New e-book has 11 possible endings, based on your mood
A new e-book, set to be released next month, has several possible conclusions. The ending is determined based on the readers’ answers to a quiz taken before starting the book.
How many times have you read a book only to be disappointed by the ending? As we all have different tastes and expectations, I suppose it’s inevitable that at least some of us will be left feeling dissatisfied by an otherwise excellent book. That is, until now. Author Caroline Smailes has created a new e-book that has eleven possible endings. In a modern-day choose-your-own-adventure style e-book, called “99 Reasons Why,” the reader is provided with a series of multiple-choice questions before they begin reading – about colours, numbers, and objects – where the answers will determine which ending is chosen for them, based on their mood and preferences.
In a recent interview with The Independent, Smailes said, “Different readers will have different reactions, interpretations and feelings about the story, depending on which ending they choose. This is the reader taking responsibility for the ending.” The Independent article also says:
The idea came to its Newcastle-born author, Caroline Smailes, on hearing that some readers wished the dark stories in her two earlier books had had less gloomy dénouements.
For her latest work she decided to make every reader go away contented, with endings ranging from a “happily ever after” to a grisly Quentin Tarantino outcome. Star Wars and Brief Encounters versions are among others.
Quite frankly, I’m surprised it’s taken so long for someone to come up with this idea. I’m not, however, convinced I like the concept, although I can see the appeal for others. Personally, I want to read a book that has a solid ending, one in which the author has finalised the lives of the characters. I’m not really sure why I feel this way, but I do. If I knew, for example, that the main character of one of my favourite books doesn’t live “happily ever after” in a different version, I feel like it would take some of the magic away from the story. Call me crazy, but there it is.
How do you feel about this new style of e-book? Love it or hate it? And if you could change the ending of your favourite book, would you? Leave a comment and share your thoughts!
[Source: The Independent]
There is something to be said about knowing ending of a story. How else would you discuss a book with a friend? Or how would you produce a movie? It loses its effect when multiple endings can be manipulated due to an individuals mood. Would you be able to return and change the book to see its “original” ending?
Looking at books such as Choose Your Own Adventure, the combinations were endless, though I could never fully enjoy the book due to me not “choosing” the correct “adventure” and thus dying or getting caught by the troll.
I believe a better approach would be to select perpectives of characters instead of jumping about the endings due to your mood. You can still do a movie, and still be able to have multiple accounts of the SAME events and be able to write a story accordingly. Changes in moods can thus be iterated by characters perspective rather than changes in events.
You read it here first! Lol
I like the idea, if it’s executed well. It’s similar to the problem with writing storylines for computer RPGs where there is more than one possible outcome, depending on the player/reader’s actions throughout the game. Reading is a little more passive, but it still requires the reader to engage their imagination, and so long as the writing is good, and the different endings all seamlessly segue from the story without drastically altering the reader’s perceptions of the characters and direction of the plot, I don’t see why it can’t work.
Obviously a choose-your-own-adventure-style book is going to have much less serious, critical impact in the literary world, but people read for different reasons, and not every story told has to be some literary prize winner.
If anything, the fan fiction genre has shown how, if readers/fans are dissatisfied with a story or the outcomes of the character relationships, they will happily rewrite the story themselves, sometimes with impressive results.
I love to read books that engage my imagination and the ending is immaterial if the story has been told well. This multiple ending scenario would not work well with serial books such as written by Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum or Clive Cussler whose characters are established from book to book. I like knowing a characters history and personality.
What if Joanne K. Rowling had written multiple endings to the first of her Harry Potter series? I doubt very much they would have been the success they surely have been and will continue to be.
Multiple endings belong to the video game crowd, not to the well honed mind of a reader.
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