“Skip ahead a bit, Brother Maynard.”

There was some discussion the other day on one of the various writer loops I read about folks who write the last chapter first and then proceed to the front. Apparently Agatha Christie wrote this way? (I have no idea if that’s true, it was mentioned.) Another person mentioned that they will often read the last chapter of a book first to make sure it’s going to be worth their time, since they read primarily for pleasure. I chimed in that I will often do the same.

This seemed to cause quite a flurry of annoyed authors. One going so far as to say that, if you don’t trust the author to put the story together, then why bother reading. Now, I suppose there are those for whom knowing the ending completely ruins a story. And certainly, if you fall into that camp, I recommend not reading the ending first (or at any point prior to actually getting to said ending.) But for me? Sometimes knowing the ending makes the rest of the book more enjoyable.

I’ve mentioned before how incredibly much I dislike a love triangle. Books with angst-ridden love triangles are the first to send me flipping ahead a few chapters, or even to the end, to see if it gets better. Most of the time, even if I’m unhappy with the resolution the author chose, I’ll keep reading. But knowing what’s coming makes it easier to bear when the stupidity of the characters comes out in full force.

High tension thrillers will also send me running to the last chapter. Usually in those cases I’m just looking to make sure my hero is still alive and kicking though. (Unless I’m several books behind in the series. If I know there are more books coming, all with the same hero, I can often hold out.)

Either way, it never occurred to me that it would annoy an author to know I did this. (The corollary being that it certainly would never annoy me to find out someone did this in my book.) In some ways, I think I’m a better reader when I’m not gritting my teeth at the stupidity and skimming in order to hurry along the pages so I can find out the resolution. If I go, find the resolution, then return. I can read each and every word and get more out of the whole story line because I’m no longer in a rush.

The take away thought for me as a writer though is to be careful how I choose to escalate the tension in my novels. When I sit and analyze what makes me flip ahead, it boils down to situations where the tension has been escalated one or two steps beyond what feels necessary to my reading self. So with the excess of tension, I need to hit the release valve and siphon off some of the drama – best way to do that? Skip ahead a bit.

Do you ever skip ahead to check out the end when you’re reading? Would/does it bother you, as a writer, to know it’s happening in your stories? Do you feel it does the author a disservice? Love to hear your thoughts.