Good ending is bad ending is good ending?

[Kyriel_02]

Hey y’all,

I am a new writer with exactly one story to my name which I hope to continue in parts (after a long hiatus… mess of a year). The story is in the Noncon/reluctance category I’d say, about an app/sleep aid that actually has a secret set of other customers on the dark web, who can pay to have secret hypnotic suggestions get trojaned in to any adult’s program. You can imagine what the primary use of this is

The story will center around an older private detective and a young woman seeking to understand and track down the whereabouts of her mother, a user of the app. I have the story mapped out and I like these main characters, who find genuine attraction and solace in each other after not finding their place in the sunnier parts of society.

Thing is… happy endings seem a bit… conventional? I should like that the female protagonist ultimately succumb to the debauchery that her mother gets ensnared in and I suppose the PI could follow suit. What is everyone’s take on this, though? Is there a place for “bad” endings (one where the characters fail ultimately in their goals but still get tricked into unending pleasure), or would that diminish from my narrative focus on the protagonist? Would a bad ending necessarily feel cheap in such a case?

 

[AchtungNight]

My advice is to challenge yourself into making the “bad ending” seem good for the characters and the readers who might identify with them. What makes your protagonists seek the endless pleasures? Answers? Loneliness? Power to shape their circumstances? Get into their heads and see what they want. Maybe they will lead you to a satisfying conclusion. It’s happened to me enough times.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Readers love a happy ending. And theres nothing wrong with the MCs succumbing to temptation but they could figure a way out. There's nothing wrong with your idea either. Bad endings happen. It's on you as as writer to decide what your ending should be. Just don't expect the readers to get it.

 

[CuttingEdge]

Hey y’all,

I am a new writer with exactly one story to my name which I hope to continue in parts (after a long hiatus… mess of a year). The story is in the Noncon/reluctance category I’d say, about an app/sleep aid that actually has a secret set of other customers on the dark web, who can pay to have secret hypnotic suggestions get trojaned in to any adult’s program. You can imagine what the primary use of this is

The story will center around an older private detective and a young woman seeking to understand and track down the whereabouts of her mother, a user of the app. I have the story mapped out and I like these main characters, who find genuine attraction and solace in each other after not finding their place in the sunnier parts of society.

Thing is… happy endings seem a bit… conventional? I should like that the female protagonist ultimately succumb to the debauchery that her mother gets ensnared in and I suppose the PI could follow suit. What is everyone’s take on this, though? Is there a place for “bad” endings (one where the characters fail ultimately in their goals but still get tricked into unending pleasure), or would that diminish from my narrative focus on the protagonist? Would a bad ending necessarily feel cheap in such a case?

What you are describing is a type of writing known as Neo Noir. Its just dark, all dark, and yes the endings are intended to be dark as well.

The best way to decribe it is; a detective doesn't really care what he has to do to get the arrest even if it is marginally legal like beating up a witness to get the real story out of the man. Or sleeping with someone to get deeper into the truth. They are a "good guy" but just a step above the criminal, and not by much. You often see them portrayed as being alcholics. If you have ever watched the old TV Show Mike Hammer, that is a Neo Noir. Neo meaning it is set in modern times. If it was set back in 1940 times it would just be called a Noir. If it is based on 1920-1950's era sex, and lots of it, it might be called Pulp Erotica.

If the killer is a woman, then it is known as a Fem Fetale, or in short, the woman is a killing ass bitch. There is nothing nice about her as she uses her sexuality to seduce, murder and swindle. The movie Basic Instinct is a classic Fem Fetale.

Endings are almost required to be dark. As an example, I write published novels in real life, and my latest novel is a Feme Featale. It ends with the private investigator seated with the woman who has swindled, stolen, seduced and murdered to get where she is. He hands her a drop gun with one bullet in it as the police approach. It is obviously so she can blow her own brains out before she is arrested. She threatens to kill him but he shrugs it off saying he has got a wife and kids to which she says "all the more reason to kill you" and thus her really doing him a favor. Keep in mind he has had sex with this woman so he is nothing but a cheating piece of crap. Still with coldness it ends with him watching this woman blow her brains out.

My girlfriend who does not drink, smoke, has ever done drugs, does not even drink coffee, or has ever gambled, yet CAN'T WAIT for me to finish this Fem Fetale novel? Why? I admit it is nasty and dark with no happy ending?

Because it is everything she is not, and people love to be taken into a story that is the polar opposite of what they are in real life. Her high morales keep her from being this kind of nasty lady, but she LOVES to read about being one.

(Note: The bold are some writing styles you can do further research on if interested)

 

[CuttingEdge]

Pulp Erotica deserves its own reply...

I used to write professionally for a now defunct website that did Pulp Erotica.

Pulp Erotica is the type of erotic writing that our Great Grandfather would have read in the 1930's. It was these cheap novels, or short stories place in magazines that had VERY suggestive covers and was in no way politically correct. But that was the era then. Non-Consent, Interracial sex, Fem Fetale's, Incestuous relations... all were the themes Pulp Erotica consisted of.

Just as an example, a Pulp Erotica story I wrote was based on two ships out at sea in the 1920's. One was a steam vessel who meets up with a sailing ship that is old and barely sea worthy. Desperate for divers to repair his ship, a sea captain unable to pay for repairs, trades his wife to the modern steamship captain. She was just supposed to be for his pleasure, but he passes her around to his crew after he is done with her. Unfortunately the crew does not pay attention to their sight glasses as they enjoy her, and the boiler blows up. She makes it to a lifeboat after the blast, but as the steamship captain tries to climb out of the sea and be rescued, she kicks him overboard to let him drown.

Rules here make Pulp Erotica hard to publish, but I have a few that are on here. Tamed granted, but it seems this is the style of writing @Kyriel_02 is kind of interested in. It might be worth researching if it is.