Another old post from my previous blog that I still like. Enjoy!
I’ve noticed a growing trend in modern fantasy. It’s a trend I rather like. More and more fantasy novels are finished with an ending that’s less than perfect. (I’m sure other genres have been having this too, but since I read fantasy almost exclusively, I can’t say for sure.)
Some novels do still use the “happily ever after” approach to their endings. We all remember these from the fairy tales that enchanted us growing up. No matter what happened during the course of the story, we knew the main character was going to eventually achieve his or her goal and learn a valuable lesson. Often in fairy tales the sequence of events is so extraordinary and unexplained that it’s obvious realism has no place in it. For this style of story, the “perfect” ending seems fitting.
Then you have authors that attempt to jump to the opposite extreme. These are few and far between, but every now and again I stumble across a novel where the ending features the protagonist specifically not achieving his goal. Perhaps the bad guy won. Or, worse, maybe the protagonist actually helped the bad guy to win, or ended up finishing the story exactly how and where he started. Some people may find these appealing, as it certainly gives fantasy a more gritty and “realistic” feel. However, when considering fantasy, this kind of ending is just a bit too much realism for me, so I tend to avoid them.
Then you have my favourite, the bittersweet ending. That not-quite-perfect ending that is becoming more and more popular. These are the endings where the protagonist achieves his goal, or maybe just part of it, but at a heavy price. For example, the good guy defeats the bad guy, but loses the girl he loves as a consequence of his actions.
This is where I think a bittersweet ending is capable of doing so much that the other two possibilities can’t. You get the joy of knowing the character managed to do what he set out to do. You get the thrill of seeing his goal accomplished, the joy of seeing that character finally triumph over impossible odds. But twisted around it you also feel the pain of what he lost. You see the heavy price he’s paid for his victory, and know that despite achieving his goal there will always be something missing from his “happily ever after”.
While writing something that evokes joy or sorrow in the reader is a great thing, being able to make the reader feel both simultaneously is even better. The conflict is no longer just on the page, but twisted into readers’ emotions. It draws them in to the point where it becomes difficult to put either feeling aside in favour of the other. It’s the kind of mixed emotion that will stay in their memory long after they’ve put the book down.
That is the feeling I want to create for my readers. I want them to feel torn, to remember that conflict after they stop reading. I want an almost happy ending that will stick in the mind and keep them coming back for more.
To finish this off, I’m going to ask: Which ending do you prefer? I’m curious if this is just me…
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