Reader Question: Should I give away my twist ending when I send out query letters?
A question from Courtney:
Scott,
Per your advice I throttled down over the holidays and sat on my completed screenplay. Now I’m ready to get it out there.
I’m not concerned about someone stealing my idea (I’m covered as far as that is concerned) but I am wondering if I should give away the ending in the queries that I will soon submit?
Not trying to be Shyamalan but there is a twist at the end of my comedy that ties everything together. I’m wondering if giving them something to want makes sense… or throw it out there to attract interest?
I think I can dispense with this one pretty quickly, Courtney. And in fact, you’ve inspired me with another subject for The Business of Screenwriting series: Never start by giving away the ending. I did that in a pitch once and it was just about the most painful 15 minutes of my Hollywood life — for reasons I’ll reveal when I do TBOS post.
My advice: Do not give away the twist. You can allude to it as in, “And the story has got a terrific twist at the end that ties everything together in a surprising, fun way.”
But save the twist. There’s an old saying I learned doing stand-up comedy: Less is more. The temptation when you’re on stage and you’re killing is to — naturally — stay on stage. However you want to leave an audience wanting more. Part of that is learning to use your material judiciously. Part of that is hoping those people in the audience will come back again later to see you perform. Part of that is dealing with the comedy karma gods as you just don’t want to overstay your welcome.
That is a lesson you can use when you pitch or query. The tendency is to want to provide them with more information, when really it’s generally better to hit them with something succinct, tight, and to the point. You don’t want to hammer them over the head with a tsunami of information, rather simply arouse their curiosity, leave them with this question in their mind about your story: “I wonder what happens next?”
So not only don’t give away your twist ending, make sure you streamline your pitch: story conceit, Protagonist, Nemesis, goal, stakes, and you’re out of there.
Indeed you’ve given me the topic for another TBOS post: Less is more.
So I hope my answer is helpful, Courtney, but in any event allow me to thank you for giving me some ideas for future GITS posts!