Melinda on "The Happy Ending"

[sleigh]

Is failure more 'authentic' and 'realistic'? Are happy endings clichéd?

Melinda Snodgrass takes on that question at her blog (and gives someone a nice, unexpected shout-out in the midst of it...). Go read it -- what do you think? When you read a novel or story, do you want the happy ending? (You! Get your mind of the gutter! Yes, you -- you know who I'm talking to...) Or do you prefer gritty, gnarled, and uncertain futures for your protagonists? And why is that?

Comments

It depends...

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

On the story. If it's all downhill, it feels like a theft to end with the happy. It also feels like a theft if the end undoes to make the happy. The happy feels right if it contains the sense of "It took work to get here, and, for now, we'll ignore those storm clouds off on the horizon." "Verweile doch, du bist so schön." The devil, as always, is in the details or just offstage.

Re: It depends...

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Though it seems that often in epic fantasy, everything *is* going downhill, and the whole intent of the plot is for The Heroes/Heroines to stop the plunge and Restore Rightful Order.

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

For me more important than happy or sad is satisfying ending. Not only must the ending seem like a natural conclusion to all that's gone before, it also must actually be an ending. I understand that in the case of series, the author wants to give us a reason to buy volume XVII. Even so, if the other books don't resolve to at least temporary ending I get cranky.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

I'm in total agreement with you re. series: I want at least some plot closure from every book. I dislike series books that just seem to stop.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

I want an ending that fits the characters and their story. Happy endings are nice, but they aren't necessarily appropriate to the story.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

True from a reader's perspective, but from a writer's view, it's possible to craft a plot and character situations that can reasonably end "happy" or "tragic." So the question for the writer becomes "which pleases the reader more?"

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

If we're starting out with the premise that the author is going to design the story to end one way or the other, I'd prefer a happy ending. The books I like best are the ones where I come to care for the characters and I'd rather that people (real or imaginary) that I care about find happiness rather than tragedy.