I’m writing a tragedy about a man that has his epiphany moment after he’s made a decision to give up that he can’t come back from. I want it to feel like his story is abruptly cut short to leave my reader wishing he hadn’t given up and knowing his life/outlook was about to improve if he had just waited a little longer.
My question is this: will cutting the story right after the epiphany (which would solve my driving little world philosophical conflict) make my reader mad at my main character, or leave them unsatisfied with the work itself? Because I want my main character to be a terrible warning to the reader, but I don’t want to lose them by making the story fall flat.
Thanks!
This is pretty common in both published flash fiction and short stories. The smaller your expected word count, the more flexibility you have with this specific choice.
However, if you’re submitting for a particular magazine or contest, you’d be best served to read what’s typically published in that venue to see how often the judges/editors seem to agree that you have that flexibility.
