Happy Endings-pun intended

[Swilly]

What do you prefer?

Ending with happiness, disaster, or something in between?

Has anyone ever posted a story with two different endings?

 

[sr71plt]

Wouldn't you be pretty dull to only want one kind of ending on all of the stories you write/read?

I haven't put a double ending on anything for Literotica but have done so elsewhere.

 

[Hypoxia]

It ends when it has to, how it has to, and where it has to -- if at all.

Actually, I wrote one episode (BRIDE OF KONG 04) that is NOTHING but alternative endings. That was pretty easy. No hard choices.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I like to end with gags and gimmicks. They pop up in my brain and I build a story to them.

 

[patientlee]

I like a good surprise.

 

[StrangeLife]

What Patientlee said.

I don't like reading stories where I can predict the plot after having read half a page. Analoguous I consider it a failure if my own stories don't offer something the reader won't expect.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

The ending should fit the story. Sometimes that means the characters get a HEA, sometimes somebody gets fucked (literally or figuratively). And sometimes it's neither, which is perhaps the most surprising.

Probably two-thirds of my stories end with an HEA, about 10% end tragically, and the rest are in that grey area that isn't all good or all bad, but often approximates life.

 

[Handley_Page]

The ending should fit the story.

I quite agree.
It doesn't have to be "Happy", more 'satisfying', as it were.
The Bad'uns get theirs and the hero/ine walks into the sunset, smiling or not; it matters little.

 

[StrangeLife]

Yes, the ending should fit the story but not too well.

I frequently see writers falling for the trap that we used to call "Chekovs Gun" back when I studied movie making.

Take for instance the following beginning...

"My name is Burt and I have a 4" cock..."

That's all you need to know in order to predict exactly where the story is going.

 

[sr71plt]

"My name is Burt and I have a 4" cock..."

That's all you need to know in order to predict exactly where the story is going.

You mean we'd know we were watching the Muppet's show?

 

[lovecraft68]

You mean we'd know we were watching the Muppet's show?

Bert was Sesame Street

Remember, some dingbat shrink posted study saying Bert and Ernie were gay?

 

[lovecraft68]

My "fluff" stuff here is HEA.

I have some darker works that ultimately end HEA, but after a good deal of misery is had by all.

I think in general I like things to end well for my characters its just how hard the road is.

As for dual endings. I have written different endings to a couple of different stories, but always just gone with one. The other sits in my "fragments" folder.

My recent LW flamefest had a second ending I wrote for the hell of it that took the edge off the humiliation and would have gotten the story scored higher.

I'm keeping that for if I decided to ever stick that story in a for sale anthology.

 

[Acktion]

Yes, the ending should fit the story but not too well.

I frequently see writers falling for the trap that we used to call "Chekovs Gun" back when I studied movie making.

Take for instance the following beginning...

"My name is Burt and I have a 4" cock..."

That's all you need to know in order to predict exactly where the story is going.

A rewrite of "Captain America" and the super soldier serum with a less G-Rated story line?

 

[StrangeLife]

As for dual endings. I have written different endings to a couple of different stories, but always just gone with one. The other sits in my "fragments" folder.

My recent LW flamefest had a second ending I wrote for the hell of it that took the edge off the humiliation and would have gotten the story scored higher.

I'm keeping that for if I decided to ever stick that story in a for sale anthology.

Never ruin a good controversial ending. Think about Bladerunner...

A rewrite of "Captain America" and the super soldier serum with a less G-Rated story line?.

Captain America and the super lover serum.

"He only had four inches but possessed the heart of a twelve-incher."

I'd read that story.

 

[lovecraft68]

Never ruin a good controversial ending. Think about Bladerunner...






Captain America and the super lover serum.

"He only had four inches but possessed the heart of a twelve-incher."

I'd read that story.

He would ejaculate red white and blue.

 

[Saxon_Hart]

He would ejaculate red white and blue.

Kinda reminds me of a porno I saw when I was too young to watch pornos. I want to say it was The Devil in Miss Jones, but I'm not positive. Anyway they are fucking and the devil is about to nut. He yells "Get off! Get off!" and when she jumps clear, he cums fire.

 

[lovecraft68]

Kinda reminds me of a porno I saw when I was too young to watch pornos. I want to say it was The Devil in Miss Jones, but I'm not positive. Anyway they are fucking and the devil is about to nut. He yells "Get off! Get off!" and when she jumps clear, he cums fire.

There's antibiotics for that

 

[Bramblethorn]

What do you prefer?

Ending with happiness, disaster, or something in between?

As a reader: for me, if the writing is good enough, it doesn't matter. If the writing is not quite so good, I'm more forgiving of stories with a moderately happy end - basically, if you want me to read something depressing, it had better be worth it. I'll read stuff that makes me smile, I'll read stuff that makes me cry, I won't read stuff that leaves me feeling mildly shitty and meh.

It also depends a bit on how you define "happy ending". Like Hemingway said, all stories end in death if you continue them far enough. But there's a big difference between a character who gives their life to save a friend and just dying miserably for no good reason.

As a writer: I'm more comfortable writing happy endings (I feel bad about tormenting fictional people) and in most genres I think the audience likes that too, but it's not always the right choice.

Has anyone ever posted a story with two different endings?

Kinda, accidentally. "Magnum Innominandum" had a tragic ending - the title alone should tell people familiar with the Mythos that this one is not going to end well. But the final tragedy was implied rather than spelled out in so many words, so at least one reader interpreted it as a happy ending. Not what I had intended!

Remember, some dingbat shrink posted study saying Bert and Ernie were gay?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpozspIMH9E

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Anybody know why I come here and show my ass and pretend I have a clue?

Uh, no, not really.

 

[Swilly]

I guess to a certain degree, a happy ending to one reader may be the exact opposite to another. This is particularly true in the LW category. For some readers, a happy ending would be the painful execution of a cheating spouse and her lover, even if she were being abused by her husband. For others, the happy ending would be for her to leave her abusive spouse and find happiness with another person.

I think what's happening with my latest story is interesting.

http://www.literotica.com/s/innocent-before-guilty-after

I wish I knew whether the rating for this story was a reflection of the perception of infidelity, or if is a reflection that the story may have strayed from what seemed to be the obvious course. I had originally planned a certain ending, but I found myself struggling to finish the story. Evidently, it just didn't want to go there. Instead, I found my fingers typing out a different, although not necessarily unhappy ending. Not unhappy, but not the feel good ending many might have expected as the story unfolded.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I guess to a certain degree, a happy ending to one reader may be the exact opposite to another. This is particularly true in the LW category. For some readers, a happy ending would be the painful execution of a cheating spouse and her lover, even if she were being abused by her husband. For others, the happy ending would be for her to leave her abusive spouse and find happiness with another person.

I think what's happening with my latest story is interesting.

http://www.literotica.com/s/innocent-before-guilty-after

I wish I knew whether the rating for this story was a reflection of the perception of infidelity, or if is a reflection that the story may have strayed from what seemed to be the obvious course. I had originally planned a certain ending, but I found myself struggling to finish the story. Evidently, it just didn't want to go there. Instead, I found my fingers typing out a different, although not necessarily unhappy ending. Not unhappy, but not the feel good ending many might have expected as the story unfolded.

When I assess Amazon scores I look for the ratio of 5's vs 1's. And I read ONE comments. Many times the complaint involves USPS or the quality of printing NOT the content.

 

[Swilly]

I'm guessing the story rating is probably a result of both. The LW trolls found it and jumped on it, and I get the impression most readers would have liked the HEA ending the story seemed to be heading towards. I'd posted an earlier thread about that while I was writing the story.

A story will go where it wants I guess. It's just a bit surprising to see my work hammered like this. Or at least my more recent work. My first stories here, all of which were related to each other, had issues and deserved a lower rating. That was particularly true because of punctuation and grammar. In actuality, I knew I was being lazy, and was probably a bit disrespectful to the readers of the site to publish as I did.

My later works, although not perfect, seem to be fairly well regarded. So this one is a shocker.

(Yes, I am well aware of my limitations as a writer, and I don't compare myself to the pros on here. I think I do okay for an amateur with no training).

 

[Tricialen]

No matter the out come of the story, you have to give your reader a satisfying ending, one that wraps everything up and makes sense.

 

[Hypoxia]

No matter the out come of the story, you have to give your reader a satisfying ending, one that wraps everything up and makes sense.

Well, I pointed out (in another thread) that one of our participants here writes short stories that lack endings, that just stop. And I was admonished that this was a valid chick-lit technique. Damn those English majors!

 

[Tricialen]

Well, I pointed out (in another thread) that one of our participants here writes short stories that lack endings, that just stop. And I was admonished that this was a valid chick-lit technique. Damn those English majors!

LOL....I have a wonderful editor... John Marshall.....