An Inverted Desire

In every kind of literature, be it books, newspapers, or even the internet, there is always conflict of some sort. Conflict between two characters, or two nations, it's all the same. We read all the time about conspiracies, murders, accidents, and gossip, not because we desire that to happen to ourselves, but because it's interesting to read. No NBC news story is going to cover the twelve thousand year history of the Aspen Tree, nor will any full length novel describe how people weave baskets for a full 800+ pages, and expect anybody to honestly pay attention or listen to them. (Even though English teachers have a knack for finding incredibly dull books and making them required reading) No, what people want to read about is war. The dirty secrets of kings and queens. The intricate details of a murder plot, to either be foiled or carried out. I can't quite explain this desire we have as a human race, the need to devour information concerning disruption from normality, but it's imbedded in our very personalities.

And this is why it's so hard to put down a good book after it has ended.

Think to yourself, you've had that time in your life where you were completely engrossed in a series of books, and since there were so many of them, and each one was over 500 pages in length, you had this subconscious thought process that the story would never end. You thought it would be infinite.
And then you reached the end.

And then this all-consuming rage welled up inside of you, and you considered writing angry inquiry notes to the author, begging him to tell you what happens after the series ended. But alas, that cannot be, because authors are masters at their craft. To write ideas down is no large accomplishment, and to create a story from your imagination isn't all that difficult either. The real challenge, and that which makes authors so good, is where they choose to end their tale. Because they realize, even though their readers have become incredibly attached to these characters, through the adventures and dangers they've traversed, that if they continue the story too long after all of the action has died down, the readers will lose their interest, and the magic of the book dies.

Thus, our inverted desire.

We desire to know what happens to Harry Potter's children as they grow up, and experience the magical world. We desire to know what becomes of Frodo after he leaves Middle Earth. But the reality is, we really don't. As I said before, if a book continues too long after the adventure has ended, the thrill of the book ends with it, and all that's left is peaceful, uneventful times. And unless you're an English teacher, you don't want to read about the dull, unexciting events of normal life. We experience that ourselves, therefore what purpose does it serve if what we read is a parallel to our day to day routines? Nothing. It serves us nothing, and makes us lose interest.

Authors walk a fine line when choosing how to end a book, I'm sure. They must fret about it every day, unless they already have a clear ending in mind. Because, no matter how well the story was in the middle, endings can ruin books if they're done wrong. All too often have I heard people rant and rant about a book because of its ending, and usually the ones I've heard aren't the only ones upset. Take the Hunger Games series, for example. Out of the many people I have talked to, I have only come across one person who said that he didn't mind the final book. Everybody else, myself included, have hated it, for a variety of different reasons.

Nobody likes the end of a good series, but there is a significant difference between a bad ending, and an un-likeable ending, purely because it was the end of something you love. But I am of the opinion that if you find yourself in the second description when reaching the end of the book, then the author has done his job well. Though curiosity inevitably remains, concerning what becomes of the characters after the last page in the book, the author knows about this inverted desire. And while I'm sure it is harder for the author than anyone else, he must end the story, for fear of doing it injustice.
Our inverted desire is what keeps balance to curiosity and actuality.

And so, I offer this blog post to those who may read it, as a source of comfort, in a way. This is why we cannot know what happens after all has been written that should be. Though it may take a day or two to come back to reality after the end of your series, once you do, you will be able to understand this inverted desire, and the reason the author ended his or her book in the way they did.

And hopefully, this too will bring you peace.