Cheater

“And then I woke and realized it was all a dream.”

My creative outlet of choice lies in illustration, particularly sequential storytelling. What I learned very early is that the medium lends itself very well to the fantastic and that one uses a combination of mundane actions and over the top extravagant actions to help the reader reach an understanding of a moral, consequence, or idea. Ending a story, regardless of length or quality in the manner that everything of consequence was simply a dream never ends well. It’s lying to the reader and at the very end; it doesn’t mean anything because all of it is intangible at the end. The creator of a story can lie, smudge the truth, or be entirely honest- as long as the message they are trying to get across remains intact.

I have a friend, who is actually a real writer, brought this subject up not too long ago. His rage towards ending a story in such a manner was so fierce that petitioning a law to perform genocide on pink ribbons would seem more rational. I remained silent during this diatribe on the merits of storytelling, but believe me when I say it was a sight to behold.

Why do some creators do it? I don’t really know actually. The closest rational I have is that it’s a surprise or shock to the audience. That a comfort or understanding is removed and that the reader or watcher is left dumbfounded, and always- unsatisfied. There is only one form of entertainment that I find this type of lying acceptable- magic acts. Murder mysteries and books with surprise endings still work, because in the end the audience isn’t alienated. So if one could perform a series of magic act / murder mysteries, that person would be an overnight millionaire.

I believe a creator can shock and surprise without completely detaching the audience. Let’s say one writes an 800+ page novel about a defense attorney who tries to get an innocent man off death row. The last paragraph reads as following-

It was at that moment that inspiration dawned on Susan. The evidence that would get Henderson off Death Row was in front of her the entire time. Fate smiled down on her as photos from the crime scene fell from her desk to lay out an epiphany of why Henderson couldn’t have possibly committed that violent double homicide those many Novembers ago. Suddenly a unicorn smashes through the window. But it wasn’t s unicorn as much as it was a donkey with one horn. The ‘donkicorn’ uses it’s magical horn and pierces a demonic teddy bear that had been secretly stalking Susan the entire time. Afterwards, Susan gets Henderson out of jail. Henderson then in turn let’s the donkicorn roam free in his ranch in Wisconsin.

Would that be an immensely horrible ending? Absolutely. I’d be convinced that the majority of would just say the author in a psychotic drug binge just simply gave up, rather then the book was a waste of time or that they feel cheated.

Why did I feel like I needed to bring this up? I saw a street preacher today and was amazed at the ability to enrapture an audience with one’s actual or perceived truth. I like drawing elves, robots, and monsters. I lie all the time when I’m trying to tell a story. I can’t use only truths to tell a story. That’s not the type of storyteller I am.

So I simply strive for one goal:
To become a better liar.