happy endings?

[MelissaBaby]

Spoiler alert

Or you can use the Sunset Boulevard strategy and put it at the beginning, and then have the whole thing as a flashback.

Actually, the flashback goes beyond the opening and the last few minutes of the movie seem to be "new events." Note that the late Joe Gillis is still narrating:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMTT0LW0M_Y

The protagonist of The Lovely Bones narrates the novel from the afterlife.

 

[jaF0]

The Virgin Suicides is narrated after the fact also. I didn't get that angle until the end.

 

[RocketLauncher]

Another reason I don't really do 'endings'.

Good thing too, cuz any ending you'd deliver would be far from happy. I can think of many an adjective but 'happy' ain't one of them.

 

[Hypoxia]

Doctor Obvious here. Endings provoke reactions. Maybe we choose the ending; maybe we just let it happen (and that shows). A setup might suggest an ending, and vice-versa. I like O.Henry twists but those might not work on strokers because wankers don't like to be tricked and surprised, hey?

Recall the six basic story arcs:

1. Rags to riches – a steady rise from bad to good fortune: /
2. Riches to rags – a fall from good to bad, a tragedy: \
3. Icarus – a rise, then a fall in fortune: /\
4. Man in a hole – fall, rise: \/
5. Oedipus – a fall, a rise, then a fall again: \/\
6. Cinderella – rise, fall, rise: /\/

Each arc ends somewhere -- but, inside or outside the story? We can play with formulas there. Hint at what might follow, or not. Set little traps in the story, or not. Chop it off, or not. We're just having fun with words.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Besides circle-around-and-restart (like Chip Delaney's DHALGREN) we have begin-at-the-end (the Sunset-Blvd model), kaleidoscopic flash-backs and -forwards, reversed sequence, and many other ways to chop, stretch, and twist time.

Try writing a reversed fuck, where a penis unfertilizes an ovum and loads testicles with warming sperm. Arousal diminishes. They kiss, dress, kiss again, and back away to the bar.

I'll reject demands (unless paid) but consider suggestions.

I believe Martin Amis did something along those lines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time**7s_Arrow_(novel)

 

[Bramblethorn]

The protagonist of The Lovely Bones narrates the novel from the afterlife.

Clive Barker's "The Books of Blood" also used this approach. The introduction frames the stories as being written on the skin of a medium at a place frequented by the ghosts of the violently deceased, so past tense is no guarantee that anybody survives the story.

Of course, that approach only works for stories where the supernatural aspect won't detract from the story.

 

[Hypoxia]

I believe Martin Amis did something along those lines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time**7s_Arrow_(novel))

Yes, TIME'S ARROW, the lifelong version of my stolen snippet. But for LIT purposes, following someone from their rising from the grave, through their futile lives, to their absorption by glands, would be overkill. IMHO authors can have fun depicting various fucks and kinks reversed. Just un-fucking, right?

PS: I had forgotten the context of TIME'S ARROW. The MC is a Nazi doctor; the death-to-birth tale is told by his conscience. Not very erotic, I hope.

 

[mr. robinson]

Given that forbidden sex is always the hottest sex, an unhappy ending can be a natural consequence. Risk always heightens the reward, that is why so many take that risk. Just imagine fingering another man's willing wife under the table at a restaurant during a business dinner while he is blissfully unaware. Bet it got you aroused just reading that. Getting caught would be a bummer but it would not diminish that exquisite moment when she had to choke back her orgasm so no one would notice.

 

[Hypoxia]

Given that forbidden sex is always the hottest sex, an unhappy ending can be a natural consequence. Risk always heightens the reward, that is why so many take that risk.

All sorts of sex is forbidden somewhere. Burn The Bitch|Bastard is the too-common fallout of cheating. Social and legal pain can follow incest, interracial, some fetishes, etc. But humans and other animals insist on grinding gonads somewhere, somehow. People take risks. Who doesn't risk, can't win, or so the saying goes. (Or sit back, watch the risk-takers all flame out, then move in for the win.)

Just imagine fingering another man's willing wife under the table at a restaurant during a business dinner while he is blissfully unaware. Bet it got you aroused just reading that. Getting caught would be a bummer but it would not diminish that exquisite moment when she had to choke back her orgasm so no one would notice.

Is a reward worth the risk of punishment? That's the calculation. The fingered's reward is her orgasm. The fingerer's reward is a sense of power. Is the potential reward enough for him? Does her orgasm provide a happy ending, or a portal for future cheating?

 

[mr. robinson]

All sorts of sex is forbidden somewhere. Burn The Bitch|Bastard is the too-common fallout of cheating. Social and legal pain can follow incest, interracial, some fetishes, etc. But humans and other animals insist on grinding gonads somewhere, somehow. People take risks. Who doesn't risk, can't win, or so the saying goes. (Or sit back, watch the risk-takers all flame out, then move in for the win.)

Is a reward worth the risk of punishment? That's the calculation. The fingered's reward is her orgasm. The fingerer's reward is a sense of power. Is the potential reward enough for him? Does her orgasm provide a happy ending, or a portal for future cheating?

Hypoxia wrote: All sorts of sex is forbidden somewhere. Burn The Bitch|Bastard is the too-common fallout of cheating. Social and legal pain can follow incest, interracial, some fetishes, etc. But humans and other animals insist on grinding gonads somewhere, somehow. People take risks. Who doesn't risk, can't win, or so the saying goes. (Or sit back, watch the risk-takers all flame out, then move in for the win.) Is a reward worth the risk of punishment? That's the calculation. The fingered's reward is her orgasm. The fingerer's reward is a sense of power. Is the potential reward enough for him? Does her orgasm provide a happy ending, or a portal for future cheating?

Exactly! Good fiction is the protagonists journey and the conflicts or obstacles encountered and how they are overcome — or not. So forbidden sex is a perfect device that can both vicariously satisfy desires otherwise unattainable for the strokers who read these stories and open the door for the writer to explore all manner of consequences. Not all that is forbidden is illegal or immoral. Sneaking onto a pubic golf course on a midsummer midnight to make a hole-in-one at the risk of being caught. Or a teenage boy conflicted about his forbidden feelings when he accidentally sees his mother nude and his struggle to deal with the feelings until he gives in and finds a release so wonderful that it only deepens his personal guilt, driving him to any number of self punishments. Or maybe the obvious and tragic consequence of autoerotic asphyxia (sorry, could not resist). The point is — to answer the original question — that the writer can answer the desires of readers of an amateur porn site and still explore real themes. In short, the story can be hot and real, not just repetition or tired themes.

 

[Hypoxia]

The point is — to answer the original question — that the writer can answer the desires of readers of an amateur porn site and still explore real themes. In short, the story can be hot and real, not just repetition or tired themes.

Any fiction genre's offerings can range from insipid to inspired. In SciFi, I think of space-opera potboilers vs clever coded or open explorations of war, sex, sanity, reality, etc. Or Westerns, from lazy horse-operas to deep metaphors for long-term and current snafus.

So with pr0n, even at the amateur LIT level. I and others have written complex probes of society, all masked-over with sex. Even a stroker can show conflicting social attitudes and options. Parodies can attack more openly, and 'serious' LIT pieces might even change opinions. Yes, we can actually learn at LIT!

As for endings -- make them what you want.

 

[mr. robinson]

Any fiction genre's offerings can range from insipid to inspired. In SciFi, I think of space-opera potboilers vs clever coded or open explorations of war, sex, sanity, reality, etc. Or Westerns, from lazy horse-operas to deep metaphors for long-term and current snafus.

So with pr0n, even at the amateur LIT level. I and others have written complex probes of society, all masked-over with sex. Even a stroker can show conflicting social attitudes and options. Parodies can attack more openly, and 'serious' LIT pieces might even change opinions. Yes, we can actually learn at LIT!

As for endings -- make them what you want.

So we agree!

 

[Hypoxia]

ObTopic, Happy Endings: On a nearby thread, I noted varied sorts of happy endings.

* HEA (Happy Ever After)
* HFN (Happy For Now)
* HWT (Happy With a Twist)

We could also have happy cliffhangers, lead-ons, wraparounds, contradictions, et al.

Someone mentioned recently that a happy ending for some players is unhappy for others. Hopefully we have bad folks punished and good folks rewarded. Each sees an ending from vastly different POVs.

My electrocardiologist is a dour fellow. I saw him a couple days ago; he gave me an all-clear re: my heart. He looked at me glumly and said, "You cannot tell from my face but I am very happy with your condition." Thus, happiness may be masked. At least we are HFN (Happy For Now) but only wear different expressions.

 

[Jada59]

Mine always ends in an orgasm!

 

[kropotkin]

Happy endings and Loving Wives

I have rarely seen happy endings result from discovered affairs and/or divorces. At best (and with some exceptions), an amicable agreement is the best that results (especially if children are involved).

Realistically, the only goodness from a betrayal or broken relationship is that a bad situation is now over or mostly avoided. I reference here Oshaw's Fortune story, Malraux's Shooting at Merciful Lord, and Web_Spinner's Irish Eyes. Sometimes the ex may be hated but always must be tolerated, accepted, avoided, and/or ignored. Violence makes one crowd happy, and has a pseudo-reality to it, but in real life (which some of us still believe in) most of us want to stay out of jail and make a decent life.

But the world looks different after that first relationship is betrayed or ended, and forever. I don't think there is a way to go back, if one's commitment was total.

"Happy endings" doesn't mean revenge or victory or comeuppance. It means that betrayal or loss is superseded by new happiness.

krop

 

[yukonnights]

i just got another message about always having happy endings on my stories. doesn't it seem a bit counter intuitive to try to write an arousing story and then end it on a down note?

i have one series that i can't work on because i know how it ends and the ending is not happy. i don't want to give the characters trouble in their fictional lives.

is it possible to have a tragic or unhappy denouement and still write good porn?

IMO, this brings up a point that has so far gone untouched in the discussion; The author's own personality.

Without checking, I can safely say all or almost all of my stories have a happy resolution. I can also say this tends to reflect my outlook on life. IMO, there's ample opportunity to roll in the generally deprived nature of mankind...thus I have little incentive to drag darkness into my writing in my spare time. But as I said; this is more about personality than writing...and in keeping with what has almost become a mantra here; The only pay we get on Lit is writing for our own satisfaction. Personally I'm pleased with the reception of my "happy worlds" and have never had anyone write a complaint about HEA.

With that said, I have been having some problems lately in trying to introduce more conflict, but bring it back to a HEA. Myself and a "friendly advisor" have been working on these stories. The problem very quickly becomes one of the conflict coming off as a contrivance...it's not a convincing conflict and the story goes flat, etc. So there is that...and as KiethD said way back on this thread - pabulum can describe the resulting bland flavor, etc.

At the end of the day, I would agree that the HEA stories can oft-times have less 'literary bling'...but that doesn't necessarily equate to a failure to please the intended audience...or myself.

 

[Hypoxia]

"Without checking, I can safely say..." that many of my pieces lack resolution. They're snippets of lifelines extending beyond the story's span. Expect more to occur before and after the tale. Folks wonder how they got here and what the next fuck will be. My backstories are usually patchy; I like to leave characters unexplained, hinted at. They experience good and bad stuff in any order -- that's drama. So write the mental image you want to leave readers.

Maybe a definite end is required. I'm reminded of Billy Wilder's ten rules of screenwriting:

1: The audience is fickle.
2: Grab 'em by the throat and never let 'em go.
3: Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.
4: Know where you're going.
5: The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.
6: If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.
7: A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They'll love you forever.
8: In doing voice-overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they're seeing.
9: The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie.
10: The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then -- that's it. Don't hang around.​

I still hang on two questions: What do I want to say? Who am I saying it to?

 

[SamScribble]

I have just had a story picked up for inclusion in an anthology.

The two main characters meet completely by chance. Or is it chance? Did she plan the whole thing?

The story ends with the arrival of the husband - who is oblivious to everything that has gone on. Or is he? Did he plan the whole thing?

The three characters all seem happy enough, each in their own way. Does that make it a HEA story?

 

[KeithD]

I have just had a story picked up for inclusion in an anthology.

The two main characters meet completely by chance. Or is it chance? Did she plan the whole thing?

The story ends with the arrival of the husband - who is oblivious to everything that has gone on. Or is he? Did he plan the whole thing?

The three characters all seem happy enough, each in their own way. Does that make it a HEA story?

I'd say it was a HFN (Happy for now) ending.

 

[yukonnights]

"Without checking, I can safely say..." that many of my pieces lack resolution. They're snippets of lifelines extending beyond the story's span. Expect more to occur before and after the tale. Folks wonder how they got here and what the next fuck will be. My backstories are usually patchy; I like to leave characters unexplained, hinted at. They experience good and bad stuff in any order -- that's drama. So write the mental image you want to leave readers.

Maybe a definite end is required. I'm reminded of Billy Wilder's ten rules of screenwriting:

1: The audience is fickle.
2: Grab 'em by the throat and never let 'em go.
3: Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.
4: Know where you're going.
5: The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.
6: If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.
7: A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They'll love you forever.
8: In doing voice-overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they're seeing.
9: The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie.
10: The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then -- that's it. Don't hang around.​

I still hang on two questions: What do I want to say? Who am I saying it to?

Thanks for putting that up Hypoxia...I just copied it and pasted in my little stash of good advice.

 

[Hypoxia]

Thanks for putting that up Hypoxia...I just copied it and pasted in my little stash of good advice.

Many welcomes. I keep a few advice goodies on hand. The less pretentious:

Dramatic cycle:
1 Anticipation -
2 Dream -
3 Frustration -
4 Nightmare -
5 Resolution -

The six story arcs:
1. Rags to riches – a steady rise from bad to good fortune: /
2. Riches to rags – a fall from good to bad, a tragedy: \
3. Icarus – a rise, then a fall in fortune: /\
4. Man in a hole – fall, then rise: \/
5. Oedipus – a fall, a rise, then a fall again: \/\
6. Cinderella – rise, fall, and rise again: /\/

Mark Twain's three-act structure: "Send your characters up a tree. Throw rocks at them. See if they climb down."

Robert Heinlein's three plot lines: 1) Boy Meets Girl; 2) The Brave Little Tailor [Seven At One Blow]; 3) The Man Who Learned Better (character growth). Plus the Gadget Story.​

I don't bother tabulating the 23 er 47 er 81 basic plots. I just write what seems right. But I check these advise thingies every now and then.

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

i just got another message about always having happy endings on my stories. doesn't it seem a bit counter intuitive to try to write an arousing story and then end it on a down note?

i have one series that i can't work on because i know how it ends and the ending is not happy. i don't want to give the characters trouble in their fictional lives.

is it possible to have a tragic or unhappy denouement and still write good porn?

I think so. I have a 4 chapter story posted here that doesn't end happily ever after. All but the first have the red H so I guess people liked it.
Of course I write more romantic stuff and not porn/erotica, and would have put this story in Romance but couldn't since it didn't end happily. It has sex in it, but a lot of people reading here want over the top sex and this story doesn't have that.

People seemed to have a love/hate for the ending, they knew it had to happen that way even if they were hoping it ended another way.

 

[yukonnights]

Many welcomes. I keep a few advice goodies on hand. The less pretentious:

Dramatic cycle:
1 Anticipation -
2 Dream -
3 Frustration -
4 Nightmare -
5 Resolution -

The six story arcs:
1. Rags to riches – a steady rise from bad to good fortune: /
2. Riches to rags – a fall from good to bad, a tragedy: \
3. Icarus – a rise, then a fall in fortune: /\
4. Man in a hole – fall, then rise: \/
5. Oedipus – a fall, a rise, then a fall again: \/\
6. Cinderella – rise, fall, and rise again: /\/

Mark Twain's three-act structure: "Send your characters up a tree. Throw rocks at them. See if they climb down."

Robert Heinlein's three plot lines: 1) Boy Meets Girl; 2) The Brave Little Tailor [Seven At One Blow]; 3) The Man Who Learned Better (character growth). Plus the Gadget Story.​

I don't bother tabulating the 23 er 47 er 81 basic plots. I just write what seems right. But I check these advise thingies every now and then.

These too are very helpful...they're nestled neatly below the other stuff I stole from you.

In the story I'm working on, and in general; The "Dramatic Cycle" #1 Anticipation, has some conflict that presents a problem... the problem is left unresolved. I'm assuming that "Anticipation" comes in both happy and bad flavors?

Later in the story, there is a new and more hopeful "Anticipation" that is in conflict with the first Anticipation.

I guess my question is; Would this seem a proper way to view this? Or would they more appropriately be Frustrations of each other?

I think I mentioned it already, but including believable conflict is a greater challenge than I thought it would be. Since this seems an appropriate thread topic to discuss this. What are some of the ways folks; Imply, Insert, Build-up and Resolve conflict?

Let's put an end to all these HEA stories!

Point/question 2: I see my latest story arc as #1 - rags to riches. Just to clarify, I'm thinking the riches in this arc summary need not be silver and gold...but also emotions, love, sad/happy and bad-life/good-life, etc.