Give the reader's what they want? Alternate endings

[SinderellaSin]

When I wrote my last story it was based on actual events, so I knew the ending before I started. Unfortunately not every story has its happy ending. This morning I had an anonymous response saying about the ending. Now for the sake of the series the prequel ends the way it does, but in my head I'm thinking of writing a sliding doors moment. Instead of running away from the parents, the two stand together and say what they have is right. Giving it a happy ending. I wonder what this would do with the votes.

Thoughts on alternate endings?

 

[TheRedChamber]

Honestly, its not unusual for me to end up with different endings based on beta reader feedback, but I also feel like doing multiple endings is also too much of an author's indulgence. On the other hand, this is Literotica and not the Booker prize, so if you fancy having a crack at it, why not?

 

[dirk2024]

Thoughts on alternate endings?

If you'll enjoy the creation of it, why not? It might depend on how long the different ending is as it might get bulky at the end.

For me, I usually have the ending in mind early in the process, so I'm locked in on the ending. Unless something happens along the way to veer me away from what my goal was.

 

[Britva415]

Me, I don't downvote very much but I do nope-out of stories which I just find stupid. For the author to not pick a definitive ending, that would very probably push that button for me.

Are you talking about changing the ending and re-publishing edits to the story? Or deleting the story and starting over with a different ending? Or has this question not got to do with the story in question at all? Is it about future works?

I think there would be a way to write a singular story which self-consciously presents two different endings as part of a single manuscript - really, both "endings" being part of the unitary start-to-finish narrative. I personally would have less of an objection to that than to a story which just "has alternate endings" somehow. Like, just decide and publish that one, that's my own attitude.

So, how would it be presented? How would you publish alternate endings?

 

[NaughteeDragon]

An alternate ending is just an opportunity to write a new story. The ending should be inevitable by the time you get there. So that means if you’re going to change end ing you should have to change several events throughout the story.

 

[SinderellaSin]

So i have spent the last few hours changing a real life moment that ended unhappily and giving it a happy ending. I wont publish it as part of the series but as a moment life can change. Fate shows its hand. In one moment you run and flee or you take a stand and life changes.

Playing god with my characters. If it were true I wouldn't be here. Does the reader deserve that happy ending even in literotica. Or is this me saying how fate changes lives. How one moment changes lives.

 

[Bamagan]

You might consider using a Story Game to explore alternate endings, or even alternate paths to the same ending (everybody cums and goes to sleep, yay).
My one foray into the field wasn't a game in the traditional sense. It had an opening chapter, two possible intermediate chapters, and each of those had two alternate endings to make four total outcomes; seven chapters in all. The coding for such a structure is relatively simple, since it requires only a few binary choices as opposed to a bunch of attributes that have to be recorded and looked up and displayed if, for example, the reader can re-name the characters or choose the size of their tits/dick/etc.

 

[DeMont]

When I wrote my last story it was based on actual events, so I knew the ending before I started. Unfortunately not every story has its happy ending. This morning I had an anonymous response saying about the ending. Now for the sake of the series the prequel ends the way it does, but in my head I'm thinking of writing a sliding doors moment. Instead of running away from the parents, the two stand together and say what they have is right. Giving it a happy ending. I wonder what this would do with the votes.

Thoughts on alternate endings?

@SindarellaSin,
Good morning my dear colleague. An interesting question you have posed, I'll say that. We're not wondering whether "truth is stranger than fiction" rather, "is truth better than fiction?"

For my part I am always going to err on the side of truth, by nature but then again I tend to be polite and deferential (unless they throw the first punch LOL) as opposed to brutally honest. In my writing I go where the story leads me. I've said, often enough, we writers are the tools of our Muse and stories will tell themselves just as they should and how they should.

In your example, I personally, would have stayed with the original ending regardless of votes and ratings. I write "my" stories the way I want and how I want (or, rather, how my Muse wants)

If I were to change the "natural" course of events I would want to be absolutely sure that any alternate (fantasy) ending stayed with the flow of the story as a whole. A good story with an "odd" ending will, to my way of thinking, hardly please a lot of readers.

Most respectfully,
D.

 

[Statius]

@SindarellaSin,
Good morning my dear colleague. An interesting question you have posed, I'll say that. We're not wondering whether "truth is stranger than fiction" rather, "is truth better than fiction?"

For my part I am always going to err on the side of truth, by nature but then again I tend to be polite and deferential (unless they throw the first punch LOL) as opposed to brutally honest. In my writing I go where the story leads me. I've said, often enough, we writers are the tools of our Muse and stories will tell themselves just as they should and how they should.

In your example, I personally, would have stayed with the original ending regardless of votes and ratings. I write "my" stories the way I want and how I want (or, rather, how my Muse wants)

If I were to change the "natural" course of events I would want to be absolutely sure that any alternate (fantasy) ending stayed with the flow of the story as a whole. A good story with an "odd" ending will, to my way of thinking, hardly please a lot of readers.

Most respectfully,
D.

Agree. You write an entire story, creating a character, that ending has to make sense to you, the writer. I have a character that multiple people told me should move towards a free use life style, but it's so far from the character I created that there's just no way I would do that. I think some readers are just interested in the sex, not the character or story built around them.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I've seen it done, particularly with those playing in the mud of February Sucks and associated rewrites. Though I've fixed a couple of endings after the fact, I've never considered creating an alternate one. It's an intriguing concept.

 

[IWroteThis]

An alternate ending is just an opportunity to write a new story. The ending should be inevitable by the time you get there. So that means if you’re going to change end ing you should have to change several events throughout the story.

While that might be true in a general sense, it's not a tautology.

It's quite possible to write a character such that a crucial decision they have to make late in the story could go either way without violating their character up to that point. Since it could go either way, you could easily write an alternate ending by reversing that decision.

Then, with how many stories suddenly alter the characters to shoehorn in an unbelievable ending, there are a lot of potential alternate endings that wouldn't require rewriting anything prior to that sudden shift.

 

[IWroteThis]

I've never written an alternate ending because a reader asked me to, but I did write one because a reader claimed that the story was completely predictable and couldn't have ended any other way. I accepted that challenge and wrote a different ending.

The one time I wrote an alternative ending, it was because one of the characters didn't like the original one. I ended up with two different endings in my head, so I wrote the second version and published them both at the same time.

Another time I went the route of splitting the differing ideas into two separate and independent stories, then tried to post both at the same time.

But, back to your actual question. If a reader's comment leads to me developing a viable alternate ending in my head, I'll happily write and post it. However, if it just makes me shrug, that will be the end of it.

 

[nice90sguy]

You might consider using a Story Game to explore alternate endings, or even alternate paths to the same ending (everybody cums and goes to sleep, yay).

This is probably the strongest use-case for a story game. It's currently not possible to use even the simplest formatting tags instory games, unfortunately, not even italics.

 

[UnexpectedLuggage]

You do you.

I've had my share of "this should have happened at the end" type comments, but I just ignore them.

Maybe it's pigheaded of me to say this, but my stories end exactly how I want them to end. If I wanted them to end differently in the first place, then they would have ended differently.  Maybe if I went back and reread one and said "holy shit, what was I thinking?" I'd change it? But considering my stories are based on fantasies/dreams of mine, the ending is what it is.

 

[Paul_Chance]

I'd say just go ahead and do it. In any fiction, it's all about can you pull it off. Done well, it will get acclaim. Done poorly, it will get scorn. With this being Lit, you'll get a mix of both I'm sure.