Sorry if there's already a post about this, or if this question is a little too specific to be helpful to anyone else who comes across it. I haven't used this site before but couldn't think of anywhere else to go. Hopefully someone can help me with this It's a bit of a longer post as well so I'll put a TL;DR at the bottom. I think that "tragedies" have long fallen out of vogue to the similar but less depressing "drama" genre for reason - conflict is interesting, but happy endings are satisfying, and sad endings feel like a betrayal. The readers have invested time and emotions into this story, and if it ends on a sour note you often feel left with no payoff. I have a somewhat bleak story I want to tell. It's inspired by my real life experiences, but it's seperated enough from reality that it's still strictly fiction. I fear that if I just end it in an equally sad way as it began, there would be no "point" to reading it. No lesson or moral, no character arc, just a big time-wasting bummer. But no matter what I do, I just CAN'T think of a happy or even bittersweet way to end it, at least not without it feeling forced and disingenuous. I think it's because my characters struggle with many of the same things I do (it's how I stay invested in writing them, as well as being sure what I wrote is accurate and from an insider's perspective) and I haven't had my own "character arc" yet, y'know. I haven't ever gotten a happy ending in my real life. Like I'm not miserable or anything and I'm definitely not trying to vent, but I've never had this big, satisfying realization or change of heart that fixed me and made my life better or made me this completely different person. I'm pretty pessimistic in general as well. So, for example, as someone who's always had trouble keeping jobs, it feels weird and dishonest to have my character with the same problems find a solution to that, since even I haven't. You know? I still want at least a semi-happy ending to satisfy my readers, but I honestly just can't be genuine about any possible happy ending I've come up with so far. It feels like I'm lying to myself and everyone else involved. But then again, maybe that's just because I'm a pessimist. Anyone else have this problem? Or know to fix it? Or do I just embrace the possibly controversial "bad ending" even though it's a total bummer? TL;DR: Happy endings are usually more satisfying to the reader, but every one I come up with seems dishonest and forced.
I disagree with the assumption that a tragic ending is less meaningful or a betrayal. Maybe it's because most stories don't have tragic endings that they seem to be implemented more deliberately. Not saying there aren't bad tragic endings, but most of the ones I can think of are such that the story would not be nearly as good if it had gone with a happier ending, to the point that a happy ending would be a betrayal. Also a good tragic ending is hella (very) satisfying. So if your story truly feels like it needs a tragic ending, then give it the ending it deserves. Do what you think is best, it's your story after all.
You have a lot of misconceptions about your readers and writing in general. True, 90% of the time sad endings are not satisfying. I will agree there. But instead of just dismissing something out right, try to consider why it doesn't work. Because I can tell you right now The Road didn't have a happy ending and All Quiet on the Western Front didn't have a happy ending. But neither of these books did I feel cheated. The sad ending was simply the only logical conclusion that these stories could have. This is the same with the film Logan. Say what you want, you are not going to convince me that film was happy or bitter sweet. It certainly wasn't. And let's not forget a crap load of Shakespeare plays! In fact, in Victorian times they tried to rewrite a happy ending for Romeo and Juliet. It didn't work. And Shakespeare has been popular for what? 600 years? So, what's the deal then? The deal is that it's not one type of ending being superior than another, but rather, endings not being appropriate for the story. Happy or sad, the ending has to be a logical conclusion to the conflict. Usually when I see a sad ending that is absolutely terrible, it's has one root problem: the story is simply pretentious. Stories that are trying to be edgy often fail at its sad ending because the sad ending is there for its own sake. Stories where the main character is suffering at the hands of their own minutia while they very much do nothing to change their circumstances, often fail at their sad endings.
A Farewell to Arms does not have a happy ending. The anime Akame ga Kill! does not have a happy ending. I could probably think of some others, but the point is, an ending doesn't have to be happy to be satisfying. Maybe it won't be emotionally satisfying to a reader that was really hoping for a happy ending, which one might say is either most or at least many readers, but it can still wrap up the plot and fulfill any remaining promises made by the author. Your ending just needs to be clear (ex. what happened, and what the author's message is), and needs to tie-up loose ends.
At the risk of repeating what's gone before, go with what your story needs. Some of the works mentioned above are not that recent, so yes: it's quite possible that happy endings sell better these days. However, the only effect that's likely to have on a well-written sad one is to make it stand out from the crowd.
The only genre I know of that requires a happy ending is Romance, and it doesn't sound like you're writing that, so I would 100% let go of that expectation. I think it's really important to give your story the ending you think serves everything that came before it, even if it's sad, or bittersweet, or downright bleak. It's not going to be to every reader's taste, but there are a lot of people out there who don't mind a non-HEA ending.
Yes! In accordance with the comments of previous posters, I encourage you to think about what message you are trying to convey with your ending. What are you saying? And by encouraging you to think about it, I am *not* trying to get you to doubt unhappy endings or anything! It's just good to know what your intention is, so that it can get across to the reader. There's nothing less satisfying than an ending that comes completely out of left-field, or otherwise leaves elements of your plot unaddressed. For what it's worth cheilith, I'm also writing a story heavily inspired by dark personal experience, although it happens to have a more hopeful ending. But that's because I decided that that's the message I want to convey. Not because every story needs a "HAE" (happy-ever-after) to be satisfying. Now, get to writing! Do it! Good luck. The best feedback is that which incorporates the whole of the "finished" product.
In Plague Dogs by Richard Adams (same author as Watership Down), he really wanted a tragic ending but the editor wouldn't let him and made him rewrite the end. There's an author's note before the last chapter in the edition I have explaining that he didn't intend this end and apologising for it seeming forced. The film adaptation kept the ending he had originally intended which, although makes you feel sad and wishing for a happy ending for the characters, is in keeping with the tone of the rest of the story and is still a solid ending which makes you think and feel things. Which is all a long way of saying you're not the only one who thinks sometimes a sad ending just fits better! I think the important thing isn't necessarily that it's happy but that it makes sense why the tragic thing happens at the end and it's still cathartic in its own way. I've noticed a trend in books / films where they try to make the male love interest dying at the end less sad by it turning out the female love interest is pregnant with their child. Sometimes it works but sometimes it just really feels like a tacked on thing to be like 'see it's not tragic he kinda lives on and she's not alone' and it undermines the emotional payoff you could get from the character having sacrificed himself.
To actually answer your question, Cheilith, don't think of it as a black and white, good vs bad ending. Think about some ways that certain things end badly, while other things can end well. Or perhaps there's a compromise. Little ways that one direction of a story can point to happy things, while other things point to not so happy things. In the silly film Little Black Book (spoilers for anyone who cares) the girl does not get the guy in the end, and she realizes that he was better off with his ex. Instead of getting a guy, she ends up getting a job and meeting her idol. In terms of actual literature, there's also One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, where a prisoner in a Soviet labor camp struggles to survive. Many good things happen to the MC, Shukov: his squad isn't sent off to a terrible assignment in the freezing cold, he gets extra food through helping out others, he found a blade he can use to make more things for others, and he's about two years away from the end of his sentence. Many bad things have happened to him as well: he got in trouble for sleeping in, wasn't sick enough to avoid work that day, nearly got sent to confinement, never gets any parcels, is missing teeth from an old sickness, and probably won't get to go home at the end of his term because either his term will be extended or he'll be sent into exile. The story ends on a happy note, but the reader knows that Shukov's life is pretty fragile, and that he could make just one mistake that in the end would mean his life. Maybe getting sent to solitary confinement for having a knife, or getting mistaken for a squealer and killed. I don't know your story, but here's a view abstract conceptions of what you could do. 1. Instead of MC getting a job, maybe have an opportunity to go to school again. 2. Messing up an interview but finding a nice guy or finding a volunteer position. 3. Somehow finding a way to be homeless and happy. 4. Losing $100 but then saving someone from committing suicide. 5. Finally going back to church for help. The thing about being happy is that it's a choice. I've been through a lot of depression, and I've noticed that my life was not objectively all that different in sadness or happiness, but it was all in how I looked at it, and, at the risk of annoying you, really being closer to God. With the Holy Spirit I'm able to look at my life with clearer eyes, and realize that it isn't really all that bad, and I can do things that maybe other people can't do because of their situations. Just because the situation isn't what I ideally want, doesn't mean it can't be great. What does this have to do with your writing? Well, maybe everything can go into the toilet for your character, but then she has a personal epiphany about life and herself, and takes joy in just being alive. "When you've robbed a man of everything, he's free again" as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn would say.
