It’s a rare talent to stop at the right time. Skilled art teachers for small children can produce surprisingly good paintings by applying it well. Without it, one gets Atlas Shrugged, or Lord of the Rings the movie, which whatever their artistic merits, could have been considerably improved just by ending them earlier.
The story is certainly more powerful because he stopped when he did, but it’s missing any sense of closure.
Your mileage will vary on what the correct tradeoff is, there. Personally, I find this kind of ending very unsatisfying. It makes me want to write fanfiction.
It’s a rare talent to stop at the right time. Skilled art teachers for small children can produce surprisingly good paintings by applying it well. Without it, one gets Atlas Shrugged, or Lord of the Rings the movie, which whatever their artistic merits, could have been considerably improved just by ending them earlier.
The first time I read Atlas Shrugged, the final chapter was missing. I was blown away when I was leafing through a friend’s copy a year or so later.
Such a better place to end the book.
The story is certainly more powerful because he stopped when he did, but it’s missing any sense of closure.
Your mileage will vary on what the correct tradeoff is, there. Personally, I find this kind of ending very unsatisfying. It makes me want to write fanfiction.