Changing the Ending of a Novel by Chris Bedell

A Guest Post by: Chris Bedell

SPOILER WARNING: The following guest blog post contains spoilers from the last chapter of the YA Thriller I Know Where The Bodies are Buried

I’d like to discuss writing the perfect ending for your book in this guest blog post. More specifically, the writing process for my YA Thriller I Know Where The Bodies are Buried (I KNOW WHERE THE BODIES ARE BURIED ). I scrapped the original ending, and wrote a new final chapter before submitting the book to its new publisher (BLKDOG Publishing) for consideration. And I’m so happy my book has a new ending. Because the story reaches its full potential now.

The original ending

The gist of I Know Where The Bodies are Buried is that it’s a nonlinear murder mystery set against the backdrop of a New England boarding school. The present timeline (NOW) examines Carson trying to prove his ex-boyfriend, Billy, was murdered, and didn’t commit suicide while the past timeline (THEN) reveals Billy and Carson’s relationship. More specifically, how Billy didn’t always treat Carson right. Carson eventually discovers Billy been on the run, and the original ending had Billy threatening revenge against Carson and his friends because Billy blamed them for the death of his girlfriend.

But something never felt right about the original ending. Billy never did anything beyond redemption till the last chapter. Billy also helped Carson with the aftermath of being raped. And that’s when it hit me. What if there was something more at play than Billy being scared of having a real relationship with Carson because of possible homophobia? Although I needed something that would justify Billy always keeping Carson at arm’s length in addition to an event that’d make Billy emotionally unavailable.

Developing a back story

So, that’s when I decided Billy wasn’t gonna hold Carson at gunpoint after asking him to meet in the woods on their boarding school campus. Instead, Billy decides to stop playing games and allow himself to be vulnerable with the only person he’s ever cared about. Billy soon drops the bombshell on Carson. He’s a survivor of physical abuse—his mother has physically abused him all his life in addition to sexually assaulting him once.

Billy’s revelation needed substance to back it up, though. Having the revelation stand on its own would have made light of physical abuse/a toxic home life. And I couldn’t have that. Not because I wanted to content police my book. But because I wanted to tell the best story possible. So, I planted a clue a little beyond the halfway point. Carson notices red marks on Billy’s when he’s getting dressed after they have sex. Carson doesn’t know it at the time, but the bruises are burn marks from cigarettes, which Billy’s mother is responsible for. I don’t leave anything to chance, though. Billy mentions the marks Carson saw on his back that day in Carson’s dorm in a specific line of dialogue during his chat with Carson in the woods in the last chapter.

Foreshadowing

Making Billy an abuse victim ties back organically to Carson’s rape. As a trauma victim, Billy might have an easier time spotting a fellow trauma victim then the average person. That’s also the book’s first moment of foreshadowing. A real “monster” wouldn’t care about Carson’s rape and would focus on using Carson for attention. But no. Billy doesn’t leave Carson’s dorm room until Carson tells him what’s wrong.

I also planted another clue besides the burn marks. This clue is in the second to last chapter (the chapter before Billy tells all) and is in the past timeline. Carson confronts Billy about blowing him off all summer and how the only acceptable reason for Billy to act the way he does would be if Billy had a traumatic childhood.

Being “on the nose” works in this case. I wanted to once again drop a hint in plain sight. Blatantly revealing breadcrumbs is best. That way, readers can go back and see the story’s logical progression despite not guessing the twist.

Matchmaking

Not making Billy as evil as I intended him to be also created another issue. Who Carson’s romantic endgame would be. Carson was originally supposed to end up with his new boyfriend, Dean. But I did a bait and switch. Billy’s revelation isn’t the only bombshell being dropped in the last chapter. I also reveal that Dean dumped Carson, although they decided to remain friends.

Having a bait and switch can be controversial. Especially since Dean is a great guy, and Carson would be lucky to have him. But Billy deserves a chance at happiness in addition to how Billy was always on Carson’s mind (even when he thought Billy was dead). Billy was therefore Carson’s first love. No amount of feelings for Dean changed what Carson feels for Billy. So, I didn’t rush the Billy and Carson reunion if the undercurrent of their connection still existed in the present timeline (before Carson discovered Billy was still alive).

Circling back to a previous point. It’s good Dean and Carson can still be friends and that readers see a glimpse of that in the last chapter. Not every breakup has to be toxic. Relationships sometimes end, and that’s that. But that doesn’t mean the time Carson and Dean spent together was any less important.

Creating a new villain

Wait. I’m not done yet.

Since Book 1 ends with Carson and Billy being together and Carson and Billy are gonna be endgame, I needed to find a new villain for Books 2 and 3. And I found one. Carson’s rapist (Jonathan) is dead by the end of the book (Billy killed Jonathan—both for revenge and because Jonathan tried killing Billy). But that doesn’t mean I can’t breathe new life into the situation. Jonathan has an identical twin brother (Joaquin).

I reveal how Joaquin transfers to the boarding school in the last chapter when Carson, Billy, and their friends are having diner in the dining hall. Joaquin approaches them, and even makes a cryptic remark, teasing he might or might not suspect foul play in Jonathan’s death.

Having an identical twin reveal in the book’s last few pages doesn’t make I Know Where The Bodies are Buried melodramatic. This final bombshell doesn’t undo anything that previously happened. It just sets up Book 2 and even possibly Book 3.

Redemption for “the bad guy”

Salvaging Billy’s character also strengthens the novel. Labeling Billy as only a “bad guy” would’ve been too easy. Most people have both good and bad in them. Billy is also still a teenager. And it’s fair to stay most teenagers have done things they aren’t proud of. So, Billy can still turn his life around by being anything he wants to be, including a better person. It’s not like Carson’s love “cures” Billy—it doesn’t.

But Billy has always had traces of good in him, begging to be shown. Like when he lets Carson vent about his rape despite having nothing to gain by doing so. I also don’t whitewash how Billy mistreated Carson. Billy might not be the next Charles Manson, but he still has a lot to atone for, like with how he always played with Carson. And I even have Carson defend himself to Billy during their chat in the woods in the last chapter. Carson blatantly tells Billy that he’s done some f*cked up things.

I also had to consider something else. If Carson was gonna end up with the “bad boy,” then that couldn’t happen at the expense of trashing Dean’s character. Billy can be slightly morally ambiguous/imperfect. But he needs to stand on his own without any character propping him. And I achieve that by him telling Carson about his childhood physical abuse during their chat in the woods in the book’s last chapter.

Pulling off a reverse Gone Girl

Changing Billy from being the villain to a jaded character who is really a softie also steers I Know Where The Bodies are Buried away from cliché territory. Redeeming Billy creates a reverse Gone Girl effect. In a thriller, a villain sometimes seems nice, only to have each chapter reveal yet another fact that casts said character in a negative light until the ultimate negative bombshell. The opposite is true with I Know Where The Bodies are Buried, though. The book’s ultimate revelation (that Billy is an abuse victim) paints Billy in a positive light. Sometimes, the most shocking thing isn’t that a person is evil. It’s that the individual was suffering something you had no idea about it. That’s the thing. You don’t always know what someone is going through/what baggage a person has.

Ultimately, rewriting the last chapter of I Know Where The Bodies are Buried didn’t take that much work. It required less than ten pages of rewriting. But the result was so worth it. The change makes the story richer and deeper without pulling a “this was all a dream.” So, if you’re on the fence about making a change to your book. Don’t be scared. The change could be for the better.

Buy it!

Buy a copy of I Know Where the Bodies are Buried by Chris Bedell here, and help support local bookstores! This is an affiliate link, and I will earn a commission on any sales.

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