101 Writing Tips from an Exhausted Reviewer

Open-Ended Stories

Once upon a time, I left a chocolate cake in the kitchen. It was a beautiful chocolate cake--rich and creamy, with caramelised macadamias lining the dripping icing.

I fell in love with her, and she fell in love with me. By the third night of her watching me from the marble counter, I knew she was the one.

I bought a ring made of sour candy and jelly the very next day. I ordered a wedding dress for myself, too. I printed out thousands of invitations for all the beautiful people who leave comments on my stories.

But when I came home... she was gone.

The End.

And that's it. That's the whole chapter. I hope you enjoyed! Catch you next time for the next chapter on why astronauts would look better in pink!

Just kidding. Let's talk about the monstrosity you've just read!

The above passage was an example of a very rushed, very random open-ended story. Basically, instead of completing the story with a clear narrative, an open-ended story wraps up the story in a way that the reader has to draw their own conclusions about what has happened.

In the above example, there really could have been any reason the chocolate cake disappeared. Maybe she fell in love with a rich cheesecake and married him instead. Maybe she got eaten by another person. Maybe the whole story was just written to show readers that there is no such thing as a happy ending.

Who knows! As a reader, you get to draw your own conclusions--no matter how bizarre. Usually, the stories are written in a way that there are a few common interpretations. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure most of you presumed the cake just got eaten because... well, it is a cake.

Though, some of y'all have shown me some of your whacky ideas. I'm sure at least one of you thought that maybe the chocolate cake turned into an alpha werewolf with a six-pack and married every single member of BTS or One Direction.

Anyways! A while ago, one of my dear readers asked me to talk about open-ended stories. Specifically, they wanted to know if I liked them. This year, I made it my mission to try finding a few more open-ended stories to see if I did like them. So far, I have enjoyed most of them. However, there have been some where I finished the story and just... Why was it necessary, Colleen, to make the story open-ended, when all it really did was make 90% of your plot completely and utterly pointless?

I digress.

So, my opinion on open-ended stories is this: I like if it is done well. I do not like it if it is not done well.

Now, I will say that there are different levels to open-ended stories. There are no official levels, but I am going to come up with my own levels. Because, you know, even though I have no real writing qualifications, I nearly married a slice of chocolate cake. That basically makes me an expert in writing.

1. AS OPEN AS A BOOK.

In some open-ended stories, only a small part of the story is really open-ended. I always see a classic example in romance novels--the couple splits up, but they have lingering feelings, and in the final chapter, they confess those feelings to one another. Then, they hold hands and gaze into the sunset. However, it is never told whether they end up dating or getting married or even if they ever see each other again. That being said, as the reader, we will feel a sense of closure since they were able to confess their feelings and it is strongly implied that they plan on staying together.

2. AS OPEN AS A SOMEWHAT OPEN WINDOW.

In other open-ended stories, it's a little less subtle. We have worlds being destroyed in fantasy/sci-fi novels, and at the end, while the bad guy is currently defeated--it is strongly implied that he plans on returning soon. In that case, there's a hint of open-endedness to the story; we don't see the protagonists fix up the rubble, and we don't get final closure of the bad guy being gone for good. However, we still get a bit of closure, because the current battle was won and we know our loved characters live another day.