25. A METROPOLITAN WRITING INSTITUTE
INSTRUCTOR IS UNBORN
I’ve noted elsewhere that a good ending is both surprising and inevitable. It elicits two responses. The first response: “Oh my God!” The second: “But of course!”
Most novels end poorly. They fail to surprise or they do so in ways that are, if not absurd, implausible. Much of the blame for this tendency can be laid at the foot of editors and publishers who, for reasons entirely their own, prefer unfinished novels for which they pay hefty advances to finished ones they could get for a song.
It has long been my wish to write a novel whose ending subverts readers’ expectations in every way, to the point of arousing their fury and even possibly driving them insane — but that’s also not only inevitable, but, in retrospect, entirely o
