This is the last installment
in my series on “Writing Lessons from A Christmas Carol.” I made one
small change to the 12/28/2015 post to make it current.
Writing Lessons from A
Christmas Carol: Creating an Imperfect Ending
I hate saccharine
endings. I also hate ones that seem unrealistic or tie up the loose ends too
perfectly. Yes, miracles do happen, and it can be okay to use one if it is set
up correctly. But life isn’t perfect, and no story should end by pretending it
is. Even a good love story ends with the lovers accepting each other’s faults
rather than making them go away.
A Christmas Carol shows me how to satisfy with an imperfect ending.
In one sense, the
story does end with a miracle, because that is what the change in Scrooge is.
And we are all happy that the shadows of the future could be changed and Tiny
Tim did not die. But he was still lame. God does not choose to cure every
illness or disability in this life, and having Him do so here would have been saccharine
instead of satisfying.
The Christmas
season doesn’t end on December 25th, and the close of Dickens’ story
is my wish for you in 2022 and beyond:
[I]t was always said of [Scrooge], that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!
No comments:
Post a Comment