# The Journey Or Its End?



## Oxman (Sep 14, 2005)

Hey everyone,

After discusions with friends and colleagues, I've been thinking about the stories that I like; not just books, but films, plays and the like.

I've found that I prefer the journey that these stories take, rather than the conclusions at the end of them.

In the Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers is my favourite book (and film), Stephen King's "Dark Tower" books are fantastic, but I felt a tad disappointed by the way the series drew to a close. The second and third books from this story were my favourite - I was hooked by the "getting to know" characters parts, along with the travels that they make.
"The Empire Strikes back" is my preferred film from either of the Star Wars trilogies.

I don't know if all of these examples are because I like snatching a quick peek through a "window" or just because sometimes, I inevitably will certain tales to have different endings. Of course, this isn't always the case, it's just I guess I prefer seeing how folk get to where they get, rather than what they do when they get there...

So, what's eveyone's opinion on this? What part of a story do you like the best? The introduction? The ending? I'm intrigued by what makes people tick!


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## Buddy13 (Sep 15, 2005)

If it's a long story, like the Dark Tower or LotR, you become attached to the characters. Any end, no matter the outcome, is an end. You will be seperated from the characters and it can be inherently disappointing.

I felt the same way about the DT books. Sometimes the journey is the best part (and in a way, King made it so Roland only _has_ the journey ).


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## littlemissattitude (Sep 15, 2005)

I have found that I don't like a book as well when it doesn't feel, as I'm approaching the end of it, that time has passed and that there has been some movement, that the characters have _gone_ somewhere, physically or emotionally.  So I guess I'd have to say the journey is more important to me than the conclusion.  In fact, there are books I haven't finished because I just don't want them to end.  One that comes to mind immediately is Clive Barker's _Imajica_.  Never did read the last 100 pages or so, but not because I didn't like the book.


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## NSMike (Sep 15, 2005)

I have a friend who has never finished Return of the King for that reason.

And I don't know how many Star Trek fans there are here, but this thread falls curiously in line with a quote from the final Voyager epsiode.  The older Admiral Janeway from the future is trying to convince the younger Voyager crew to undertake a dangerous plan to get home several decades before they're supposed to (If you're unfamiliar with the premise of Voyager, the crew is stranded in a distant part of the galaxy, and it'll take them 70+ years to get home).  She's cynical, and just cares about getting her old crew home.  The younger crew, however, discovers that there's a tremendous opportunity to strike a huge blow against their greatest enemy, the Borg, if they sacrifice their opportunity to get home.  The young ensign Kim then says:

"When I think about everything we've been through together, maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey..."  -Harry Kim

I think that embodies the entire motivation behind reading a book.  Why read 500 or 1000 or more pages just for an ending?  I don't think anyone who reads has any illusions about this.  Between the first page and the last is what you REALLY want.  Otherwise, books would just be introductions of characters, a brief synopsis of their lives and an ending.  The best books, as a matter of fact, never end.  They just let life hang out there, for the reader to imagine, and leave no real sense of closure to the story.  Lives go on, and a true ending should reflect that lives WILL go on, with every happy time and sad time, with every emotion of the spectrum, every possible circumstance, etc.  Books that try to tie everything up neatly leave me feeling unfulfilled.  Life never ties up neatly.  At least, not yet in my experience.  

Although, I'd have to say, something has to qualify that journey as necessary.  Like the later books of the Wheel of Time;  A lot of it is unecessary fluff.  You get to the last 300 pages of each later installment, and then everything starts happening.  Otherwise you're just following the characters around on one pointless journey or another.  It's like hanging around a bus station waiting for your bus to come.  The story and characters must progress, or it loses my interest.  I'm not saying anything anyone hasn't already said.  You get the idea.  I'll stop rambling now.


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## BINKY (Sep 15, 2005)

I've gotta say i feel the journey is far more important than the final destination and ending. If the story is good i become attached to the characters, their struggles, the friendships they form, and always feel disappointed when nearing the end, no matter what its conclusion. I guess thats the main reason i re-read my fav novels over and over from time to time........................to once again become a part of the journey they take.


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## Jayaprakash Satyamurthy (Sep 15, 2005)

Actually, I often find myself racing frantically through a book to see how on earth things get resolved, if I'm really pulled in. I hate leaving some of those imaginary places and people, but I'd rather stories do actually have endings before I bother to start reading them. I can always re-read a favourite story, and there are so many other stories waiting to be read too.


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## Winters_Sorrow (Sep 15, 2005)

I enjoy the journey as well, but as NSMike & LMA pointed out - you've got to feel like you're actually going somewhere.

I do like my books to have an ending of some sorts though, otherwise it all gets a bit pointless for me - some of my surrealist friends would no doubt disagree, but then the whole point of surrealism is that it's out of the norm, if it happened everytime it would _be_ the norm. Not quite sure where I'm going with this now....

Even if you've fallen in love with a place or a character, there's nothing these days stopping the authors returning to those worlds, indeed they are actively encouraged by the publishers to do so.


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## Rosemary (Sep 16, 2005)

I really enjoy the journey as well.  I am a definate 'bookworm' and if the storyline is well planned, then I am 'beside the characters' as they make their way along the journey.  I like to know what happens at the end, although I must admit that I do slow down a little over the last chapter.  I just don't want 'this adventure' to finish!


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## dreamwalker (Sep 16, 2005)

Oxman vbmenu_register("postmenu_131591", true);  
That's really got be thinking, we generally wanna see what happens at the end of a long journey to get some closure, but I fully agree with you in that the jounery is generally more important, with endings or concusions usualy being a let down. This i'll get me going for many days to come!


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## NSMike (Sep 16, 2005)

Actually, I've been giving this subject some thought, because after I posted my noble, pro-journey comments, I thought about it and there were some books I read simply for the ending.  

My line of thought on this now is that it all depends on where the author goes with the story.  If it's about the characters, watching them grow, and adapt to their new world and circumstances, then I've read the book for the journey.  If there's a plot device that specifically needs to be resolved, then I'll be more inclined to read with the attitude of, "I wonder how they'll get out of this one!" and be more interested in the ending than events leading up to it.  Most good authors are able to switch between these, and usually end up making one part of the other, but sometimes the author is writing more to get the reader interested in the resolution, and the journey becomes a convenient series of events which lead up to the resolution.  I find this very much in Clancy novels (yes, I do read other things besides fantasy/sci-fi, and I know that's a crime... Sorry.).  It's more about accomplishing a mission than developing characters, although I do have to say that Without Remorse, my favorite Clancy novel, is more about developing John Kelly, one of Clancy's now legendary characters, than accomplishing a mission.  Okay, I'm done.  I was rambling again.


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## Pyan (Sep 16, 2005)

Rosemary said:
			
		

> I must admit that I do slow down a little over the last chapter. I just don't want 'this adventure' to finish!


 
Me too. I've been so involved with these people, or idea or whatever, I just don't want to admit that these last few pages might be the last I'll ever see of them.
Mind you, I've lost count of the number of books that I've read that seem as if all the cutting that the editor wanted has been done in the last few pages. Suddenly all description disappears, dialogue vanishes, and all is solved in seconds.


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## Brian G Turner (Sep 16, 2005)

Hi Oxman, and welcome to the chronicles network. 

Just out of curiosity - if you like journeying novels, would you happen to like Jean Auel's "Clan of the Cave Bear" and similar?


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## Oxman (Sep 16, 2005)

Hey Brian,

Ta for the welcome. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Jean Auel's "Clan of the Cave Bear", but I guess that's one of the good things about this site! Recommendations to work that you may have missed out on! I'll take a look at it thanks. I've already found a recommendation to read "Something wicked this way comes" by Ray Bradbury.

I do like journeying novels, but I'm a fan of various works. Tolkien is a particular favourite but I've read a fair bit of David Gemmel (Drenai and Rigante), some Terry Brooks and even more offbeat choices, such as William Horwood's "Duncton" books. I also like Sci-Fi, but the predominant genre on my bookshelves is horror.

I guess I used the journeying term fairly liberally; as I like different kind of books. The "Journey" can be a character's development to me, not neccessarily a physical trek (although a lot of these stories DO appeal!), so I guess that the broader question could be "do people seek the conclusion - as some posters have stated, or is the development more important? Or do the two go hand in hand?!!


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## Brian G Turner (Sep 16, 2005)

The Jean Auel books are effectively centered around a woman growing up during the ice age, so it's more historical fiction at a stretch, but there's a lot of travelling involved across Northern Europe - I may have taken you too literally on that!

In more of a fantasy vein, and with more in common with Tolkien and Gemmell, George R R Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series is a pretty mammoth epic even over just 3 volumes - you can find a lot of discussions on that here: George R R Martin forum


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## nixie (Sep 16, 2005)

Development, journey how ever you want to phrase it are the story  to me.the ending although important is secondary in my opinion.Im not saying the ending should be tagged  on as an after thought as a  poor conculsion can spoil a story but I do like to be drawn in and  be part of the journey.


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