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Story Endings


Story Endings  

12 members have voted

  1. 1. What type of story ending do you prefer?

    • HEA, Happily Ever After
      2
    • HFN, Happy For Now
      8
    • Tragedy
      0
    • Nothing (Issues remain unresolved
      2


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One of the best and hardest things a writer can ever write is a proper ending for a story.

In the past, a majority of fiction has focused on Happily Ever After (HEA) or at least Happy For Now Endings (HFN), since it's much more desired to give a reward to both characters and readers for going on extended journeys in your narrative. Of course, there is an opposite side to both these "good" endings, tragedy. The ancient Greeks probably found out that a good tragedy spurs more discussion than a charming happy ending, Shakespeare's greatest plays were also tragedies too like Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and Hamlet.

In modern times, we also have started seeing "unresolved issues" ending. Basically, an evil writer is teasing his/her readers, then leave them without any satisfaction. It's a great way of creating a cult following for a story, promise something and keep promising new things as story progresses, but do not give a satisfying conclusion for all issues. J.K Rowling made Harry Potter mandatory reading throughout the original 7 novels by keeping reader's attention (though I am not a fan of book 8/the play that shall not be mentioned).

What type of ending do you prefer?

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14 hours ago, Brayon said:

I like Happy For Now, with some foreshadowing if there's a second, or more, book coming out. A nice epilogue can help seal the deal too.

This is where I’m at. I’m a sucker for leaving my characters in a good place, but if I can’t I want to provide some hope that gets them there. 

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You ask a very difficult question to which my answer can only be, I like the ending that fits the story.

One aspect of American movies that is not appreciated very much in Europe is the cavalry arriving to save the hero at the end when it is unrealistic. On the contrary there is an appreciation for real endings which are plausible, even in fantasy and Sci-fi. If it's a happy or sad ending, never mind, the film, the book, are about the journey.

I like an ending where you leave the book feeling satisfied emotionally whilst regretting you've arrived at the end.

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I'm in the Happy for Now camp in general, though I agree with Talo; the most important thing is that the ending fits the story. I've written a few tragedies in my time, and I've written some HEA too. I like the bittersweet, but different genres and plot types demand different ways of telling the story, including the ending.

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7 hours ago, Talo Segura said:

You ask a very difficult question to which my answer can only be, I like the ending that fits the story.

One aspect of American movies that is not appreciated very much in Europe is the cavalry arriving to save the hero at the end when it is unrealistic. On the contrary there is an appreciation for real endings which are plausible, even in fantasy and Sci-fi. If it's a happy or sad ending, never mind, the film, the book, are about the journey.

I like an ending where you leave the book feeling satisfied emotionally whilst regretting you've arrived at the end.

Agreed, an ending should fit a story and American sensibilities are more geared towards HEA ending at any costs sometimes hurting the story. I love the Wedding Planner like any romantic movie watcher, most of all, because the hero doesn't make it in time to the wedding and his love interest made the choice. Contrast that with an ending like The Graduate, the lover runs off with the bride to be in a somber and romantic ending, which is also really good too as I find "Nothing/Unresolved" endings good modern realism. I can imagine both a tragic ending and a happy ending for characters based on my mood when re-watching it.

 

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