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Message Board Topic 8/4


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You've seen them before. Hell, the 'happy ending' has been a staple of the storytelling business since cave paintings! The hero saves the day, gets the sexy girl/boy, and they live happily ever after. Bravo...tell it again!

 

Now...as we all know, that in the real world...happy endings aren't as frequent and as magical as they are in the stories. There are always amazing exceptions to the rule, sure...but to put faith in a 'happily ever after' isn't always a good move. Me? I'm an optimist, but not to the point of having my head so far in the clouds so as to believe that every romance will turn out for the best That, unfortunately, is just not reality.

 

However...when it comes to the STORIES online...happy endings are the soup of the day! They're not only common, they're 'expected'. Of COURSE the gorgeous blond boy next door is gay, and single, and interested in the main character, and they get along, and their parents are out of town, and have no problem being homosexual, AND will love you forever and ever without any further problems for the rest of eternity! That's how these stories go, right?

 

The question is...should all of these stories have happy endings? Are they realistic? Do they give false hope to people who are looking or that same magic in their own lives? Would 'unhappy' endings ruin the story for you overall? Would you want more of one or the other, or would you rather have a balance of the two? Let us know what you think!

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I happen to think there needs to be a balance between the two. The ever-accepting, out-of-town parents story line, however, is getting old. It's not always like that. Some parents are accepting; others are not. However, even the parents who are accepting are unlikely to allow their sons to have other guys to stay the night with their sons if they know their sons are gay. That scenario is definitely unlikely and is far from realistic.

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It really depends on the type of story. Romances that don't have a happy ending are cheating the reader. Romance is a genre that practically requires a happy ending, though it doesn't have to be the obvious happy ending (that boy next door ran off with my best friend, the swine! Luckily his cute brother, who had been annoying me for ages, came over to comfort me and I found out about a side of him I hadn't known about).

 

Other genres don't require a happy ending. Dramas, adventure stories, etc., can have half-way happy endings. The hero may not have gotten everything he wanted, but as long as the world is saved, that's good enough. Tragedies and horror stories quite often don't have happy endings (though a horror story can have a happy ending).

 

As long as the ending is realistic, I think most readers will accept it. They may not be completely happy, but a sad ending can be accepted if it's the right sad ending.

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I prefer happy endings! But that's just me, when I read a story, I want it to have a happy ending because that's why I like reading stories! If most stories had sad endings, I would probably stop reading them! Of course, that's not to say that a sad ending isn't a good story at all.

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