Had to pick between two endings for my short story and I still don't know if I made the right call

I was working on this 8 page piece about a guy who finds an old key in his dad's toolbox (you know, one of those tiny ones for a diary or something). I got to the last scene and hit this wall where I had two ways to go: either he opens the lockbox and finds a letter that explains everything, or he never finds the box at all and just moves on with his life. I sat on it for three days, even asked my buddy at the station what he'd do, and he said go with the mystery because real life doesn't wrap up neat. So I chose the open ending where he keeps the key on his keychain and wonders forever. But now my writing group is split right down the middle: half say it's deep, the other half say it's a cop out. Has anyone else faced a fork like this where the obvious choice felt wrong but the other one left you second-guessing?

2 comments

2 Comments

willow_morgan11d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, I just read this thing about how ambiguity makes stories stick with people longer.

patricia31711d ago

Totally agree. It makes you THINK.