tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3414833843767621137.post1335465049279051737..comments2024-02-25T04:30:27.006-05:00Comments on Wanderer's Pen: Happy Endings: They Do ExistVictoria Grace Howellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01849013182543674707noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3414833843767621137.post-29955082294196896522014-08-13T00:19:27.083-04:002014-08-13T00:19:27.083-04:00Good point, Jessy. It is a worthwhile comment. :) ...Good point, Jessy. It is a worthwhile comment. :) Thank you for sharing your thought.Victoria Grace Howellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01849013182543674707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3414833843767621137.post-68949692289727170722014-07-30T16:25:54.213-04:002014-07-30T16:25:54.213-04:00Hmm. Happy endings. I like the point you made abou...Hmm. Happy endings. I like the point you made about happy endings in history, even in events like 9/11.<br /><br />I love <i>good</i> endings. Be they happy or sad, heart-wrenching or joyous. Realistic doesn't always mean sad, nor does it always mean happy. How I judge an ending (and, as I've said many times, the ending, to me, is everything) is not by its happiness or sadness, but by how <i>good</i> it is. Satisfactory. A sad ending can be just as bad as a happy ending if done wrong, and a happy ending can be just as good as a sad ending (since we're coming from that perspective at the moment). As you've pointed out, both are realistic. It just depends on where the story is taking you.<br /><br />My favorite endings are the ones that finish the book well and make me think. Even if all the loose ends aren't wrapped up nicely like a perfectly wrapped package, it's okay. As long as it's done right.<br /><br />Sorry to ramble so much. Hopefully this comment was somewhat worthwhile...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.barefootinthesnowjack.blogspot.com/p/the-writeress.html" rel="nofollow">the writeress</a> || <a href="http://www.barefootinthesnowjack.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">barefoot in the snow</a>Jessy Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10783837388867631595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3414833843767621137.post-72925986746533874332014-07-27T18:41:54.063-04:002014-07-27T18:41:54.063-04:00Exactly. There are very few exceptions to not kill...Exactly. There are very few exceptions to not killing the main character. I only can name like two or three examples where it worked. Other times it just ruined the story. Victoria Grace Howellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01849013182543674707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3414833843767621137.post-75009703499243610302014-07-26T23:54:49.348-04:002014-07-26T23:54:49.348-04:00I certainly wouldn't like to see Sauron win. I...I certainly wouldn't like to see Sauron win. I don't want a pointless story. (I'm not against someone killing a main character in a heroic sacrifice, if the sacrifice works, though I don't plan on doing that any time soon.)Jessi L. Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12368094392959597176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3414833843767621137.post-18277561515516811122014-07-26T21:03:05.926-04:002014-07-26T21:03:05.926-04:00Of course not /all/ the good guys are going to hav...Of course not /all/ the good guys are going to have a happy ending. That's not realistic at all. There are losses on both sides. In Lord of the Rings many good men died in the name of protecting their loves ones, Boromir for instance, but in the end it was worth it because the good guys conquered evil. But if Sauron won in the end and Frodo succumbed to the power of the Ring wouldn't it make the whole story pointless?Victoria Grace Howellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01849013182543674707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3414833843767621137.post-61794122768747213742014-07-26T13:24:12.154-04:002014-07-26T13:24:12.154-04:00I guess in the end, I like the reader to feel like...I guess in the end, I like the reader to feel like they can win, but it's not going to be easy. My main theme is that people need to think for themselves and do what's right, even if it's disobeying orders.Jessi L. Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12368094392959597176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3414833843767621137.post-27268611429412747572014-07-26T13:16:35.086-04:002014-07-26T13:16:35.086-04:00I prefer slightly bittersweet endings. Yes, I want...I prefer slightly bittersweet endings. Yes, I want the good guys to win and my favorite characters to live but I also want a lot of sacrifice. If it's happily ever after for all the good guys, it kind of makes my suspense of disbelief harder.<br />With the historical situations, those were tragedies for quite a few people, not happy endings. For Americans, it was happy but for a lot of others, it makes even the darkest fiction look like rainbows and unicorns.<br />In WWII the German soldiers were slaughtered in concentration camps and their wives and daughters were raped by the Soviets who America helped win. (I've read some biographies on the subject from a German POV.) That's the main reason my character Rolf is so cynical. His grandfather lost the war. <br />The Soviet Union also invaded a lot of countries and killed so many people it made Hitler look like an amateur. I guess it could count as a happy ending since they finally collapsed.<br />With the modern wars, same thing. It's not bad for Americans but if you live in Iraq or Afghanistan, it's bad. (Afghanistan finally got the Soviets out then the US invaded.)<br />When writing, I think one needs to be careful they don't make things look too good when someone else might be suffering. Readers now are pretty savvy when it comes to figuring out who got hurt. In the alien Avatar, many watchers pointed out that the humans were probably being sent back to a dying planet so it wasn't such a happy ending. (It's pretty easy to find other movies that do similar things and readers or watchers spot the sad ending.) <br />Nowadays, you can't just tell one side of the story and expect the readers to forget the bad guys that might now have starving children because they'd originally invaded due to a famine.<br />I guess I'm a bit cynical since I've studied history a bit. Jessi L. Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12368094392959597176noreply@blogger.com