Paul
• • •
That Crouch Kilborn guy is a dick.
Joe
• • •
Done - a sequence from MIDNIGHT MASS.
Paul
• • •
1. She still holds out hope that Clay somehow survived.
Nothing wrong with hope. But he and Alice are together in that Great Shooting Range in the Sky.
2. She guessed Mortenson was Moorecook the moment he picked up the kid.
That’s because she’s smart (choice of spouse notwithstanding.)
3. She didn’t like it saying “the end.” because Driscoll and the Zeke scene were unresolved, she felt it should end with “To be continued…”
No reason we can’t put “(Not)” or “(Not really…)” beneath it. We’ve been having fun with the readers all along. Why stop now?
4. She’s pissed we killed everyone.
Not Shanna and not Moorecook. But this IS horror fiction, not romance, so a happy ending is not guaranteed.
That said, I’m not a fan of epilogues in general and this one is no exception. Ending with the baby nursing on Moorecook’s blood hints that the story is going to ramp up to another level. The epilogue puts us back to square one: the start of another epidemic. I’ll go with what the majority decides, but that’s my $0.02.
Paul
• • •
“Blake, gimme a call and I’ll put you on the phone with my wife.”
Oh hell.
Blake
• • •
I see what Paul’s saying to this extent…end with current epilogue (which can become a deleted scene) it ends with oh, the thing continues. End with Mort saying I have plans, we get a sense that it’s escalating into maybe a world-wide thing, which is very cool. I’m still on the fence…
Blake
• • •
I’m fine with using the epilogue as an alternate ending or extra scene, and omitting it from the main manuscript. Or using at as Chapter 1 of DRACULAS 2. I’m not nearly as interested in a government dracula testing lab as I am a werewolf outbreak. New genre, new toys, new monsters.
My son just finished reading the book. Liked it. Was pissed Clay died.
I’m also pissed Clay died. That’s 3 for 3 in the Konrath house for at least making it more ambiguous.
Stacie and Randall had poetic death scenes that were emotional.
Adam’s was heroic. Jenny’s was the end of Night of the Living Dead, which had been my intention when thinking up this scenario.
Clay’s death is like a bad joke, without the laughter. He’s hands down the favorite character. While the other deaths make sense, this one seems cruel. Even in a horror book.
He’s your creation, Paul. If you want him to die, we won’t fight you on it.
But I’m directing the hate mail I get to you. And in talking to my wife and son, I’m gonna get hate mail.
I think we could head off that hate mail if he grabs Alice, the building explodes, and his last thought is, “Oh, shit.” Then there’s always the possibility he comes back.
Joe
• • •
By the way, Paul, it’s your own damn fault for writing a great, likable character.
Joe
• • •
I think he’s gotta die. It brings a certain closure.
In DEEP AS THE MARROW I had a character named Poppy who I had to kill because her arc demanded it. I got tons of angry mail. But you know what? People remember that book because Poppy died. If I’d found a way to let her live, it might have been, Meh.
Look, I can take out the fusing with Alice scene and leave it a little ambiguous, leave a little hope. If we do a sequel, and we want to bring him back, we can find a way.
Paul
• • •
I vote for leaving it ambiguous.
Joe
• • •
I vote strongly against making it ambiguous. If Clay is on the roof when the hospital explodes, he’s dead. We’ve gotta play fair. Suggesting that we might offer some sort of implausible explanation in the sequel for how he survived isn’t going to placate readers.
I also vote to get rid of the epilogue, which makes the book feel like we’re trying to set up two different sequels.
Jeff
• • •
Clay isn’t on the roof. He’s down a few floors.
Here’s the thing, guys. We’re releasing this as an ebook, and before it goes live 200 people are going to review it.
I love nihilistic endings. I thought the end to The Mist was one of the greatest endings in modern horror films.
Word of mouth killed The Mist in its first week, and it tanked at the box office.
Do we want to have a big ebook launch with an average two and a half star rating?
This isn’t like a paperback, where the majority of customers won’t see the reviews. Every potential customer will see the reviews and the star rating on the same Amazon page they download the ebook. Bad reviews will kill sales.
Am I saying compromise artistic integrity and pander to the audience? No.
Am I saying allow a character that readers have grown fond of a chance to survive? Yes.
We’re not making some sort of social commentary or statement with this ebook. It’s just supposed to be gory fun. But it loses some of the fun factor if we annihilate 90% of the cast.
Lanz, dead.
Benny, dead.
Randall, dead.
Oasis, dead.
Jenny, dead.
Adam, dead,
Stacie, dead.
Clay, dead.
Then secondary characters like Winslow, Brittany, Grammy Ann, and Herrick, all dead.
Mort and Shanna are the only POV characters that survive, and one is the main villain.
This isn’t nearly are serious as my other horror novels, but more of the heroes survive in those.
I think we should at least allow for the possibility that Clay lives. This is a classic case of Pascal’s Wager. We have a lot to lose, but everything to gain. What does it hurt to give Clay an ambiguous fate?
