Altered Endings

VIPM (Very Important Pack Member) Cher went out of town this past weekend. Like any normal and sane writer, she asked me to promise to finish her manuscript for her if her plane went down. I, of course, solemnly vowed not ONLY to finish it, but to do so without aliens OR ghosts.

See, her writing style is very angsty YA realistic fiction, whereas mine only kinda flirts with reality. During this convo I got to thinking: what if our favorite authors, who span a wide range of styles/genres, were to switch up and suddenly write endings to someone else's books?

If Carrie Ryan had finished Mockingjay for Suzanne Collins, would an army of reanimated tribute corpses have overtaken Panem? Or, what if Stephenie Meyer had finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? Would Voldemort have been vanquished with diplomacy?

I thought it'd be fun if we thought up a few mismatched endings and then asked our readers for some ideas as well. I think it's a neat way to illustrate that even in the same genre, everyone would write something COMPLETELY different if given the same source material. Viva la individuality! ;)

Mashup endings, eh?? LOL. I'd like to think that Cassandra Clare would tackle Pride and Prejudice. Except true to her ending in City of Bones, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy would have the potential disastrous ending of perhaps being related?!?! We wouldn't know for sure until the final book in what would then be a trilogy. Ooooh, more Mr. Darcy. *happy sigh*

And think of a Jace-like Darcy saying this line, "In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

Somehow I KNEW you'd find a way to bring Jace into this convo, Sophie. *winks*

Isn't it funny how something simple would change the whole book, though? Like, if Douglas Adams picked up in the last chapters of The Lord of the Rings? Sauron would've been poofed into a flowerpot by some sort of fluke in a time-space-drive. Which, you have to admit, would have been AWESOME.

*tries to picture Voldy as a flower* Yeah, that could work. He's got that Bald Head Villain Thing going for him. I'm picturing him as a Gerber Daisy.

As for Jace, of course, I had to drag a Hot Boy with Sword into the discussion. You expect it from me, after all. Speaking of that very topic, what if Sarah Rees Brennan wrote the ending of Prince Caspian?? Would a Demon become a ruler of Narnia?? Everyone shout with me, "For Narnia!"

Personally, I'd like JK Rowling to take over the ending of ANY book, since she gave us the best ending ever to the Harry Potter series. Well, best in my opinion anyway. She should have written the end of the Twilight series. There would be a huge battle scene with flying curses (the vampires are suddenly able to do magic, of course) and lots of biting. And, in addition to all of the Volturri, someone important from the Cullens would have to die... I'm thinking Renesmee. What? No one likes her anyway!

Oh, Renesmee AND Jacob! Because he would fly into a furry rage and get himself killed too, then. *cackles with glee* *wonders how this turned into Twi-rewrites* *decides that I don't care*




I tried to stay away from Twilight. But if you're talking rewriting the end of a book... well, that's where I go, natch.





Stacie, you took the thought right out of my head. As soon as I read Leigh's message and simultaneously laughed and cringed at the thought of SM writing the end of HP (she probably would have had Snape and Harry skipping through Hogwarts together), I started fantasizing about J.K. Rowling's rewrite of Breaking Dawn's last few chapters. I'm quite confident that *her* ending would have been epic. While we're throwing characters into the fire, would anyone object to adding Rosalie to the carnage?

That's true. Sweet innocent children do die in books especially if their death moves the plot along. *thinks about a certain young character in City of Glass* A death like that allows for a lead character to go all out on the revenge angle. Demons be damned. So J.K. would have rocked that. *pictures a very vengeful Edward and stifles a squeal*


Oooh... Vengeful Edward. *shivers* *in a good way* Wait, what were talking about?





Also, there was a moment on the plane when I thought my dream of being lost with Sawyer would *finally* come true, but my celebration was cut short when I realized, "Leigh didn't PINKY SWEAR that my novel wouldn't end with all the characters being beamed up to some faraway planet!" *looking at Stacie and Sophie for re-enforcement*


*sigh* It's hard to pinky-swear over the internet, Cher. Don't you trust my word that there would be no ghosts OR aliens? I wouldn't do something sneaky, like put in ghosts AND aliens, because technically that's not JUST ghosts or JUST aliens. Nope. Not I. *whistles innocently*



If I find out that an alien has made its way into my story, you're going to have a real-life ghost to worry about. ;p





Note to self: Cher is scary when her WIP is threatened. *winks*

So, WF readers, what mashed-up-ending-combos would YOU like to see? (Or what would you be unable to look away from, like an awful train wreck?) Tell us!!

Informal Lazy Book Club: Mockingjay!

***This POST contains NO SPOILERS but the COMMENTS WILL HAVE SPOILERS***






I need to discuss Mockingjay! I have finished but Leigh is just starting Catching Fire, so I'm barely speaking to her for fear of letting something slip. And I know there are people out there who have finished, but have no place to discuss without causing a riot because you've posted spoilers. I figured those of us who have finished can discuss in the comments section so we don't ruin it for anyone.

So, obviously, if you have not finished the book, DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS!! For those of you who have... I would love to hear what you thought!!

Waiting on Wednesday: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Leigh and I thought it would be fun to join other book blogs with Waiting on Wednesday posts. Now, you know us - we're whimsical (read- lazy) so we'll undoubtedly miss some weeks, but every now and then we'll be posting about books that we cannot wait to read.

This week is a gimme in a way because EVERYONE is waiting for the release of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. Even my friends who have not started the series yet. *cough*LEIGH*cough*


Scholastic has kept Mockingjay under lock & key. I'm pretty sure no ARCs were given, so the anticipation couldn't be higher. I'm kind of excited that I haven't heard ANYTHING about this book (other than the "I can't wait until..." comments), and I'm also excited to fall right back into the world of Katniss, Peeta, and Gale.

Since I read both Hunger Games and Catching Fire in one day, I'm blocking out the 24th for reading. So, ummm, does anyone want to watch two adorable little kids that day? *wink* I've also decided to get it first on the iPad, because I think that means I can get it at midnight on the 24th. Which means I'll be up all night. So, I'll still need that babysitter (or my Manny!).

What about you all? Have you waited until now to start the series? Or have you been counting down the days like I have? (And seriously, if you haven't read and don't plan on it, CHANGE YOUR MIND. This series is AMAZING.)