JOURNAL FIVE

Amidst the section in Chapter Three titled “The Major Dramatic Question,” I found a particularly interesting bit about deus ex machina, or an act of God that magically resolves the major conflict of the story. It goes on to say how dissatisfying these kinds of endings can be for the readers. I would stand to argue that that it can be even more lackluster for the writer who has spent so long crafting every other aspect of the piece and then just drop off at the ending. I did however have one problem with this section. I do not believe that all of these major dramatic questions need to have a yes or no (or occasionally maybe) answer. I feel that sometimes the best major dramatic questions are not necessarily things like “will Tommy find his wife?” or “does Brenda die because of her fatal injuries?” I think that other interesting questions to ask would be things like “how does Jamie feel after his wife Brenda dies because of her fatal injuries?” I have read a few successful short stories like this that use emotion based questions instead of fact based questions in an attempt to make their readers connect with the content of the writing on a deeper level. I do, however, agree with making sure your answer to that question actually answers the question that you posed. It is improper writing to change the entire concept of your story at the very end in such an abrupt way.