Always Happily Ever After?

[Neonurotic]

I know it's up to an author to what they want to write, but do readers of Romance category expect that "happily-ever-after" feel good ending?

 

[sr71plt]

I think it's part of the Romance definition.

 

[patientlee]

I got a lot of negative comments and emails about a sad ending in Erotic Horror. I think I'd stick with HEA in Romance.

 

[Neonurotic]

Wha? Erotic Horror should end badly.

Ahg. Now I need to know where to put a romance story I had with one of the protags dying for the MC. Guess I could fluff it up and just put her in the hospital instead then ending it "nice".

 

[lovecraft68]

Wha? Erotic Horror should end badly.

Ahg. Now I need to know where to put a romance story I had with one of the protags dying for the MC. Guess I could fluff it up and just put her in the hospital instead then ending it "nice".

Or you could write it the way you want to and not worry about it. You writing for you or them?

 

[patientlee]

Or you could write it the way you want to and not worry about it. You writing for you or them?

I agree. Write what you want, but categorize it right. That's the comment that bugs me the most. "Wrong category, asshole."

 

[PennLady]

I know it's up to an author to what they want to write, but do readers of Romance category expect that "happily-ever-after" feel good ending?

Having read and written some romances, I'd say that readers want a happy ending, but it can be a bittersweet one. It can be a resolution to something. You say that you have one of the MCs dying. I think that can work in Romance. I mean, there are classic romances like "Romeo and Juliet," "Love Story," and I'm sure others that do not have an HEA.

I wrote one ("Who Cares What I Wear?") that had a sad element, but the resolution, I guess you'd say, satisfied the readers, judging by feedback.

 

[_Lynn_]

OK, I'm tossing out thoughts here.

I get the HEA for the romance category. And I get the feel good ending. Romance is about the emotions between the characters in the story, though, right? Why does that automatically mean forever then?

 

[_Lynn_]

Having read and written some romances, I'd say that readers want a happy ending, but it can be a bittersweet one. It can be a resolution to something. You say that you have one of the MCs dying. I think that can work in Romance. I mean, there are classic romances like "Romeo and Juliet," "Love Story," and I'm sure others that do not have an HEA.

I wrote one ("Who Cares What I Wear?") that had a sad element, but the resolution, I guess you'd say, satisfied the readers, judging by feedback.

This.

 

[SamScribble]

I think many - maybe most - readers will accept a 'happy for now' ending. Well, they seem to with mine anyway.

 

[PennLady]

I think many - maybe most - readers will accept a 'happy for now' ending. Well, they seem to with mine anyway.

That sounds reasonable to me.

Also, the definition of HEA can vary. I have never ended a story with an engagement, marriage, baby, etc. I'm more interested in getting my protagonists to the point of admitting love, or to deciding they'll take a chance on being serious about a relationship, something like that. Many people want more. So, as was mentioned before, you have to write for yourself and not just for what people want, or what you think they want.

 

[MSTarot]

I've done 10 romance stories and of them 8 had the 'Happy' ending. The other two while they don't have what i would call a 'bad' ending... I was more wanting a cry your eyes out kind of feeling.

http://www.literotica.com/s/love-for-the-azure-rose

http://www.literotica.com/s/faith-hope-and-pure-pigheadedness

It really depends on the story you're wanting to tell. A romance that ends in tragedy can be a very powerful story.

The probably most well know is of course Romeo and Juliet. There are hundreds more though.

My best advice, try one that ends sad. What's the worst that can happen? You have a story with a low score? People don't like it?

So? You're not being paid, and there is no chance you can be fired.

MST

 

[JKendallDane]

Even HEA endings can piss off people if you have it happening...in the reader's opinion...between the wrong two people.

Even though my 12 parter romance has some of my best scores, I caught hell from a number of people in comments for putting the orginal two characters back together in the ending.

 

[sr71plt]

Wanting me to drive farther to a HEA ending is probably the number one "please finish it" comment I get on my stories. I've sometimes filled it out to a happier ending in an e-book expansion if I'm prompted to see one as a logical conclusion of a extension of a story (I'm doing that now with the story "9:30 Bus to Abilene," although it took me a couple of years to raise any sense of a happier ending that would enhance rather than cheapen that story.) In the GM genre, at least, the issues involved in relationships are quite complex--and, perhaps, have more problems and negative aspects than hetero relationships. So, there isn't often a saccharine ending that satisfies me as a more logical conclusion than HFN, at best.

 

[Tricialen]

Readers want a happy ending because they do not happen in real life. Hearts are broken and the reader needs the fantasy of a happy ending.

 

[sr71plt]

Makes sense. But they usually have the power to add a happy ending of their choice on the stories (or change the ending in their minds, if they want to). Or they can write their own stories. I read very few stories by anyone else. I'm happy with writing my own stories--with the endings that satisfy me.

 

[StrangeLife]

Readers want a happy ending because they do not happen in real life...

True that. All life stories end with the hero's demise *sigh*

Btw. I hope you're not a motivational speaker in real life, because you sure aren't very good at it...

 

[Handley_Page]

I think many - maybe most - readers will accept a 'happy for now' ending. Well, they seem to with mine anyway.

I know I am.

 

[xelliebabex]

I got a lot of negative comments and emails about a sad ending in Erotic Horror. I think I'd stick with HEA in Romance.

I also killed of a main character in one of my series and to envision villagers carrying pitch forks and torches would have to come close to what happened.

I would, however, direct you to LaRascasse's stories, he rarely wrote a happy ending and his stories did well in categories you might think need a HEA. he has a whole series called Living with Katrina as well as single stories with that character in the Romance category that are far from happy stories with happy endings but they all have red H's. The one he says made his fans cry most is his best rated, "lucid ending"

Hope that helps

 

[lovecraft68]

Readers want a happy ending because they do not happen in real life. Hearts are broken and the reader needs the fantasy of a happy ending.

I caught some flak for doing an HEA in my SWB series. The entire thing was dark and at times described as "brutal"

I spent 18 months conditioning people to-although they hoped for better-expect them or one of them to die.

In the end I gave them the HEA and many were thrilled(especially after I faked their deaths) but several said I wimped out.

One of them is a very good author and the one person I deigned give an explanation to.

Simply put a lot of me and how I grew up was in that series. I lost a lot of people and friends to addiction or the other things that come with it.

I exorcised some demons writing it and for me to kill them would have been me perpetuating the cycle of garbage I had been conditioned to expect growing up.

So my HEA was the ending I had sorely wished for some that had been close to me and a "fuck you" and flipping the finger to that past life.

For those who truly didn't like the ending all I can say is I have another finger

It was my baby my way from the start with low vote and view totals(for the category) all the way through and many "why don;t you do this, or why is it so dark and you're sick" all the way through.

I thought nothing of it, but I see so many threads dedicated to being concerned-overly many times- with with how to make a reader happy that I guess I was a bit of an anomaly for a new writer.

I'm glad I wrote here for a year before coming to the boards. I think they would have affected what I as doing. By the time I did come I had enough of a following to not be paranoid I was doing something wrong.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Having read and written some romances, I'd say that readers want a happy ending, but it can be a bittersweet one. It can be a resolution to something. You say that you have one of the MCs dying. I think that can work in Romance. I mean, there are classic romances like "Romeo and Juliet," "Love Story," and I'm sure others that do not have an HEA.

"Moulin Rouge" is another example of a successful NHEA romance; I think it's a useful model for how that sort of story can be structured. It's told in flashback and the very first scene establishes that it's going to end with Satine dead and Christian in tears. So there's no tension about "are they going to live happily ever after?"

Instead, it sets up a different conflict: are they going to be true to their romance, or are they going to betray* their love out of greed or cowardice? In the end they stick to their guns, so even if they don't cheat death at least they win a moral victory, and the audience comes away feeling upbeat. Using that non-chronological structure to manage expectations can be a very effective technique.

"Romeo and Juliet" works in much the same way, with a prologue that tells us the ending. (Although I don't think Shakespeare did that as a way to make the tragedy palatable; I think giving away the ending in the prologue was just a standard structure of the time which happens to work well for modern audiences.)

Come to think of it, I used the same device for my entry in the Halloween contest. In fact, I liked it so much I used it twice; there are two bad endings and so it's told in two levels of flashback.

*although honestly, if you're going to woo a woman who you KNOW is a professional courtesan, it's more than a mite stupid to view it as "betrayal", but let's not get into that...

 

[MSTarot]

although honestly, if you're going to woo a woman who you KNOW is a professional courtesan, it's more than a mite stupid to view it as "betrayal", but let's not get into that...

Starts to sing 'Roxanne' in a bad Argentinian accent but falls asleep on the keyboard.

 

[LaRascasse]

I also killed of a main character in one of my series and to envision villagers carrying pitch forks and torches would have to come close to what happened.

I would, however, direct you to LaRascasse's stories, he rarely wrote a happy ending and his stories did well in categories you might think need a HEA. he has a whole series called Living with Katrina as well as single stories with that character in the Romance category that are far from happy stories with happy endings but they all have red H's. The one he says made his fans cry most is his best rated, "lucid ending"

Hope that helps

When readers cry, it's always a good sign

On the topic of the thread, I too had my misgivings over introducing real life sadness into Literotica stories. There is an audience for everything, as long as it's well written.

This is one of the best stories in the BDSM section and it's anything but happy.

It's easy to make people smile, laugh and cum, but you really need to dig into the nadir of their soul if you want them to cry. Well written tragedy can be infinitely more appealing than sunshine and rainbows forever (just my opinion).

I guess it comes down to whether there is a sympathetic, relatable character in the mix. If so, then you can make the bleakest themes shine.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJCQgNXaTrY

Stravinsky did it in the above ballet. Before THE RITE OF SPRING (dance of the adolescents) he was known for lush, melodic scores (a la Tchaikovsky) audiences loved. THE RITE OF SPRING starts a little weird, and goes batshit crazy. It caused audience riots.

THIS is what the audience expected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IByKvAa90Q

LE BAISER DE LA FEE. The fairys kiss. Maybe you recognize it. Its Tchaikovskys NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART.

And the original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PtIHBCuR-Q

 

[Neonurotic]

I thought maybe rewriting the ending or changing the category, but why? Public Comments are valued. Red H's don't matter much to me. I turned voting off long ago because of my almost obsessive-compulsive preoccupation interfered with my writing poetry and stories. I only ever have it on if the piece is a contest entry then when the contest is over, I turn off the voting. I think if a reader hates/loves something, they can communicate in words like I have.

I would, however, direct you to LaRascasse's stories, he rarely wrote a happy ending and his stories did well in categories you might think need a HEA. he has a whole series called Living with Katrina as well as single stories with that character in the Romance category that are far from happy stories with happy endings but they all have red H's. The one he says made his fans cry most is his best rated, "lucid ending"

Hope that helps

Thanks Ellie, favorited Larascasse to read his body of work later.