By Hank Phillippi Ryan
Guilty, guilty, guilty. Yes, I’m guilty, and here, in the privacy of Spinetingler, I will confess to it.
Sometimes I read the end of a mystery first.
Okay, not completely first. I’ll read the first chapter, and then, power ahead and read the end. (Don’t groan! Don’t hiss at me and click to another article. Listen. It’s for a reason. And I do go back and read the whole book.)
Before I started writing mysteries, I didn’t read the end first. In the time before PRIME TIME, I read mysteries and thrillers and suspense just the way authors hoped I would. Starting at the beginning, in a really good book turning the pages as fast as I could, and then getting to the end at, well, the end. And that method of reading, time honored, was completely successful.
Then (at age 55, so all of you who are wanting to write but thinking: it’s too late for me—well, it’s not) I started writing PRIME TIME. I had no idea what I was doing, so I powered along, happily typing and churning out pages. Outline? NO way, la dee dah, I was a pantser before I even know what a pantser was. Writing by the seat of my pants. But I figured I knew the story, and who got killed, and how, and who the bad guy was, and certainly, as a result, the ending. I absolutely knew where this book was going.
So one night, late, lying in bed, I was, of course, thinking about the book. I was about half-way through PRIME TIME, maybe forty thousand words. And I had been dipping into a how-to book by G. Miki Hayden. In it, she suggests an exercise where you try out each character as the villain. The point, she said, was to get a deeper view of your characters’ relationships with each other. That made sense to me, and seemed like a fun idea to try.
On the other hand, it also seemed like a waste of time, because I knew who my bad guy was.
But, sleepless in Boston, I gave it a shot. “Person A as the bad guy,” I mused. No, that wouldn’t work. Person B as the bad guy. Hmm. Nope, that wouldn’t work. Person C as the bad guy—nope, that wouldn’t—wait.
Wait. A. Minute.
My brain started racing, careening through my manuscript, checking chapters and mentally turning the pages as fast as I could. Had I—chosen the wrong bad guy? Had I—written half book thinking I knew whodunit—and was I wrong?
I couldn’t believe it. I tried to talk myself out of it (luckily my husband was asleep) but the reality was staring me in the face.
I had chosen the wrong bad guy. It was all I could do not to run down to the study and bang open the computer and pull up the half-done manuscript and check.
The next morning, I realized I was right. To change the ending to the new (and real) villain, all I had to do was change—ah, maybe four of the thousands of words I had already written. The bad guy was already there, lurking in the pages, guilty. I just hadn’t noticed it. And I wrote the thing!
Talk about a surprise ending. I had surprised myself!
And that got me thinking about endings. How, in a well-written mystery or thriller, something about the ending is right there in the beginning. It has to be. That the book is a cohesive whole, every little individual word of it creating the big picture. And when the author brings you to a terrific original unique ending, it makes the whole book work. The puzzle pieces rearrange, right? And you say; oh, now I see what the author was doing!
Shutter Island. Murder on the Orient Express. The Sixth Sense. Whether you like them or not, knowing the ending would make you read the book or see the movie in a different way, right? You would see the clues, you would see the foreshadowing, you would understand what techniques the authors used to fool the reader and how they lure the reader into believing one way–when reality is another. How they play fair—or how they don’t.
Knowing the ending, and reading “for” it, is a wonderful learning experience for me. It lets me reverse- engineer the story and the writing, and understand all the techniques that come into play.
And frankly, it allows me to take more time to enjoy it. When I was reading the new Think of A Number, I realized I was turning pages so quickly to find the secret, I wasn’t really “reading” the words. So—another confession—I asked my husband to just tell me what happened.
I’m not telling you what happened, he said, astonished. That would spoil the whole thing!
No, I said. Not knowing is spoiling it.
So he told me. And it was good. And then I read it, more slowly and even more appreciatively, because I knew what was coming.
And that is why, fellow readers and authors forgive me, I sometimes flip to the end. And then start at the beginning. Yes, I am guilty. Are you, too?
Leave your comment and you’re automatically entered in a draw to win a free copy of one of Hank’s books!
Award-winning investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan is on the air at Boston’s NBC affiliate. Her work has resulted in new laws, people sent to prison, homes removed from foreclosure, and millions of dollars in restitution. Along with her 26 EMMYs, Hank’s won dozens of other journalism honors. She’s been a radio reporter, a legislative aide in the United States Senate and an editorial assistant at Rolling Stone Magazine working with Hunter S. Thompson.
Her first mystery, the best-selling PRIME TIME, won the Agatha for Best First Novel. It was also was a double RITA nominee for Best First Book and Best Romantic Suspense Novel, and a Reviewers’ Choice Award Winner. FACE TIME and AIR TIME are IMBA bestsellers, and AIR TIME was nominated for the AGATHA Award for Best Novel of 2009 and is now an Anthony Nominee for Best Paperback Original.. (Of AIR TIME, Sue Grafton says: “This is first-class entertainment.”) DRIVE TIME, (MIRA/February 2010) just earned a starred review from Library Journal saying it “puts Ryan in a league with Lisa Scottoline.”
Hank’s short story “On The House” won the AGATHA for Best Short Story of 2009, and is now an Anthony nominee and a Macavity nominee.
Hank is on the national board of Mystery Writers of America.
Hank Phillippi Ryan
PRIME TIME *Agatha Winner*
FACE TIME IMBA Bestseller
AIR TIME *2009 Agatha nominee* *2009 Anthony Nominee*
DRIVE TIME Feb. 2010
“On the House *2009 Agatha WINNER* Best Short Story *2009 Anthony and Macavity Nominee*
Authors who would like to contribute an article to Spinetingler Magazine should email spinetinglermag @ gmail . com and address their query to Sandra Ruttan.
Occasionally I skip ahead, but it’s rare. I’ve had the same experience, though, of thinking things are going to go one way and then they go in a completely different direction. Sometimes, our subconscious is ahead of our conscious!
I always read the traditional way and if I haven’t figured out the whodunnit correctly, I go back and find out what I missed and how clever the author hid the clues. I really love it when I’m fooled. It doesn’t happen very often since I started writing though.
Yes, Ruth, that’s so interesting…writing really changes the way we read! (And watch TV and watch movies..sigh.) Oh, yes, it’s such fun to be fooled. I mean–good fooled. Not fooled by something that’s ridiculous.
I couldn’t bear to read the ending out of sequence. Like Ruth, I go back through the book, sometimes re-reading the whole thing, to find the clues and study the structure of the book.
Oh, yes, Julie, I know…my husband agrees with you. And, okay, I don’t always do it. But sometimes I can’t resist.
I also ask people to tell me the endings of movies. They say: no! yo don;t want to know. And I say, yes, I do. It’s more relaxing that way. (dodging cyber-paper wads now..)
Hank, your description of writing your first mystery really resonated with me. For “Heron Island,” I started out with an idea of who had died, but I wasn’t even sure at first if it was a murder (then I said to myself, “Don’t be silly–you’re writing a murder mystery. Of course it was.”) But I let it evolve until I “found out” who the murderer was after I’d created the characters, and besides being fun to write that way, it felt more organic. All that said, the only time I skip to the end of a mystery is on the rare occasions I realize I just don’t like the book enough to read any further. But I do often go back through it again, if it’s a good one, and see how it was done.
I’ve only been tempted to do that once. I was reading my 40th or so Agatha Christie and knew who the murderer was by page 24, before I even knew who the victim was going to be (I could tell an alibi was being set up). So, my dilemma was to skip to the back to see if I was right (and ruin the book if I was wrong) or rush through the book to waste as little time as possible. I chose the second option, but neither was a good one. I can see, however, how a professional writer would approach a mystery looking for other things than a pleasant way to pass a few hours.
Hank, that’s an amazing tactic. And I can see how it would work. I often have the same experience of reading too fast for the plot and not enjoying the writing. I’ll try it with the next book I start. Thanks!
Edith
Hi Hank. The only time I skipped to the end was when I really wanted to know which guy the heroine would end up with. If it was the wrong one, I wasn’t going to read it. Silly, I know. But this really gets me to thinking. Like you, if I’m really engrossed, I’m flying through the book to get to the end, and I’m missing a lot of the story. If I knew how it ended, then I could slow down and enjoy the foreshadowing and the actual story. As a writer, that is a great idea for a learning tool. Then I could see how the writer is laying it all out on the page. I’m going to try it. I’ve always said that I’m going to write a book starting with the ending, and work backwards, scene by scene. I haven’t done it yet, but I’d love to.
This is why spoilers for TV shows and movies are so popular and so equally hated.
The only time I read the ending before its time is when I have decided not to finish the book. However, I do read with the writer in me watching my every reaction. I will stop in amazement for the perfect sentence. When the writer takes me the reader away into his story, the writer in me interrupts demanding to know what that other writer did correct. When I turn on a book and lose interest, the reader in me is thinking what I am going to read next, while the writer in me is studying that other writer’s fatal mistake.
As a writer I feel much like a magician watching another’s magic act, how it is done can be more important to me than what happens.
Hi, Hank –
Loved your article. You have pointed out something important for writers. If you want to learn how to write a mystery, you need to learn how its done. Analyzing a mystery lets you see the key points, sort of like the learning the tricks of the trade. Your technique of learning who the villain is and following that villain through the book is an excellent idea. I had heard about the ending of the movie “Sixth Sense” before I actually saw the film. What a difference it made viewing it. I could see how he could pass his wife and never communicate with her, etc., something that I never would have noticed seeing the movie without the knowledge of the ending. Sure, I didn’t get the surprise at the end, but I viewed it more analytically than I would have otherwise. Something that I enjoyed.
For someone trying to learn how to write a mystery, I encourage you to try Hank’s method of readying mysteries. At least for awhile. Then go back to being surprised by the ending. I bet you’ll find that it will be rare for you to be surprised by who the villain is. You’ll probably have figured it out long before you come to the end. You’ve learned the tricks of the trade.
Grace Topping
Hank, same thing happened to me with a book called But I Wouldn’t Want to Die There, only I had completed the thing and handed it in. It took my editor to call and say, “I think you picked the wrong murderer.” As in your case, I discovered I didn’t have to change that much, because he was already there, hiding in plain sight. Writers are the last to know.
I only read the ending if I’m getting impatient with a book or if I just can’t stand not to know what happens to a particular character.
Oh, Hank, me too! As a reader, I don’t read endings first, but as an author, while I sometimes know whodunnit in my own novels, I sometimes don’t. In my 2nd novel, I knew the villain before I knew the crime, the story, or any of it. And I still second-guessed myself.
My quirk is that I love to read series out of order. Start with the latest, work backwards. I guess it’s my own small way of messing with the time/space continuum.
Hi Hank, great story, as always. I occasionally skip to the end, but it’s because I’m sick of the book and don’t want to slog through the whole mess to see what’s happened. But I do totally empathize with reading too fast to enjoy the writing as I should. Hmmm, but if I skip to the end, I’m not likely to want to go back….
Hank, you are so sinful to read the ending! Who knew you were such a cheater? But now that you explain it was all in the learning experience, we forgive you. I am a pantser for only 50 pages, and then I force myself to outline. I’m afraid I’ll make obvious choices if I feel my way through a story. But I’ve never allowed myself, so perhaps I should try. Will that bring me sleepless nights, I wonder?
ACK! You read the ending first? I’ve only done that occasionally, and only when the book didn’t hold my attention. And after reading the end, in that case, I’d never go back and read the whole thing. Talk about spoiling a read… But sure I’ve had to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite book endings. It’s SO HARD to be both surprising and credible — so the reader sees how inevitable the ending now seems and yet they didn’t see it coming. That’s the brass ring!
Robbie, isn’t that funny that we, the writers, think of it as “finidng out”? As if it’s real? I love that.
Hey Ken!And you are such a careful reader…rushing must have been no fun. Yup, it’s a dilemma. But see, most non-writers, I bet, don’t have this problem. They read a book, from the beginning to the end. Imagine that!
HI Edith! Okay..let me know what you think. You see that Hallie says it’s a bad idea. But I think it CAN BE wonderful. Doesn’t “spoil my read” at all. Chacun a son gout, right?
{gasp}!!
Never! …… But, hmmm … intriguing way to look at it Hank. Now you have me thinking. REALLY thinking! I’ll get back to you on this.
Anita, let me know if you try that! And many authors do know the ending first, right?
When I’m writing a news story, I sometimes know what sound bite I want to use to end it. So then I write what has to be the paragraph before that. And then what has to go before that.
So that’s very similiar! Never thought of it that way before.
Hank,
I do exactly what you do! I think it has to do with craft, seeing how other writers move from beginning to end. I never admitted it before I wrote my first book, and (wouldn’t you know) I wrote an ending that I beg people not to read first! Most are horrified at the thought, but I have found that there are quite a few of us “cheaters” out there.
Hank, I echo the people who say that that is an intriguing writing tactic. I think writers sometimes read like writers and sometimes read like readers. (And if, like me, you are also an editor, you read like an editor, too. Just call me Cerebus.)
I suppose it all boils down to your *motive* for reading the book.
Grace, your Sixth Sense experience is exactly what I mean! Different, of course, from NOT knowing. But equally intriguing. To me, at least. (And you know, I don’t like surprise parties, either…maybe there’s a pattern here.)
Okay, Nikki, can’t wait to hear what you decide…hey, who’s your next guest for Killer Coffee Club?
Ramona, what a great way of describing it. And of course, I don’t do it ALL the time. (Sometimes I stop myself! Oh, who’d-a-thought reading was so comlpicated!
I never read the ending of books which kept me up all night reading Lee Child’s new book yet when PSYCHO came out I was told the whole plot and still to this day the movie terrifies me.
Okay, there’s one I did not read the end first! The new Lee Child. And even if I had…well, we won’t go there. (I loved it, though..)
Now that’s fascinating, Mary JAne. If one knew the real deal in Psycho, how would it feel to watch it? See, I think it would be great.
I’m happy I didn’t know in The Sixth Sense,I admit. But I DID watch it again, knowing. And that was terrific.
The Sixth Sense got me too. Waited some years … it got me again. I must confess though, I NEVER read the end first. But I do skip through the suspense / chase / other bits if I know where the bit is going or think I know where the bit is going or can’t wait to see how the suspense ends. Lynne Heitman once said to me “You don’t like suspense.” Nope. Not unless you get to the point fairly quickly. Do not torture me. Do not tease me. I will just lie back and think of England.
Since I started writing I find I will pick up on those clues in a book where I don’t know the ending. But I love that kind of serendipitous stuff when it happens in my writing. I’ve had it happen the person who was going to be the bad guy turns out not to be. I figure if I’m unsure who did it, so will some others.
Thanks for asking Hank
Graham Brown is coming out on September 29th to talk about his new book Black Sun–the sequel to Black Rain, an adventurous thriller with a touch of sci fi!
By the way, we were discussing the possibility of having some ‘alumni’ Killer Coffee Club guests come back for a panel event! What do you think?
Hank, I do it, too–and sadly with most books. I want to know if the author is really going to come through after dragging me along. If it’s a good ending, I want to know how the author got there, and there’s always several bits of information missing in “the end” if you don’t read through. I have found some of my favorite reads that way–leafing through in the bookstore! It’s like, wow, how did they pull that off?
Great article, Hank! I don’t usually skip ahead, but now I’m thinking I’m going to start! And I’m definitely going to try all my characters as bad guys next book -what a great idea.
Hank,
I can’t stand suspense so 2/3rds of the way through I skip to the end to see who lives and who dies. Then I go back and read the rest of the book. No big deal. BTW, I posted my review of DRIVE TIME on my personal blog, Morning’s At Noon. Go to http://pbrowning.blogspot.com and scroll down (past Tom Sawyer, Sharon Ervin, Bix Beiderbecke and Elvis Presley). I took a couple of great photos from your web site, so thank you very much.
Pat Browning
I already left a reply so don’t know why I got this message — ??
Well, I see Pat BROWN left a comment so best I identify myself further. I am Pat BROWNING, author of ABSINTHE OF MALICE, dweller in the armpit of the Western World, namely, Yukon, Oklahoma.
Hank,
Terrific article! As to your question, no, I haven’t skipped to the end because as a reader, I don’t want a “spoiler,” but as a writer, this makes perfect sense. So much so that I’m wondering why I didn’t think of it before. No more good girl stuff for this chick. Skip to the end and read through the book with my writer’s eye instead. Who knows, the new me may even decide to throw caution to the wind and eat dessert first!
Thanks — loved PRIME TIME!
I never have, but I plan to now! What a great idea, thanks, Hank.
~ Dianne
Nicely written blog as always, Hank. I never read the endings of mysteries. But I know what you mean about bad guys changing horses midstream. in my current book, Torn Apart, I didn’t know who the bad guy was till the manuscript was 90 percent complete. Truly–didn’t know. There were several bad guy candidates–among them good guys from the first two books!–and I wasn’t sure which one would emerge the winnah. When I figured it out around chapter 80, I went back and added clues and red herrings throughout. The rest I’d already written, subconsciously. Sometimes it IS best to let your creepy people emerge from the fog and surprise us. That way, readers will be surprised too. Love your work.
Since I’ve spent the last few years occasionally thinking “Hmmm….what would Hank do,” I may try this. But only with something that I feel I should have read as opposed to something I’m really enjoying, of course. On the bad guy? I really did have have one stand up and proclaim his innocence about 3/4 of the way through the book. Made for a pretty good red herring.
Terrific post, Hank!
I usually first read the book as a reader, then read it the second time as a writer – yes, from beginning to end (that’s what I did w Prime Time, which I loved). After reading this article I’ll also have a peek at the endings of the ones I’v already read and read them for the fourth time from the end to the beginning.
Regards from Finland
Sister!! Hank, that happened with my first book. Halfway in, the planned killer refused to do the dirty deed, but someone else immediately raised his hand. I only had to change two sentences. In Shooting at Loons, the killer changed 4 times over the course of the book. And yes, I often read the end of a suspense novel first because I don’t like being scared and I have to make sure the one I’m rooting for makes it to the end of the book unmaimed. Have never understood how knowing “whodunnit” ruins a book or a movie. I’ve reread Pride and Prejudice a dozen times and Elizabeth always winds up with Darcy, yet I read with deepening enjoyment each time. A book that’s nothing but a puzzle isn’t much of a book. Good writing doesn’t depend on the Jack-in-the-box surprise. Look how one can reread Josephine Tey or Dorothy Sayers over and over.
Late to the party, but Amen on knowing the ending!
Our family nearly turned into a Fight Club when my son refused to tell me the ending. Half way through the last Harry Potter book (which would have made it about 3 in the morning) I had to look to see who lived.
Without that pressing anxiety, I am really able to enjoy the book/movie if I know the ending. Some people think I have control issues. I tell them if I want their opinion, I’ll provide one for them.
I only skip to the end if I think the story is weak, I’ve figured out the killer and I have to check that I’m right before I give up on the book. If the plot is strong, I’m propelled forward and I love that feeling of excited anticipation as I try to guess whodunit. I could never have skipped to the end on Murder on the Orient Express, for example.
I have to say that the solution is where some mysteries fall down. The author has come up with a good premise, but hasn’t really thought it through to a satisfying conclusion. So I wind up muttering, “Not the butler! That was so obvious.”
Hi Hank:
I`m a reader and will sometimes read the last 2 or so pages, especially if the tension is strong. I do a lot of my reading before going to sleep and this is one way of not having nightmares about what might/could happen.
Great blog! I never read the ending first, but when I’m rushing thru a page turner to get to the ending, I often … if it’s a good book … begin re-reading the book as soon as I’m done, to savor and learn how it was done.
Reading your comments is so fantastic!
(Pat Browning, I just emailed you directly–thank you so much for your terrifc terrific review of DRIVE TIME! Whoo hoo..)
Wendy! Thank you! (Sorry to be such a bad bad influence on you…:-) )
I’ve got to admit I do sometimes skip to the end – Why? Sometimes I’ve just
got to know NOW how it’s going to end. Othertimes I’m getting bored with the book and just want to know the ending.
Sometimes I read the ending before I’m there, but not often. But I like your reasoning so I may do it more often. I hate when an author doesn’t give any clear cut clues about the actual villain. Still, if I did that, it would take away from the smugness I feel when I actually solve the crime before the end.
Hey, Hank, I occasionally read ahead to the ending, but it’s rare. I saw “Sixth Sense” knowing the ending because our stinkin’ then-mayor spilled the beans, assuming I had seen it. It really did take something away from the enjoyment because I was watching it with others who didn’t know and I spent a lot of time remembering not to tell them by way of a spontaneous comment or two (Yeah, I talk through movies. They write e-mail-forwarded jokes about ME) … Interestingly, in one of your books, I picked the wrong bad guy halfway through and changed midstream. (in another, I was completely off.) Being of a certain age, of course, I can’t remember which books or which bad guys. But love Charlie and, occasionally, enjoy a half-fondness for Josh (the ass).