Are happy endings over rated?

Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by Georgew, Mar 12, 2011.

  1. Show

    Show Contributor Contributor

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    I think endings that feel the need to be either all happy or all sad or overrated. A nice, bittersweet ending is usually good. :D

    I always typically end on a somewhat happy note. My character makes it past the tragedy, but they still have the scars. So I like the bittersweet. Tis life, IMO.
     
  2. KP Williams

    KP Williams Active Member

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    The story of quadruple-bypass surgery ended with happy success. It was followed up with a gloomy sequel, which is still a work in progress. Same with your marriage.

    Of course happiness is going to be followed by despair. That's the way nature works. Just because one story ends on a pleasant note doesn't mean the sequel can't twist it up down the road. But even if it does, you've still had your happy ending for one specific chapter of life. What happens in the next chapter is another matter.
     
  3. Forkfoot

    Forkfoot Caitlin's ex is a lying, abusive rapist. Contributor

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    I don't really see any single isolated stories or chapters. It's like one big thing with no clear lines or boundaries. I could start telling my story at a certain point in my history, and could end it at another, but there's never even been a single point in my life where all my little sub-plots were resolved and I came out on top where I could say "That point would make a great happy ending." I don't think anyone has those, and even if they did would it be true to their story as a whole? I think it would be phony, saying "Okay, shut off the cameras now before the MC screws things up again." If I were being honest and genuine, I'd pick an ending point which kinda sums it all up, a little picture which leaves a lasting impression of what my sloppy, awkward, back-and-forth story looks and feels like as a whole.
     
  4. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    I think everyone's life is like this, Forkfoot. Everything is a WIP. Even after you die the people left behind still have to sort through the papers, clothes, files, photos, and little things that you left. We all have scars and every miniscule part of a story (or life) is never resolved. There is always something still waiting in the wings. I think the main thing is attitude. The attitude of the MC in the story, the attitude of us in our lives. It's not what's thrown at us, it's how we handle it.
     
  5. Elgaisma

    Elgaisma Contributor Contributor

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    Have question is a positive ending different to a happy ending ? Is it different to give just a snapshot into a happy moment - than to giving a happily ever after ending ?
     
  6. Speedy

    Speedy Contributor Contributor

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    Well a happy ending caould range dramatically. The happy ending for the characters could be a shock ending for the reader.
     
  7. Show

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    I think "happily ever after" is much different than showing that your characters have been able to be happy again. This is often where I go, show a happy moment at the end. The characters will still have struggles but they've been able to get to a good place again, which shows that it's worth it to push through the struggles.
     
  8. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    I think so. Some books end with sappy (IMO) "......and they looked off into the distance knowing that all evil had been vanquished and their children would be safe forever more."

    Others with ".....she knew this was not the end, for there could be no true ending, but she now had the strength to continue. A roof over her head, the love of her child; not complete happiness, perhaps, but she was happy."

    Just off the top of my head, but you see what I mean I think. Distinct difference.
     
  9. madhoca

    madhoca Contributor Contributor

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    I think one positive ending is the ending that we mentioned earlier--where even though the MC is put through the mill and doesn't necessarily have a happily-ever-after kind of end, s/he learns from the experience and is stronger.

    Personally, I think it's just self-indulgent misery most of the time ending a story in black gloom. Like giving up on life.

    Look at the end of Romeo and Juliet, a tragedy if there ever was one. They are both lying there dead--remember the wonderful end to the Zefferelli film? That spine-chilling, echoing voice shouting 'All are punishéd!'--but the families learn from their mistakes and the sacrifice of the lovers ends the feud. That's a positive sign that life goes on and people can strive for the good. So I say that's the kind of 'unhappy' ending that is hopeful at the same time.
     
  10. Tesoro

    Tesoro Contributor Contributor

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    i actually like happy endings :)
    I think for myself if i read a book ending with a disaster or in a somewhat unhappy way the only reason i would kep thinking about it would be because the ending left me unsatisfied with the story. it wouldnt be a good thing for me. I dont think a good book need to leave me with a continuing thinking about it to be good and worth reading. i like to think that things can work out well sometimes, because we all know life is nothing like the stories and even though i know lots of things can go wrong after the book has ended i still like to see things sorted out when it stops. after that i can create my own little story about what happened with the people after that. and its not sure that it will always be happy or satisfactory at all.
     
  11. Silver_Dragon

    Silver_Dragon New Member

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    I think happy endings aren't a bad thing as long as they aren't contrived, as others have pointed out.

    When I was in high school, I made the characters in my stories come to a bad end, almost every time. I don't think that was much better than writing a series of contrived happy endings. :p As for the issue of getting bored with happy endings, it's often how the characters achieve the ending that holds my interest. Sometimes they get there in an unexpected way, or the ending isn't quite what you thought it would be, but things still work out.

    In my own writing, I favour mixed endings. Some things work out well, while the characters are still left lacking in other ways. This seems most like real life to me.
     
  12. Show

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    I think the worst kind of ending is a contrived sad ending. I don't like endings that are sad just for the sake of being sad. It makes the entire story feel like a ripoff.
     
  13. JPLayne

    JPLayne New Member

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    I think that as long as you end it well it is okay. Gauging the characters, flow of the plot, and what the readers will accept. Sometimes an happy ending or a something different in order to shock the reader can be forced. Let the ending flow naturally, feedback always helps.
     
  14. len_ryuka

    len_ryuka New Member

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    good ending, sad ending, doesn't matter.

    As a writer, you're job is to get the message across as clearly and as vigorously as possible. The Ending is only a part of your message.
     
  15. wolfi

    wolfi New Member

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    Where the red fern grows (might have butchered the spelling)
    to me has the sadist ending in history


    it will stay with me to the day i die



    freak the mighty dose the same same thing


    But for each sad ending that stays with me forever there is a Happy ending



    the perfect ending for me is a mixed one, not just a mixed every one had a good\bad

    but where
    main cacther: good
    sidekick #2 bad
    sidekick # 1 good
    ect


    to me thats the best story

    one that makes sense

    and not just the

    he died ending either

    I like it when some guys lose some guys win
     
  16. KillianRussell

    KillianRussell New Member

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    Khaled Hosseini's gem The Kite Runner ends ambiguously
     
  17. HorusEye

    HorusEye Contributor Contributor

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    Happy endings tend to come with a big, resounding "That's a wrap!" and everyone lingers off to lunch, only thinking about what's on the menu. There's nothing to haunt your mind and keep you in the story, because, after all, it all ended well. What's more to say?

    The hero lives forever after, and the story dies.

    The hero dies, and the story lives forever after.
     
  18. Show

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    I disagree. The hero dying might make the story feel like it wasn't worth reading. It can work, or it can backfire. I think a story with a happy ending can have plenty to haunt you.
     
  19. Jammo

    Jammo New Member

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    I think especially with Hollywood horror movies, there is a new common trend to leave the audience hanging or leave them with a negative ending.
    I watch a thriller or a horror and that's pretty much what I expect nowadays.
    You can't expect good to prevail anymore...
     
  20. madhoca

    madhoca Contributor Contributor

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    Why not? See, this what I mean about this boring fashion to be negative. 'Anymore'? You mean, when Europe had just gone through harrowing times in WWll, with thousands of kids orphaned and displaced people, they were more open to happy endings? Or in the 19th century, given the mortality rates, they expected a happy ending? You aren't making sense. Life is much easier these days, and good does prevail. All the time.
    It's. Just. A. Fashion.
     
  21. Jammo

    Jammo New Member

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    Hey, I'm not the one being negative. Talk to the film-makers about that one...
    I'm simply saying that it is now original to end a horror movie with a negative ending, eg. the bad guy ACTUALLY getting away or winning.
    You're taking it a little out of proportion I believe.
     
  22. jimboa26

    jimboa26 New Member

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    One example of an unhappy ending that works really well (in my opinion) is a film called Spartan, with Val Kilmer. The main guy does his job and "saves the day," but at a price. It forces him into a lonely exile and costs two of his fellow soldiers their lives. He watches the "happy" results of his work on a TV, but alone and far away from a home he can't go back to.

    Another one I like isn't exactly unhappy, but rather melancholy: the ending to the True Grit remake. It's more of a somber epilogue to what is technically a happy ending, and shows that the events of the film (spoilers, highlight to see) scarred the girl for life, and she never really found joy in life afterwords.
     
  23. Forkfoot

    Forkfoot Caitlin's ex is a lying, abusive rapist. Contributor

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    I think happy endings are just one more leftover tradition from Western oral storytelling. Folk tales from many Eastern cultures almost never had happy endings, but at some point in Europe they started ending in "Happily ever after". Might have something to do with the hefty influence of Christianity in Europe and the idea that good will prevail over evil in the End Times. In most Eastern religions the "good vs. evil" paradigm looks much different and the lines are much less clear.

    It's just how we've learned to tell stories; something which started as a campfire oral tradition sunk its roots deep into our cultural storytelling heritage and we still see its effects and feel them in our awareness. Same reason we tend to tell stories in the past tense. It's not the "natural" or "right" way to do things; it's just what we've been taught. It's traditional.
     
  24. zilly

    zilly New Member

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    As you mentioned, happy endings don't often have long lasting impressions. But, that's how life works. You get married--great for a little bit. You see your brother shot to death--remember it every day of your life.

    I think most authors are tempted to write comedies rather than tragedies and I think people enjoy reading comedies rather than tragedies as well. I think it's just the way we are.

    Which one is better? I don't know. I don't know how anyone could give a meaningful answer.

    Write whatever you feel compelled to write. Read whatever you feel compelled to read.
     
  25. aimlessgun

    aimlessgun New Member

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    Yup, contrived endings either way are terrible. I hated the ending of the First Law trilogy because it felt contrived to end badly. Still memorable though...for the wrong reasons.

    I think it's harder to write a memorable good ending than a memorable bad ending: the story with the good ending will probably be remembered more for the events than the very end.

    Tigana is a great example of contrasting memorable>sad and unmemeroable>happy. I barely remember the endings of most of the characters. But Dianora's ending will stick with me until I die.
     

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