Spoil the ending?

[EarlyMorningLight]

Been having some interesting conversations about readers and the expectation that many have when it comes to happy endings.

A lot of writers, myself included, will open a story with notes, pointing out any content that might be unexpected for the category, or stuff that could be challenging for some readers.

Thoughts on disclosing a non-happy ending upfront to avoid readers feeling “cheated” out of what they think they should be getting? Is HEA the norm to the extent that deviation should be divulged?

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'd never pre-empt an ending, not in notes, not in a preamble, never.

I don't cater to reader notions of what a story "should" do - I'll offer them their money back and point out that they obviously wanted someone else's story, not mine.

I do have plans to write a further, final chapter with one of my favourite heroines, where she dies. But she won't let me write it yet. It'll go in Romance.

I've just made a liar of my first sentence, to some extent. But I've not written it yet, so that doesn't count.

 

[RejectReality]

I don't think I'd go so far as to categorize a non HEA ending as something that might benefit from a warning. I'd say it's a recipe for most of your hits to be back clicks.

Yes, some people are going to be disappointed with a less than fairytale ending, but if it fits the story and you write it well, it'll be fine. Many of the people who might otherwise enjoy it will likely retreat without reading if you announce it up front, though.

 

[gunhilltrain]

No, I don't give away an ending. I think on average my short stories have happy endings but the multi-chapter series don't. That sort of reflects modern life: it's relatively plausible to have a good relationship for a few weeks or even months. It's much harder to have one that lasts for two years or even one.

I did have one story that I put in Erotic Couplings rather than Non-human because it would have given away the ending. There were still plenty of clues about what was really going on.

P.S. Some of the series don't appear to be one because they grew out of continuing stand-alone sequels.

 

[SamScribble]

I don't think that I have ever told the reader anything in advance. I write the story to be read and let the cards fall where they will.

The only time that I would ever condone information in advance is when the information is totally misleading.

 

[PennameWombat]

I generally include a preface that advises if a story is part of a series (loosely connected to previous tales) and often list the tags I’ve used there. But I’ve never stated what sort of ending to expect.

I see a key aspect being genre expectations. Whether you like it or not, if the vast majority of readers in a genre, e.g., Romance, expect HEA (or at least HFN) endings, then they’re very likely to downvote a story that doesn’t give them one. It’s not up to you. If you warn them up front (”hey, the ending is, uh, like really downbeat” then you might indeed get them to pass you by. Or… hate vote. Who knows.)

I don’t know that other genres, or Categories here, are quite so expectant of HEA or HFN endings. If Erotic Horror readers expect HEA, they’re not EH readers . I can’t say any of my endings are HEA (well, maybe one), but many would at least fit somewhere on a sliding HFN scale (doesn’t mean people haven’t been killed or mutilated along the way, just that it doesn’t end as the knife is plunged into the MC’s heart.) Other endings are more open-ended, no knife swinging but enough ambivalence even ‘happy’ is in doubt.

Can I say I’ve been dinged for an ending? Only when I’ve left a story too open-ended, but it was more their expectation or desire for more story as opposed to a not happy ending. At least, that’s all I have evidence (comments or feedback) for.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Unless your title or story description is purposely deceptive regarding the ending, no forewarning of the ending should be necessary. Many authors in the LW category will warn readers that their story isn't BTB or RACC to allow those readers to avoid the angst of reading it. I'm not sure how successful those warnings are.

 

[shakna]

When I wrote my only story that has a "bad ending", I did give a teeny tiny hint that it wasn't going to have a happy ending ("Author's Note: Incest and horror themes."). However, I intentionally made it so that you could miss it.

I would not change that - but there were a lot of unhappy readers. And they let me know it. People have an expectation, and really don't like it if you violate that. Some genres have an expectation for a happy ending. Incidentally, it did boost the number of comments on the story, which also boosted the number of readers. The votes are one of my lowest, but reading how everyone felt blindsided by the villain... That, I still get a kick out of.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm opposed to that idea.

I write with myself in mind as a reader. As a reader, I enjoy being challenged and surprised. If a story throws me for a loop in an artful way, I like it. I don't want to have the surprise spoiled. I would feel like I was being handled like a child.

I understand not all readers are the same way. There are plenty of erotica readers who have a very clear expectation for a story, and they get mad if you switch gears mid-stroke and upset their "experience." But I don't feel any sense of responsibility to flag their potential disappointment for them. To me, it's part of the reading experience. You don't know what you're going to get, and that's part of the fun.

 

[yowser]

As a reader, perhaps an atypical one, I am astonished by how much warnings, explanations, discursive material that authors put in front of their prose.

I'd far prefer to just start in and see if the story appeals to me. As an author, I don't want you to know how it ends, that's part of my fun.

If nothing else, a U-turn/unexpected ending, if you get some comments on it, will let you know that people actually read your tale all the way through...

 

[stickygirl]

I intentionally ended a recent story suddenly, because it happened that way in the narrative: one character got an urgent message and had to fly home. I got a few comments raising this so I went back and added an extra sex seen to keep them happy. By that stage it had suffered with low 4's and apart from deleting it and starting again, I just let it go. Life's too short

 

[MillieDynamite]

When I first started writing, 10 plus years ago and posted on a different site, I wrote a transgender story and did not put that information in tags or description. The story working depended on the reader being as surprised as the character was. I did put it was a gay story, it was written from a gay man's point of view about his confusion of being attracted to a woman. The story had no sex until the last scene when the man gets his surprise in a hot tub with the transgender telling him she has a big, fat present for him. She guides his hand to her now freed prick, and she whisper, "We need to get some K-Y baby."

I got some much hateful email, only partially offset by the positive ones, I eventually took the story down. I didn't reveal the ending so as not ruin the surprise. There are a lot of stories on LW that can't have a surprise in them because of the readers preconceptions and our inability to clue them in without destroying the surprise.

Also, many of my old stories would have a twist at the end. One story didn't, a regular reader posted the comment, "I kept anticipating the twist, so much so, when there wasn't one the lack of a twist was the twist."

 

[Djmac1031]

I've only intentionally written one story where I've given away the ending in both the title and the opening sentence. But it was kinda the whole point of the story, and it was only 750 words.

I personally hate disclaimers although I understand why some use them on some stories.

But we're all adults here, we should be able to handle a curveball or surprise.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Sometimes I'll telegraph the ending (Loss Function, Magnum Innominandum); other times I won't. It depends very much on what I'm trying to do with the story and where I want readers' focus.

Surprise is a legitimate element in the toolkit, but IMHO writers rely on it too heavily. Ambushing readers with "ha ha, you liked this character? Well now she DIES!" is a cheap way to get a reaction, and if you keep doing it, there's a risk of lessening the impact. (I disengaged from Game of Thrones early because it was so committed to brutalising its characters, it became obvious that it would be foolish to care about any of them.)

It takes so much more art to pull off "here is Jane, she's going to die at the end of this story, but before then I'm still going to make you care about her and you're going to cry when she dies." A good chef can satisfy their guests even when those guests have seen everything that goes into the meal and how it's cooked. And by establishing trust with the reader, you can get them to open up a bit more and let the story affect them more just before you stab them in the feels with the Knife of Feel-Stabbing.

I've opted for surprise sometimes. In "A Stringed Instrument", Phoebe's mother Helen dies out of the blue. I intended that to be as shocking for the readers as it is for Phoebe and Yvonne, because I wanted to deal with the consequences of that kind of sudden loss at a time when one's attention is elsewhere. I even feinted by setting up a fake Chekhov's gun: Helen gives Yvonne her phone number, which sets up a reader expectation that they're going to have an Important Conversation later.

In "Anjali's Red Scarf", Sarah essentially proposes to Anjali, and Anjali turns her down. Again, I didn't really telegraph that; readers who actually paid attention to what Anjali was saying as opposed to what Sarah wanted might have guessed, but I think mostly it surprised readers because that story could easily have ended up as HEA romance. I wanted to deal with what might be called rejection-sensitive dysphoria, if one was being clinical - Sarah's not good at dealing with "no", but she has to because her friendship with Anjali is too important. Surprising readers with Anjali's rejection seemed like the best way of bringing them along with Sarah's feelings; I think the reconciliation means more if you've empathised with the hurt first.

And then other times I've telegraphed, usually by telling the end first and then flashing back to the main story.

Loss Function is a story about, well, loss, and how two people deal with approaching mortality. The setup takes a while, and it could be mistaken for a HEA setup if one didn't know how it was going to turn out. I wasn't particularly interested in surprising readers with Nadja's decline and death - so much of the story there is about how the two of them deal in that space where they both know it's coming, and try to make their bargains with it - so I telegraphed by starting the story immediately after Nadja's funeral. (Which also gave me the opportunity for an incongruous scene where Nadja is asking about her own funeral. I think that's a good hook.) Putting the "sad" up front then lets me keep the readers' focus on what they manage to achieve while the clock is running down, rather than watching for some kind of salvation that's not arriving.

(Had I not structured it that way, I would never have posted it in Romance.)

Magnum Innominandum is a romantic tragedy; I wanted it to be bittersweet and again I didn't see that I needed to surprise readers with the tragedy. Also, it's Lovecraft/Chambers pastiche, and those guys understood that sometimes the most effective horror is not a jump scare but knowing that the story ends in death and madness, and still reading.

There is also a certain attitude I often see with authors that says that Good Readers should be brave and adventurous, they should be able to go wherever the author chooses to take them. I don't agree with that. I think readers are allowed to have preferences, they are allowed to say "today I am in the mood for tragedy and tomorrow I will want to read something cozy with a happy ending", and there is no sin in giving readers the information that will let them find the kind of story they're in the mood for.

When a writer insists that readers should be prepared for ANYTHING, at any time, mostly what I hear is "surprises are the only way I know to get a reaction".

 

[EarlyMorningLight]

Sometimes I'll telegraph the ending (Loss Function, Magnum Innominandum); other times I won't. It depends very much on what I'm trying to do with the story and where I want readers' focus.

Surprise is a legitimate element in the toolkit, but IMHO writers rely on it too heavily. Ambushing readers with "ha ha, you liked this character? Well now she DIES!" is a cheap way to get a reaction, and if you keep doing it, there's a risk of lessening the impact. (I disengaged from Game of Thrones early because it was so committed to brutalising its characters, it became obvious that it would be foolish to care about any of them.)

It takes so much more art to pull off "here is Jane, she's going to die at the end of this story, but before then I'm still going to make you care about her and you're going to cry when she dies." A good chef can satisfy their guests even when those guests have seen everything that goes into the meal and how it's cooked. And by establishing trust with the reader, you can get them to open up a bit more and let the story affect them more just before you stab them in the feels with the Knife of Feel-Stabbing.

I've opted for surprise sometimes. In "A Stringed Instrument", Phoebe's mother Helen dies out of the blue. I intended that to be as shocking for the readers as it is for Phoebe and Yvonne, because I wanted to deal with the consequences of that kind of sudden loss at a time when one's attention is elsewhere. I even feinted by setting up a fake Chekhov's gun: Helen gives Yvonne her phone number, which sets up a reader expectation that they're going to have an Important Conversation later.

In "Anjali's Red Scarf", Sarah essentially proposes to Anjali, and Anjali turns her down. Again, I didn't really telegraph that; readers who actually paid attention to what Anjali was saying as opposed to what Sarah wanted might have guessed, but I think mostly it surprised readers because that story could easily have ended up as HEA romance. I wanted to deal with what might be called rejection-sensitive dysphoria, if one was being clinical - Sarah's not good at dealing with "no", but she has to because her friendship with Anjali is too important. Surprising readers with Anjali's rejection seemed like the best way of bringing them along with Sarah's feelings; I think the reconciliation means more if you've empathised with the hurt first.

And then other times I've telegraphed, usually by telling the end first and then flashing back to the main story.

Loss Function is a story about, well, loss, and how two people deal with approaching mortality. The setup takes a while, and it could be mistaken for a HEA setup if one didn't know how it was going to turn out. I wasn't particularly interested in surprising readers with Nadja's decline and death - so much of the story there is about how the two of them deal in that space where they both know it's coming, and try to make their bargains with it - so I telegraphed by starting the story immediately after Nadja's funeral. (Which also gave me the opportunity for an incongruous scene where Nadja is asking about her own funeral. I think that's a good hook.) Putting the "sad" up front then lets me keep the readers' focus on what they manage to achieve while the clock is running down, rather than watching for some kind of salvation that's not arriving.

(Had I not structured it that way, I would never have posted it in Romance.)

Magnum Innominandum is a romantic tragedy; I wanted it to be bittersweet and again I didn't see that I needed to surprise readers with the tragedy. Also, it's Lovecraft/Chambers pastiche, and those guys understood that sometimes the most effective horror is not a jump scare but knowing that the story ends in death and madness, and still reading.

There is also a certain attitude I often see with authors that says that Good Readers should be brave and adventurous, they should be able to go wherever the author chooses to take them. I don't agree with that. I think readers are allowed to have preferences, they are allowed to say "today I am in the mood for tragedy and tomorrow I will want to read something cozy with a happy ending", and there is no sin in giving readers the information that will let them find the kind of story they're in the mood for.

When a writer insists that readers should be prepared for ANYTHING, at any time, mostly what I hear is "surprises are the only way I know to get a reaction".

This is a really thoughtful response, and a great set of examples.

I don't think I'd ever actively set out to fuck with the audience out of pure antagonism, or to contravene expectations just for the sake of it. I'd like to think that in my most recent story, while I didn't telegraph the ending, I tried to leave clues as I developed the characters so that the ending would feel like the more realistic (and ultimately healthiest for both characters) outcome. And the reception overall has been incredibly positive. I've just had to scratch my head reading the very loud comments from vocal naysayers. It feels like they read a completely different story to what I actually wrote, so that's led me to ponder the strength of certain readers' expectations, and how that colours their experiences of stories.