Thursday, July 5, 2012

One Story-Three endings

I have been working on this one young adult book for over a year now. One thing slowing me down is that I have three ideas of how to end it, but I don't know which one I like best. The first is kind of spiritual in nature and leaves readers with a warm fuzzy feeling. The second leaves the reader hanging, mysterious, and one the reader can decide who they think a certain character is. The third is a creepy, kinda of a twist ending. None of which where in my head when I began writing the book. So, what do I do?

My daughter suggested writing all three endings and before the last chapter write if like a spiritual ending go to page # and so on for each ending, but I'm not sure if this would work. Would young adult readers like to read a book that contains alternate endings? I'm kind of intrigued by the idea, but not sure if any publisher would be interested, but there is always self-publishing it as a Kindle book.

Until I decide how to end the book, I cannot finish it. But, I must figure something out soon, because I'd really love to finish this book.

In this book, Hobo, Caleb is the main character and a kind of soft-hearted good kid, and his best friend, Mark, is a troublemaker, and gets Caleb in trouble at times.  The story takes place in the mid-70s and begins when a derelict makes a home under a bridge and Mark talks Caleb into going down to the bridge and spy on the Hobo. While there, the boys have an encounter with him, which ends up with Mark throwing a branch at the homeless man and hitting him in the head. Later that night, Caleb returns with bandages, aspirin and food  and finds the Hobo is not scary at all, but  a man with amnesia. He vows to find out who Hobo is and reunite him with his family. The ending changes depending on what Caleb discovers about this mysterious hobo.

I guess the best way to do this is write all three endings and ask my review group which they like best. You never now, once I get them all written, I may decide that one is better than the other two. :)

Happy Reading!

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