How often have you reached the end of a novel and felt let down by the ending? If it happens to me, it can ruin the whole book. But, speaking as a writer, finding the best way to end a book can be daunting, too. Apparently Ernest Hemingway felt the same way. After many different attempts at finishing A Farewell to Arms he finally ended up with “But after I got them to leave and shut the door and turned off the light it wasn’t any good. It was like saying good-by to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.” It makes you wonder how bad the other endings were.
But I digress. A couple of weeks ago, Scribner Classics, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, published a copy of the novel with all 47 (count ’em) alternative endings. One thought is that it will cheer frustrated writers up to know that even the great Hemingway had trouble coming up with an ending. Personally, I now feel depressed because I can barely come up with a couple of last lines, never mind 47.
Read tomorrow’s post for a possible solution…