Guh, I post too much, people are gonna get annoyed at me. This is the last one for a while I swear. I'm actually not entirely sure where this should go, but plot seemed to be the most appropriate so it's here. Setup: I'm making a story that can be fun, gets dark, and deals with some pretty heavy things (betrayel, murder, one of the characters getting tortured [most of the gruesome details aren't described], mental manipulation, you get the idea). I've been wondering about who the "big bad" in my story would be, and how the end game would play out. Good news! I solved both those problems today! Bad news! I found an entirely new one because of this! So basically, I've decided that this story I'm writing isn't about the villain's plot, or the world the story's set in, but instead is meant to be about the characters and how they interact with one another. Or rather, it's about how my characters become an inseparable team, no matter how far away they are from each other. In the end, the villains and their plots, as well as the plots of the "big bad", are nothing more than I driving factor to reach this end goal. I'm not sure if that's a good story idea, but that's not the point of this post. The Point: So, y'know how in a lot of the modern superhero movies, the heroes will spend the entire battle poking fun at each other and generally acting like this big threat isn't really a big threat? I've decided that I want that for my end game, but for different reasons. See, the leader of the MCs actually tries to explain it to the "big bad" with this line: "Oh come on, now. We've betrayed each other, abandoned each other, hell, we've even tried to kill each other. What makes you think we're scared of you?" What she means when she says is this basically: "We nearly tore ourselves apart, you're not that scary." I'm wondering if that's a good idea, or would that sort of feel out of place, since the story this is supposed to end gets pretty dark. I mean, I thought if it so that the point would be that, once they finally get back together and start working as a team, nothing really seems so dangerous or scary anymore, and they can poke fun at each and get into arguments mid-battle and stuff like that. Am I wrong to try this? Should I go for a more serious ending, because I really like the tone of the ending I'm talking about here, but if it's a bad idea I really wanna know. I wouldn't want to shoot my story in the foot, after all. Thanks in advance!
I think you should write the story, with both endings, and see which you like better. When working on a story, I often have multiple paragraphs for the same place in the story. As I am writing I think of other ways it could be done and do them. I figure out which I like the best and use it.
I second this. And maybe if you absolutely love how both of them turn out, you can find a sort of middle between the two.
I absolutely agree with this as well if you're struggling on which one you like better, but it kind of sounds like you know that already. Personally I like the line for your MC, but it does give a very lighthearted tone to the fight (if the characters aren't worried about who'll win why should the reader?). If that's what you want for the ending of your story I say go for it! Sometimes after a deep, dark story a lighthearted ending is a welcome breather. If you write the ending you want and are still on edge if it's good or bad, you can write a darker ending and see if you like it or start looking for beta readers and ask for their opinions.
Well, the point I'm trying to go for is that, they've already been through the worst. They almost tore each other apart, but they came out of it stronger than ever. They've been through the worst, so why should this be a big deal? (Plus, they're kind of way too strong for him, anyway. Any one of the MCs could kick this guy's tail six ways to Saturn by themselves, the final battle is just the "Big Bad's" desperate attempt to win.) I guess a spoiler for the original Teen Titans' ending? I mean, come on it's been years, if you haven't seen it by now the spoilers are completely your own fault. I've actually managed to pin down where I got this idea from. Do you remember how the original Teen Titans ended, where the villains just got completely overwhelmed by the united front put together by the Main Heroes, I think this idea came from that ending. But I definitely will be writing both endings, far be it from me to think that I'm right the first time, so thanks for the advice!
I only watched the first two seasons of that show, so I never saw the ending. However, if you set up the ending so that the reader feels like defeating the "big bad" is just typing up loose ends, then I think you're okay. Just don't go into a lot of detail about the fight to try extending it for the sake of jokes and quips. If they're that powerful compared to him, the fight needs to be clean and easy, IMO.
Yeah, I'd agree with you there. I would, however, like to pick your brain on something. The nature of the "Big Bad's" power has allowed him to, over the course of several years, create a huge army of energy clones. This means that the entirety of the final battle is just the main 4 tearing their way through the army towards the cornered "Big Bad." It's not too difficult, and there are several reasons as to why the "Big Bad" can't just make clones of the main 4 (at least not their present selves). I mean to use this to simultaneously show exactly how little they care that they're fighting an army (denoting how they view this as an inconvenience compared to what they've already been through, which is directly stated by another character later on), solidify how the characters interact with one another now that they've grown into adults apart from each other (They all spent a good chunk of the second-half of the story separated), finish up one of my favorite side-arcs I've ever thought of, as well as give the reader a nice euphoric feeling to finish off the story with. I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but the way the scene looks in my head right now seems to work, guess I just have to put pen to paper, huh? I mean, I don't actually use pen and paper, I type these things, but the saying isn't "fingers to keyboard", it's "pen to paper" so I'm kind of backed into a corner here. Anywho, thanks for the feedback. Afterthought: The ending to TT actually feels really good, considering how royally they were getting destroyed beforehand. This isn't relevant to the post, but it just popped into my Mind and I had to get it out somewhere, right?
Nothing to do but to do it! The army is a part of "the big boss fight," so I think that works as long as you've already introduced the concept (aka it doesn't feel like a cop-out just to make "the boss fight" better). And don't sweat the whole pen and paper thing--it's a classic saying, not a literal one. We don't tend to actually beat dead horses or skin cats, after all (at least I hope we don't!). Haha, you silly .
It seems like you've made your decision but for what it's worth I would really like that ending as a reader! I'm a sucker for the whole power of friendship thing and I think it would be interesting to see how, as the story unfolds, what the audience perceives as the big bad enemy takes a back seat to what the protagonists do to themselves. I like the specific line you use and I also like I know this was a summary but you could work that in there too! I would also say you don't have to sacrifice the dark and gritty to do this ending. It doesn't have to just be a light hearted quip but can work on two levels. It's everything from the character arcs coming together in a moment of relief when the protagonists know that they've got this! There could also be a lot of angry satisfaction behind it because this enemy manipulated them into twisting themselves and they can finally overcome it. Happy writing!
