Unhappy Endings

[mildlyaroused]

I've always liked an unhappy ending. Happiness is more beautiful when things are sad.

Less philosophically, though, how careful should I be about posting a story in Romance that doesn't conclude happily ever after?

It's a story about a couple on the verge of divorce who spend one last night together, in sex and reminiscence of their relationship and lives. They were hoping somewhere that this night would fix things, but it doesn't. The story ends with them following through with the divorce. So it's a sad ending, but not wholly so: they mature, and find closure in their relationship and the joy it brought, and realise the value of moving on.

I feel like people are more expectant of happy endings in the Romance category, but it still definitely fits best for this story. The sex is not centre stage enough for Erotic Couplings to work. And it's definitely not non-erotic. Any advice?

 

[PeytonMirabelle]

You can try it but temper your expectations. In my (admittedly limited) experience, stories in Romance that don't have the HEA/HFN endings tend not to score as well. Some readers there are definitely expecting the "good" ending and will be left dissatisfied.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I read a May/December story recently where the older woman died at the end. Her condition gave her the courage to take a chance with the young man and they had a terrific summer.

I was very torn at the end, which I'm sure was the writers goal. Sweet but sad. I've thought about doing it, but haven't yet.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I'm my experience stories with unhappy endings or with arsehole characters do tend to score lower.

The way to think of it is this. To get 4.5 and the Hot mark, you need 7 people voting five for every 1 person voting one. And probably of those 5 or 6 are perfectly fine with a unhappy ending (as long as it 'works'), but it seems like a fraction do just knock a star or two off if thing end badly. So write what you want to write and remember that the lower score is just a limited emotional response from someone who probably read to the end of your story mostly enjoying it anyway.

 

[VerbalAbuse]

Happiness is more beautiful when things are sad.

This does not make sense.

 

[Britva415]

I feel like people are more expectant of happy endings in the Romance category, but it still definitely fits best for this story

I don't see how/why.

The sex is not centre stage enough for Erotic Couplings to work

It can work fine in that category. What doesn't tend to work is a story with no sex or eroticism at all. And you won't be dealing with disappointed and offended readers whose expectations of HEA were subverted.

In both categories, maybe a statement in the subtitle could set expectations properly, whichever category you choose.

 

[VerbalAbuse]

I agree with the other commentators. I've thought of writing a sad ending story, then realized I was going to ruin to mood for my readers, and changed my mind.

 

[mildlyaroused]

This does not make sense.

It makes perfect sense.

Thanks to everyone for responses.

 

[Djmac1031]

Any advice?

Put it in Romance and if some people don't appreciate it, fuck 'em.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I've always liked an unhappy ending. Happiness is more beautiful when things are sad.

Less philosophically, though, how careful should I be about posting a story in Romance that doesn't conclude happily ever after?

It's a story about a couple on the verge of divorce who spend one last night together, in sex and reminiscence of their relationship and lives. They were hoping somewhere that this night would fix things, but it doesn't. The story ends with them following through with the divorce. So it's a sad ending, but not wholly so: they mature, and find closure in their relationship and the joy it brought, and realise the value of moving on.

I feel like people are more expectant of happy endings in the Romance category, but it still definitely fits best for this story. The sex is not centre stage enough for Erotic Couplings to work. And it's definitely not non-erotic. Any advice?

I love bad ends, ambiguous ends, and generally ends that you don't see coming whether good or bad.

So yes, absolutely write your bad end.

Where to put it depends on why you are writing/publishing.

If you want people to see it and read it then post in ANYWHERE BUT EC. EC is a graveyard.

If you want to avoid downvotes then keep your bad end the hell away from Romance, and if it's an otherwise vanilla story then EC is all you got.

My specific advice ...

Put it in Romance and if some people don't appreciate it, fuck 'em.

^ This.

 

[MyBareTorso]

It sounds quite romantic to me... I'd take the chance and post it there. It seems like a better fit than EC.
PS (Particularly) as an Aussie, your avatar picture thingy rocks...

 

[mildlyaroused]

It sounds quite romantic to me... I'd take the chance and post it there. It seems like a better fit than EC.
PS (Particularly) as an Aussie, your avatar picture thingy rocks...

Thank you!! It's a rarity for someone to recognise it. He's an Aussie gem and my forever crush (from across the Tasman Sea).

 

[MelissaBaby]

It makes perfect sense.

Thanks to everyone for responses.

It does make sense.

Romance readers do appreciate a well written sad story. Take my word for it, I’m an expert on the subject.

 

[NotWise]

The story you described isn't a Romance. I don't know why you'd put it in that category. It fits there about as well as a GM story fits in Lesbian.

I'm all for complex, sometimes flawed characters, and sometimes those characters can't have happy endings. Those stories are generally not Romances.

 

[dmallord]

I've always liked an unhappy ending. Happiness is more beautiful when things are sad.

Less philosophically, though, how careful should I be about posting a story in Romance that doesn't conclude happily ever after?

It's a story about a couple on the verge of divorce who spend one last night together, in sex and reminiscence of their relationship and lives. They were hoping somewhere that this night would fix things, but it doesn't. The story ends with them following through with the divorce. So it's a sad ending, but not wholly so: they mature, and find closure in their relationship and the joy it brought, and realise the value of moving on.

I feel like people are more expectant of happy endings in the Romance category, but it still definitely fits best for this story. The sex is not centre stage enough for Erotic Couplings to work. And it's definitely not non-erotic. Any advice?

NO! Just no ... don't post it in Romance. [shakes head knowing what's going to come of it.]

 

[alohadave]

This does not make sense.

It means more when there is a struggle.

 

[mildlyaroused]

The story you described isn't a Romance. I don't know why you'd put it in that category. It fits there about as well as a GM story fits in Lesbian.

I'm all for complex, sometimes flawed characters, and sometimes those characters can't have happy endings. Those stories are generally not Romances.

Audience expectations aside, I don't know why these things would constitute something not being a romance.

Can you elaborate on why it fits 'about as well as GM in Lesbian'?

Romance is the focus: the love (and progression of that love) between two characters is the focus.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I've always liked an unhappy ending. Happiness is more beautiful when things are sad.

Less philosophically, though, how careful should I be about posting a story in Romance that doesn't conclude happily ever after?

It's difficult but not impossible. With apologies for tooting my own horn, one of my highest-rated stories is a Romance story where the love interest dies; it also breaks a couple of the other standard rules of Romance. I've mentioned in previous discussions that "Titanic" is an example of an extremely successful romance story that doesn't deliver a "happy together" ending.

Romance is a comfort-reading genre. People go to romance when the world feels hard and they want to be able to read a book knowing that at the end of the story they're going to feel better, not worse.

Escapism is an obvious way to provide that comfort: forget the crap of this world, let's go to a place where life is simple, love overcomes all obstacles, and the story ends long before the protagonists do. But it's also possible to give comfort while leaning into the hardness of real life, by reminding readers that there is beauty to be found in this world in among the hardships - yes, in the end everybody dies, but love still matters.

To make that kind of story work, it's important to manage reader expectations. HEA/HFN is the default for romance; if you begin with "couple on the verge of divorce who spend one last night together", many readers are likely to think you're working towards an ending where they realise how important the relationship is, sort out the problems between them, and reunite never to be parted again. Those readers are then going to be very disappointed when it doesn't end that way.

Avoiding this usually means making it clear very early in the story that it's not going to end that way. I did this for Loss Function by beginning the story with Nadja's funeral, and mentioning that she looked "old and small". For readers who require a HEA, that gives them a chance to see early on that this isn't going to be their kind of story, and go read something else before they get emotionally invested in something that isn't what they need. For readers who are open to other options, it calibrates expectations so they're reading it as "life is hard and we all die, BUT..." rather than "two people fall in love - oh shit, sad ending".

What you're describing is definitely not an easy story to sell in Romance, and not everybody's going to like it. But sometimes it's worth doing the hard things. Even when they fail you can learn a lot from them.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Thank you!! It's a rarity for someone to recognise it. He's an Aussie gem and my forever crush (from across the Tasman Sea).

Gosh, he's so young in that photo!

 

[Omenainen]

Thank you!! It's a rarity for someone to recognise it. He's an Aussie gem and my forever crush (from across the Tasman Sea).

You mean you’re not Nick himself? I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked!

Good luck in Romance. The readership there is small-ish, but they comment a lot, so that’s nice.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Audience expectations aside, I don't know why these things would constitute something not being a romance.

That's because audience expectations aside there is nothing that makes this not romance (trusting your description of the piece without reading it obviously). A large portion of the romance audience expects a formula and you are breaking that formula. That's it.

Anyone who says that you can't put this in romance has only one reason not to - to protect your score.

This does not mean that your story will absolutely bomb score in romance. It might bomb hard or it might even do just fine. It will probably score a bit lower there than in say EC, but you will also get five or ten times or more hits and reads in romance than EC.

 

[mildlyaroused]

You mean you’re not Nick himself?

Maybe I am. He (I?) wouldn't be the last person I'd expect to see dabbling in erotica. He's a funny chap.

Anyone who says that you can't put this in romance has only one reason not to - to protect your score.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm still curious what others thought didn't constitute romance, but I guess that's ultimately a manifestation of audience expectation anyway. Things are make or break for some people and not others. Romance it shall be.

 

[YDB95]

Strictly speaking, if it has a sad ending, it's not a romance.
Which is not to say such stories aren't allowed in the Romance category here. They are. But my one and only such effort on Lit got some of the nastiest comments of my career here. (I've never done a Loving Wives story, to be fair!) One of the more polite, but still negative, comments explained that because it was in Romance, the ending really threw them for a loop.
For my part, I still think it's a pretty good story. But in retrospect, I see why it got such a visceral reaction from people who were expecting something quite different in light of the category.

 

[Omenainen]

Maybe I am. He (I?) wouldn't be the last person I'd expect to see dabbling in erotica. He's a funny chap.

Or a silly bitch like you say on your profile? Curiouser and curiouser!

I’ll be keeping an eye on you, sir.

 

[mildlyaroused]

I’ll be keeping an eye on you, sir.

A wide lovely eye, as it were.

Strictly speaking, if it has a sad ending, it's not a romance.

I can see this happening too. After briefly going through your story, it seems to me like there was nothing wrong with it, and those deviances from the norm took people by surprise. The comments (which yeah, some are a little overboard) seem seem to reinforce the strong HEA preference of romance fans - though I would say a 4.4 rating isn't bad at all, so it may be the vocal minority who were really upset by the end.

We're probably fighting a losing battle here. Some people won't like sad endings, particularly in romance. I guess that's okay, just something we shoulder consider when forming our expectations of reader engagement!