Shoutout to the editor who killed that weird epilogue in my favorite crime novel

I was reading this gritty detective series set in Portland, right, and the main book ended perfectly with the case solved and the detective walking away from the precinct. Then I found a special edition that had an original ending the author wrote first, and oh man it was bad. The original ending had the detective wake up from a coma and realize the whole case was a dream, like literally a dream. It totally ruined the whole gritty buildup and all the real stakes. The published version just ended with him putting his keys on the hook and closing the door, simple and perfect. That editor saved the whole series. Has anyone else dug up an author's first draft and been glad it got cut?

2 comments

2 Comments

lily893d ago

Oh man, the coma dream ending is such a lazy cop-out, it's practically a writing crime in itself. Did the author ever explain why they thought that was a good idea in the first place? I'm always curious what kind of pressure or bad advice leads someone to almost tank their own work like that.

zara_perez623d ago

Wait wait wait. You're telling me the author actually came out and SAID that was the intended ending? Like they weren't even embarrassed by it? That's wild. I mean I get writer's block is a thing but yikes.