one suggestion she had that I was not very keen on. “I feel you need to change this ending.” She proceeded to give me reasons why, involving what readers expect regarding justice, relationship closure etc etc.

“No way!” was my first response. The ending was a sacred cow, a hill I would die on. I’d change just about anything else but that. “It’s just her opinion” I told my husband. “Yes,” he said gently. “But it is a pretty expensive opinion.”

Yeah okay okay. 😬

So, I got to thinking. I knew the prison scene was staying, but was there something I could add that made it possible for the reader to imagine a happier ending for Joel, Clancy, Lorraine, Garrison, and Molly? It would involve an epilogue, thus me adding words that I’d have to cut from other sections. It would involve going back into the book and adding a few minor details. It would involve me selling out. 😉 Okay, not really on the last one, but it felt like that at first. Yes, I wrote the book for me, but I always wanted people to enjoy it, not throw it across the room.

I spent a long time on the epilogue. I changed it a million times. In the end, I do see it was needed and made the story better. I feel like I got the best of both worlds because I was able to keep the scene I was so attached to, but also got to leave a hopeful ending— a way things could work out better than I initially envisioned them.

One of my favorite things about hearing from readers has been all the “endings after the ending” that they’ve shared with me. I’ve gotten some really good ones, and someday I may share a few.

While we are at it…. there were several other scenes and chapters (Gasp!) that were also cut. Some of my hardest to part with are the following:

1. A scene where Joel sees Dolly at the service station only to chicken out and let Clancy wait on her.
2. A scene later that night when Clancy brings Dolly home.
3. Several war scenes including Clancy’s capture and time at the POW camp.
4. The scene where Clancy’s camp is liberated (I held on to this one till the bitter end, but without the rest of the war scenes it felt out of place in the narrative).
5. Many letters between Clancy and Lorraine

So how about you? What kind of endings do you prefer? If you’ve read Enemies of Doves are you glad there is an epilogue? I’d love for you to comment below or on the Facebook post.

As for me, I guess the lesson I’ve learned is to always trust your editor…and your grandma.