Over at Spittin’ (out words) Like a Llama, Colby promises her readers that her books will always tie up nicely. She doesn’t promise a happy ending, just an ending that ties things up.
This is incredibly important to me as a reader. To my mind, there are few things worse than investing my time and energy into reading a book that doesn’t tie up all the loose ends. Personally I prefer happy endings, but if the author can at least come up with an appropriate ending that leaves me with closure, I can deal with it. I want the bad guys to suffer, and the good guy to get the girl, and the good girl to get everything she wants emotionally and physically. See.. not to hard to please me. LOL
No, really. I have been known to throw a book across the room when it ended with the main character “good guy” dying and the bad guy riding off into the sunset.
As a writer, I’m torn. I want the happy ending for the characters in my book, but I also want reality. In real life, not everything turns out happy. Everyone doesn’t get what they want, and sometimes the bad guys really do win.
How to you determine the ending of your story? Do you write the happy ending you want and readers expect? Or do you work on mixing it up and not being predictable.
I find that Nora Roberts is the perfect example of writing the predictable ending. Within 20 pages of starting her books, I can tell you which girl ends up with which guy. I can tell you that it will always have a happily-ever-after. Even knowing this… I still enjoy her books. I read them almost straight through and love her writing style. I devour her books as quickly as she puts them out.
So if I feel this way, maybe being predictable doesn’t really matter as much as I thought. Perhaps readers simply enjoy the journey of a fiction book, and like the fact that they can look forward to a happy ending. Am I representative of other readers of this genre?
What is your take on the predictable ending and the happily-ever-after?
I’m throwing this blog chain over to The Speakeasy.
Please visit all the other participants in the blog chain:
living my life all over again
Spontaneous Derivation
Jenn Hollowell: Working Writer
Peregrinas
Techtainment
Anything That Pays
Polenth’s Quill
wfg thinks out loud
Spittin’ (out words) Like a Llama
A Thoughtful Life
The Speakeasy
Virtual Wordsmith
The Writer’s Round-About
My Copious Notes Blog
Tennessee Text Wrestling
Writings
Twisted Fantasy
[tags]absolute write blog chain, writing about writing, blog chain, writing blog chain[/tags]
[dels]absolute write blog chain, writing about writing, blog chain, writing blog chain[/dels]
January 30th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I gravitate toward books with predictable endings when my life is in turmoil. I need to have “something” in my life that I know is going to work out, so I read those kind of books during those kind of times. It’s comforting, especially when I can get lost in the prose and forget about what’s happening for a little while.
What burns me, though, are the books that I depend on for those story lines . . . and then they don’t deliver because the author has changed their style. I know it’s “their” writing, but it still bothers me when I pick up a book I expect to end one way (because the others always have) and the exact opposite happens. It’s leaves me shaken. LOL
January 30th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
For me, it isn’t so much the ending as it is how I got there. I just read a very predictable chick lit story–The Cinderella Pact. It was cute and I actually laughed out loud (rare for me). So, in the end it was what I would have expected, but the read to get there was still enjoyable. That’s the key–it is all about the journey.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I’m one of those folks who likes the journey as well. It’s amusing that I read mystery novels, because I never try to figure out who did it. I just watch the characters find out who did it. I don’t care if I’ve figured it out. I want to see the characters, too. (Random aside: Eastern mystery stories start out with Who Did It and you read the book to see precisely how this affects the characters and how the deed is found out. Which is a lot like how I normally go with my mysteries.)
I guess that’s why I’m also a big, big fan of character-driven books, and plot sort of takes a back seat.
On the other hand, what I do really like are the endings that I don’t expect—but if I look back, I can see where the chain of incidents leading up to the ending started.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
It’s all about the journey, but I admit I like a happily ever after ending most of the time…I don’t like it so much when it’s frilly and tied up in a bow, but when I can see that the characters will work their problems out and the conflict has been resolved… I love reading romance (category romance, even) but I always make ‘getting sick’ sounds at the ends because they get so cheesy. lol. Still, I know what to expect and if it wasn’t there I think I’d be shocked.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Endings don’t have to be predictable, but I don’t like feeling depressed after I’ve finished a book. Happy doesn’t have to mean everything works out, but some things should work out. Everyone dying or living in horrible angst just isn’t my sort of ending.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
“As a writer, I’m torn. I want the happy ending for the characters in my book, but I also want reality. In real life, not everything turns out happy. Everyone doesn’t get what they want, and sometimes the bad guys really do win.”
Very well said. I love happy endings but I agree with you that in real life, there is not always a happy ending. Well, I have noticed in my own life that sometimes things end in tragedy but then after few years when I look back then I feel that I have got something better out of the tragedy. I guess that it happens to all of us.
January 30th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Excellent post with good food for thought! I’m not crazy about predictable endings or endings that are too “perfect.” I like a happy ending, but I don’t have to have one — a realistic ending which fits the story is often much better.
And my favorite ending: when I haven’t seen the ending coming but in retrospect I’m hard-pressed to imagine how it could have been better for the story.
January 30th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Catcher in the Rye had a great ending. It wasn’t a happy one. If the writer is talented enough, she can get away with anything.
Personally, I am not much of a romantic. Happy endings are fine as long as they are realistic (as stated in the post above).
Btw, I really liked your post.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
I am all for the realistic happy ending (even if I don’t always promise one!). I, like Polenth, am not a fan of the “everyone’s in angst” ending, either. I think there’s a medium in there somewhere for me. It’s an ending that works, not necessarily your ride off into the sunset ending, but also not everyone dying and ending in tragedy, either.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:37 am
Well, I don’t mind a happy ending if it’s what makes sense, but the stories that really resonate for me and leave me pondering life’s greater mysteries are the ones with ambiguous endings.
In literary fiction, I’m as insulted by the suggestion of a happily ever after as by that of an unhappily ever after. They don’t happen in real life and they don’t suggest real growth on the part of the characters. But still, there are some books that are written specifically as light entertainment, not with any overarching profound statement to make. For those types of books, I consider a happy ending a must!
February 1st, 2008 at 5:35 am
You get formula books that are predictable. Every single Harlequin book I’ve ever read I know in the first page or two which guy and which girl are going to end up with each other. That’s the formula, romance readers expect the two primary characters to end up happily ever after. If one of these books DIDN’T end like that I’d be shocked and probably disappointed. Because when I pick up one of these books the loving, cherished, sappy, romantic feeling is what I’m reading it for.
There are some brilliant books (and movies) that end with endings that are wrenching. A recent movie I watched like this was Premonition. In the movie, a small part of me was hoping for the TRUE happy ever after. It does end on a positive note with lessons learnt but trust me, the last minutes of the movie made the kleenex company happy. Another movie example is Armageddon. It has a ‘happy’ ending but it is heart wrenching as well.
Personally, I LOVE these kinds of books and movies. The good guys do prevail eventually but just like reality, just because they’re good doesn’t mean they survive. Just because they’re a primary character doesn’t mean they walk off into the sunset.
But you’re right, an ending HAS to be complete. The only excuse for a cliff hanger is a sequel and even then I’d like a primary thread tied up nicely when I’m reading/watching.
Don’t forget, however, that good vs. bad is all in your perspective. The good guys don’t necessarily need to win. You can have a bad guy as the protagonist prevailing against the good guys. It isn’t as common simply because we live in a fairly moral world. We, as people, want to believe that law breakers go to jail, murderers get caught, bank robbers are arrested, etc.
Then again, despite being both anti-gambling and anti-theft I loved watching Oceans 11, 12, and 13. The ‘bad guys’ against ‘badder guys and the law’ prevail. Um, my point… Oh, my point is, the protagonist should be the one to win in the end. Thus the reason for using their point of view.
You could flip any book. Write it from the antagonists perspective, have him win, and people would still enjoy reading it. You know why? Because when they’re reading THEY ARE THE PROTAGONIST! Tell me someone in the real world who doesn’t prefer to be the one that comes out on top of the odds at the end of the day. When we read, we succeed.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:36 am
Opps, I could have made a half dozen blog entries out of that comment. Sorry for the lengthy response.
February 5th, 2008 at 3:48 am
Kat, I loved your example of the Ocean movies - it’s pretty much how I feel.
Whether I get a happily ever after ending or not doesn’t matter as much to me as whatever ending I get making sense within the context of the characters and their behavior up to that point. Not saying that predictable is best, just that it has to make sense.
If there’s no logic, then I’m disgusted and throw books, even if it’s a happy ending.
February 5th, 2008 at 11:59 am
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February 5th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
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February 6th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
My mom got me hooked on Nora Roberts books. They are the ones I read when I need a break. I don’t have to be jolted out of the story by typos or rough grammar. They’re my relax and escape books.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:07 am
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February 11th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Just wanted to say THANKS!! to everyone for all the great comments. I love that we each see things slightly differently.
This blog chain was so much fun! Can’t wait to do another.
February 12th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I think either way is valid. Never underestimate the power of wish fulfillment for the reader.
I wonder if ansty endings work better when there’s a sequel? Leave readers on tenterhooks so they’ll snap up the next book?
M
March 4th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I used to write unhappy endings and nobody liked them. I had scads of characters who never learned a THING about themselves. Endings were not tied bows. I think people like to read things that seem like life but are better than life. Happy endings give people hope, even if that hope is wishful thinking. Now, I tend to end things (when I DO end them - I’m bad with endings) on a more upbeat note.