Desiderius Price

I started writing one story ages ago, wondered how they (the characters) got there. So, started another story to answer that, the flashbacks started to confuse everybody, so I started to spin those flashbacks out as separate stories. I’ve only finished one of those flashbacks, working on backstory to one of those flashbacks. And this Halloween story will shoehorn into the same universe. If only I had taken the blue pill...

Biggest threat to my Halloween story is ending up in the novel section.

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Mine’s turning out to be a longer project too.

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Aside from “Choose Your Own Adventure” where alternative endings are expected or deliberately done in a comedy... I generally consider alternate endings as a symptom of a problem in the plot. Now, it might be possible that there’s material for two (or more) stories and could split them up.

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This reminded me of Christmas Eve dinners as a kid, watching the Dungeoness Crabs fight it out in the kitchen sink … well, before they went into the pot.

What is war but to hunt your fellow human in the name of your team/flag?

And you discover the true taste of your friends!

Have a party with the Donners!

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In a comedy, a dream within a dream within a dream for ending after ending could be absolute gold, depending on how well it’s written. Though in more serious dramas, less so. (As an aside, I will use smaller dream blocks within the story to help explore a character’s unspoken fears, aspirations, etc.) My potter story has something akin to the same dilemma, more in a couple people split off (think B-group), incommunicado (& presumed dead) until the climax. If I stuck to “A” POV, it’d get darker and darker, with a last second Deus Ex (not great). When I get back to that section, I intend to simply alternate between the two sides, muddle my way through it, somehow. However, on alternate endings, I’m thinking of having it be a sim/game with Harry & Ron played by two gamers in immersive VR… it’d be fitting to their characters. Now, in your story, you could turn it into a two parter. You’d cover up to ending with main character feeling good about it (prelude with a few hints to the smarter character may do something), and second story would be that other character acting on the advantage and pressing forward for more chapters.

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Can you do both? Maybe with different character POVs? One thinks “all is great” while the other has some dreadful feeling? Or… there’s the classic “first take was a dream”.