Happy endings overated?

[gamer9643]

are happy ending overated? it seems lately i read a story and it's going great and BAMM! it's like the author is messing with me. and I'll give you an example.

"Dear Sweet Mother"

this was one of the best stories I've read. I got to the end and everything was set up for a happy ending. they went to another state and got married and she was pregnant and she dies during child birth. now why do i ask you does the author do this. to get us to get emotional. it got me emotional it pissed me off. why ruin a perfectly good story with a crappy ending.

so my question. Happy endings, are they overated or am I correct in assuming some people like to piss on what would have been a perfect story.

 

[Weepingguitar]

I think it all depends on circumstances and people. Some people don't like happy endings because they're unrealistic. Some people love them because they can get that happy little glow, and life is made brighter for a few minutes.

I haven't read the story you speak of, but that does sound a little strange. I love happy endings. Sometimes there's so much good emotion in a story that I'll skip over all the sex just to continue on with the story.

I generaly prefer "They lived happily ever after" rather than "They get naked and every one dies."

 

[English Lady]

I adore happy endings, but i have two stories that don't have classically happy endings.

"A fruitful life." is out and out sad. The story dictated to me the ending and I HAD to write it and it makes me tear up every time I read it, I have several comments saying it takes away from the story though.

"Till the End" is in the Mature category and doesn't have a happily ever after ending either, and again it was just the way the story flowed. I haven't had so much bad feedback about that one though!

Generally, I'm all for happy endings, though a bit of variety is always welcome

 

[Belegon]

I think EL hits it right...the ending is usually dictated to me by the story...

 

[elsol]

Go through Dr. Mab's posting about author's being more sensitive, closer to nature, and pain makes for better artists....

Assume it's all true.

There's your answer.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[English Lady]

I think EL hits it right...the ending is usually dictated to me by the story...

I love those words in Bold I'm glad I'm not the only one who's stories make themselves up

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I just wrote a story for the v-day contest that doesn't necessarily have a happy ending... but it does leave it in doubt... I can't tell you how much feedback I've received: "How does it end? Don't leave me hanging!" I would bet you readers appreciate a sad ending more than an ambiguous one... although the typical "happy ending" has got to be a favorite...

Personally, I LIKE tragic endings... Love Story, Gone with the Wind, Terms of Endearment, Steel Magnolias...

 

[gamer9643]

i know in some cases the story flows in that direction from the get go but ive read some where there wwere no hint of sadness and nails you in the last two paragraphs. i know in reality happy endings are far and few but when you read you want a happy ending because if only for a second it makes you feel better

 

[Belegon]

i know in some cases the story flows in that direction from the get go but ive read some where there wwere no hint of sadness and nails you in the last two paragraphs. i know in reality happy endings are far and few but when you read you want a happy ending because if only for a second it makes you feel better

if I were writing something that was going to take that dramatic a turn I have a feeling that you would be able to read back and see it hinted at...I can't see just doing it to do it...

 

[gamer9643]

go into the incest section and read "dear sweet mother" you never see it coming.

 

[rgraham666]

Don't read incest stories.

On the subject of happy endings, I'm a big fan. I've enough misery in my life. Don't have to add to it with my reading material.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

The novel, a love story, tells the story of Lieutenant Frederic Henry, a young American ambulance driver serving in the Italian army during World War I. Henry falls in love with the English nurse Catherine Barkley. After he is wounded at the front by a trench mortar shell, she tends to him in the hospital during his recuperation, and their relationship develops.

His recuperation and romance with Catherine end abruptly when Henry must return to the front. Henry narrowly escapes death at the hands of fanatical Italian soldiers, who are executing officers separated from their troops during the Italians' disastrous retreat following the Battle of Caporetto.

He finds Catherine, who reveals she is pregnant with his child, and after a sojourn in an Italian resort, the couple flee to Switzerland on the eve of Henry's arrest for deserting. In Switzerland, Catherine dies during childbirth, and the couple's child is stillborn.

A Farewell To Arms
Best Seller
Three movie adaptations

--

Casablanca

Rick and Ilsa part at the end of the movie

--

As others have said, it depends on the story. Romance practically demands a happy ever after (HEA) ending. There are exceptions, but few.

Most erotic and all porn stories have upbeat endings. If there is no foreshadowing of a possible tragic ending in the story you read, then the author needs to work on that.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Boxlicker101]

Every story I have ever written, except one, has a happy ending, with everybody cumming and enjoying themselves. Usually they are looking to more of the same in the near future. It would be very unusual for me to do anything else.

 

[Norajane]

I don't read incest either, so can't comment on the types of endings to be found there. I wouldn't be at all surprised, though, if there isn't some sense of guilt at enjoying sex, particularly in an incestuous context. People feel guilty about enjoying sex in many contexts.

So, like in the Loving Wives category, the characters are sometimes punished for their enjoyment of something that is wrong, or taboo, or wicked.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I generally write happy endings. Haven't noticed that it has diminished my popularity too much. Some stories dictat that the ending not be happy, in those cases, I write what the story tells me. In general however, at least with erotic stories, it seems rather counter productive to end your story on a down note. I want people who read my works to enjoy the story and enjoy the sex. Great sex, followed by a Tarantion ending, seems to me to be fairly counterproductive.

In incest, there is really not a thrust to be realistic. Few people want to read about emotional trauma, years of therapy, etc., etc. The stories, primarily, are meant to be enjoyable fantasy. So why taint a good, lusty, family fuck-a-thon with a downer ending?

 

[Boxlicker101]

I generally write happy endings. Haven't noticed that it has diminished my popularity too much. Some stories dictat that the ending not be happy, in those cases, I write what the story tells me. In general however, at least with erotic stories, it seems rather counter productive to end your story on a down note. I want people who read my works to enjoy the story and enjoy the sex. Great sex, followed by a Tarantion ending, seems to me to be fairly counterproductive.

In incest, there is really not a thrust to be realistic. Few people want to read about emotional trauma, years of therapy, etc., etc. The stories, primarily, are meant to be enjoyable fantasy. So why taint a good, lusty, family fuck-a-thon with a downer ending?

Our incest stories tend to be not very realistic. We can't write about a man and his eight year old daughter but we can write about him and his 18 yo daughter. Unless it is rape, such a story is just about two adults, who happen to be related.

I have only written two stories about women being coerced. One was classed as incest and the other was N/C-Rel. In both of them, she ended up enjoying it and sex with the man became a regular thing.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I just wrote a story for the v-day contest that doesn't necessarily have a happy ending... but it does leave it in doubt... I can't tell you how much feedback I've received: "How does it end? Don't leave me hanging!" I would bet you readers appreciate a sad ending more than an ambiguous one... although the typical "happy ending" has got to be a favorite...

Personally, I LIKE tragic endings... Love Story, Gone with the Wind, Terms of Endearment, Steel Magnolias...

Same here...and I'm with you...I like when my emotions are stirred with tornado.

 

[matriarch]

go into the incest section and read "dear sweet mother" you never see it coming.

I'd rather not.
Not my kind of story.
As for happy endings.......I don't see why they are unrealistic. Isn't that what we all strive for? I write fiction, and I prefer that my stories have a happy ending......if they have an ending at all.

There's enough bad stuff going on out there in real life, I prefer to offer something that can distract from all that. So far my readers seem to agree.

 

[Liar]

go into the incest section and read "dear sweet mother" you never see it coming.

I've read stories like that, here and elsewhere, where you never see the end coming. This can mean a happy as well as a sad ending, depending on where the story was headed. Sometimes it's a good thing, because the final twist reveals things that set the whole story, character relations and reactions into a whole new perspective. So "never see it coming" can be just what the author wanted.

Other times it's just a big WTF?! Bear in mind that the quality of writing here on Lit is varied. And that doesn't only have to do with prose text writingf or character description, but with plot structuring. You can sometimes read a story with good character depth, wonderfully crafted narration and all that, but that takes a not fully thought through plot turn, causing it to ruin the story. Hell knows I've done that many times in my days. An author might think the final turn is what ties the story together, when it does the opposite.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

are happy ending overated? it seems lately i read a story and it's going great and BAMM! it's like the author is messing with me. and I'll give you an example.

"Dear Sweet Mother"

this was one of the best stories I've read. I got to the end and everything was set up for a happy ending. they went to another state and got married and she was pregnant and she dies during child birth. now why do i ask you does the author do this. to get us to get emotional. it got me emotional it pissed me off. why ruin a perfectly good story with a crappy ending.

so my question. Happy endings, are they overated or am I correct in assuming some people like to piss on what would have been a perfect story.

I could see the author's reason for doing this, to illustrate that incestuous love can be tragic and doomed. I doubt that an author would intentionally set out to write a depressing story that pisses off the readers. Some writers think of stories and characters in a flurry of inspiration and are unable to stray from what the muse dictates.

Personally, I love a good gut-wrenching tale of heartache. Out Of Africa is my favorite movie and I sob at the end every time. As for my own writing, I always write happy endings for some reason. Though I do get a thrill out of taking my characters so low that you think they may not make it for a while. I the drama, what can I say?

 

[lil_elvis]

Personally, I don't mid reading a story that does not end happily. However, I cannot write them, I've considered it, but get too fond of the characters and just can't do 'em in.

 

[Munachi]

difficult to say, what type of endings i like better. it depends on the story. and not always the ending i like in the moment of reading is the ending i like better in the long run - while reading a story i always wish for it to be happy etc. - but after thinking it through the sad ending is often what made the story great. i suppose it also depends on what you want to say with the story.

for my own stories - it's mixed i think. there are some that end happily, others end unhappily - but i often feel the unhappy ending is a necessary consequence of the whole story, a happy ending would just not do it right.

i also like writing open endings. i would guess open endings are the most realistic ones, in a way - unless everyone dies, things keep happening and changing. a story then might be a glimpse into a life, into some of these changes, that give life a different direction, but the end indicates that this is not the end of all. of course, again, it depends what you want to say with the story, and also, in what sense the end is open.

 

[elsol]

Hey... maybe I'm the only one live's up to Mab's things.

I HATE happy endings in my own writing... I've only written one classic happy ending and that for a Valentine's story I wrote for the girl.

Maybe I am closer to nature.

Maybe I am more sensitive.

Maybe I am suffering and just won't look at my pain...

Errr... I just spit all over my keyboard laughing... so probably not!


Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Aurora Black]

It all depends on the story and where it flows.

 

[MichelleLovesTo]

It's not an either/or -- it depends on the story. I enjoy happy endings, but sometimes they're not realistic, or make the story less memorable. Some of the stories through-out history, which have stayed with us the most, have sad, tragic, or uncertain endings.