Your Writing Coach

For a contrast to Tuesday's post, I'd like to talk about a subversive ending that I adore. I'm talking about one of my first literary loves: Animorphs.

If you don't know, Animorphs by K.A. Applegate (now known as Katherine Applegate) is a middle grade series about a group of kids who gain the power to turn into animals and have to use this power to fight off a secret alien invasion of the Earth. It was huge for kids in the 00s. The premise is one that might have been pretty playful under another author, but Applegate made it far more complex. There were numerous alien species with different agendas. A range of political views even within the different species. There were hard moral questions in nearly every book and those kids were undeniably explicitly traumatized a dozen times over. The body horror was real.

Animorphs is having a bit of a renaissance right now and a lot of it is from grown-up fans remembering the dark and scary parts, but I want to emphasize that there were also other sides to the series. There were hilarious jokes about a tiny species, an alien toilet, a skunk attack, and desperately chasing a butterfly. (Not to mention the running gag around cinnamon buns!) There were fun slice-of-life scenes from playing video games, shopping at the mall, and two of the kids developing crushes on each other. It was a series that could feel genuinely light-hearted.

For me at the time, I saw it as an adventure story. There were dangerous things going on, but it was always going to end with the catharsis of the Animorphs ultimately winning and saving the world. To be fair, the series had about 60 books overall, coming out at least once a month (yes there were ghost writers). They kind of had to fall back into a stable status quo by the end of most of them. I was getting a little too old for Animorphs by the time the series ended, but I did make a point of reading the last few volumes. How could I not? I had to see my friends win!

And the thing is...they did win. It just didn't have the catharsis I had expected.

There are plenty of stories out there with dark themes that end with the heroes seemingly all set to live happy, fulfilled lives afterwards. Animorphs isn't one of them. My favorite character died. The two kids with the cute crushes tried to date but were too torn apart by the war to make it work. The leader went on trial for war crimes. And it all ultimately transitioned into the beginning of another war.

It was an ending that made me really sad, but also confused. Why was this how a kids' series ended? I was far from the only fan who felt that way apparently, because K.A. Applegate published a letter in response.

She explained that Animorphs is ultimately a series about the horrors of war. The suffering. The moral dilemmas. The irreparable damage that comes even when right and wrong seem truly clear-cut. There's no such thing as being fine after a war. So, as future voters, we should consider very carefully if the price was worth it the next time world leaders started arguing for an invasion.

I reread that letter sometimes and it never fails to make me cry.

Now, Applegate also expressed surprise in the letter, surprise that any of us would go in expecting a simple, happy ending to the series. I don't think that's fair. There was a reasonable balance of themes, but more than that, even today there are very few war stories that would dare end by saying anything so nuanced, let alone to kids. Personally, I think Applegate's letter should have been put into the last book itself. An author's note to guide us and give a little insight.

I don't think all books need to explain themselves. There's certainly value in leaving readers to think for themselves. But when it comes to a genre story choosing to go against the most basic conventions of the narrative arc, I think it often makes a material difference for the author to offer some thoughts about why they did it.

I freely admit that this one is a matter of personal preference, but it's my blog and this has been bothering me.

I really hate it when stories end with the characters figuring out that they're fictional. To me it just undermines my investment in the rest of the story and feels almost insulting. None of that was real. Why did you care, idiot?

It's a frustrating hang-up to have because there are some very well-regarded stories that go this way. For example, there's I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (most famously known for The Book Thief). It has a lot of really positive reviews and I absolutely despise it. That's because I loved the first 2/3s so much. The story and characters were captivating. The mystery intrigued me. I was eager to find out how it all fit together and then....The answer was that it didn't. The main character had a conversation with the author. The author said "You're here to be a motivational example for people who don't value their lives enough."

I was so furious. It felt condescending and like the author just completely gave up on trying to convey his message with any sense of subtlety. Moreover, it felt like he had written himself into a corner and just decided to give up on coming up with a satisfying conclusion to everything he'd written.

I'm not arguing that Zusak is a bad writer. He's won enough awards to make that a tough claim and I certainly enjoyed MOST of the book. But this ending emphatically didn't work for me. I've been furious about it for over a decade now.

I have a wary relationship with endings that take a sharp left turn in general. Sometimes it can be done well, but usually it leaves me annoyed and feeling vaguely betrayed. The reason we have genres and blurbs is to help us find stories we'll enjoy. I don't think there's any shame in wanting to have a loose sense of what we're in for when we start a new book.

Brash, insightful characters can be very useful for giving the reader insights about other characters, especially protagonists who don't want to admit their true feelings. However, you have to be careful. A knowing bestie, parent, or coworker can quickly go from offering entertaining insight to just being a transparent tool for the author's hand.

I especially see this in romance when one or both leads are being stubborn about acknowledging their attraction. Someone close to them will say, "Obviously you're in love with them! Stop denying it and go make out already!" Which can be fun, though I think it's becoming an overused trope.

The problem comes when this side character keeps pushing for this relationship. Constantly begging for details, guilting or otherwise manipulating the protagonist, and generally acting like they have no life outside of the hero's romantic drama. It's annoying, but worse it suggests that your leads would be incapable of coming together without constant external force. That doesn't exactly demonstrate true love.

Consider instead friends who support the lead no matter what they want in the moment. Parents who are more concerned about their grown child eating enough. Coworkers who just want the drama over one way or another so the protagonist can focus on their assignments again.