Second Wind Publishing discussion

Fairytale endings - are they for real? Happily Ever After? Who are we kidding here? No one lives happily ever after. So often, authors find themselves in a quandary: How do I end this stinking book?

As readers, we have certain expectations. We want answers to the questions posed by the characters. We want conclusions to plot threads. We want to know who done it! It's up to the author to answer our questions.

Have you ever read a really unsatisfying ending? Have you wanted to re-write the ending to a book? What's your favorite ending? Must it be happy to properly resolve the story?

I like happy endings with unexpected twists so they're not too predictable. I have read woman's fiction without a happy ending - good books - but I must say, I always feel a little unfinished when I'm done reading.

I can't just force an ending on a book. For the most part, the story, and especially the characters, determine the ending. Deadly Nightshade ended very ambiguously, but I intended to carry to story forward in the next book in the series. I lost some readers, though. Too bad, couldn't be helped.

The ending must satisfy the demands of the story. So a tragic ending, particularly one foreshadowed throughout the book, would be much more satisfying than a forced happy ending.

I prefer half-and-half endings, where it's happy but not a perfect success. Like, the guy gets the girl but loses his job. 3 of my 4 mss have that kind of ending and pretty much all of my top 10 read books.

My favourite ending ever is in The Partner by John Grisham but I won't give it away for you. It's one of the half-and-half endings I mentioned above.

I have started to tire on "wrap up" endings, where everything need to be concluded and neatly presented. Sometimes a story needs to just stop - everything that has lead up to that ending should be enough for the reader to imagine what happens afterwards.

Fern Michaels wrote one and though I wanted a different ending it was really the best one in the end. I can't remember the title now but it was a great story.

Lavada, there was a singer songwriter with that name in the 70s - coincidence only?

Yep. I have google alert for "Lavada" and there are more than I would have imagined. Unfortunately a lot are obituaries which makes me think the name may be an old one.

Still, not a common name. When I published I chose to use my real first name 'Lavada' and my middle name 'Dee'. I reasoned I wouldn't forget it that way. So far it works though I did have someone tell me it sounded like a stripper name.

The singer I recall (and liked) was one name, so far as I knew. But I never ran across it anywhere else.

it doesn't always have to be happily ever after.father ralph died in meggies arms in the end of thornbirds
at the end of the stand --vegas was nuked.
sometimes its better that books dont end in a happyway --too trite and predictable.

I flatly refuse to read any more John Grisham because in my opinion he has never figured out how to end a story, they just stop. I said earlier (or was it another list?) I prefer to let the story and the characters dictate how it will end.

Life is neither unambiguously happy or tragic; give me some creative ambiguity. Just stopping doesn't count.

I like the variety of things that come to an end at the ends of stories so in that way the story still matured even if I didn't catch every instinct involved in the writers handbag. When a writer used many ready made terms it feels like a predictable ending would have to come because it will be a ready made term ender.

I'd like to change to ending to make it happier in many books, but that is just me.
This especially includes "Cold Mountain" by Charles Frazier, "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" and "The Elegence of the Hedgehog."

I don't think all endings should be happy as not all of life has happy endings. Sometimes I would have liked to change a ending of a book, but I don't want the endings to be always predictable either.

I think that a read of a Robert Cormier novel will lead one to see that a book can be incredibly powerful without a happy ending.

If tragedy must strike anywhere along the plot line, I prefer it ahead of the story’s conclusion so that I may see how each character changes or develops as a result. Let’s face it, only the smallest scintilla of those living now or even lives that have passed, did so without a few bumps along the way, be they small or catastrophic. It is the trials of life that make better our lives and all those whom live around us. Also, I avoid authors who hang you with an event or tragedy that gets resolved in the next book, forcing you into sometimes a protracted wait and then buying.

Deadly Nightshade did end up in the air. These two guys just couldn't get it worked out. I took some flak for it, and I can see, looking at the numbers, that it cost me some sales, but it was the right ending for that book.

In my reading, what I found makes me happiest is whether or not the ending makes sense for the story and characters. Whether the actual ending is happy or not is almost secondary.

Nicholas, I agree with you about the waiting for the following book for something to get resolved.

Having said that, the only caveat I do have about those kinds of endings I already said in the first part of the comment - that the ending should make sense for the individual book.

Since I read for pleasure, I like my happy endings. I don't expect everything to be perfect, but I don't like depressing endings. I like a hopeful conclusion, even if some aspects aren't ideal.

My novel, Angel Land, ends kind of Casablanca. The lovers are parted, but you have the sense they'll get back together.

"Since I read for pleasure, I like my happy endings. I don't expect everything to be perfect, but I don't like depressing endings. I like a hopeful conclusion, even if some aspects aren't ideal."

I agree with you Lady Danielle as there is so much sadness & trgedy in real life. Just turn on the news.
I don't want a fake story though, but something hopeful, optimistic or inspiring.

I like happy endings, though not soppy endings. I like a bit of twist and something that makes you want another book about the subject, or a series for the original book. I hate all books though that don't have a happy ending.

How about historical fiction that is both realistic and has an optimistic/hopeful ending. There are many including "The Help" and even "The Heretics Daughter."

But isn't a hopeful ending kinda like a happy ending? Oh, and I don't really care for hopeful endings. It leaves something out, especailly if there isn't another book. I'll always wonder what happens.

Historical fiction where the outcome is not happy for the historical characters can still contain a smaller
cast of fictional characters who are able to go with their lives. History is filled with minor characters, and as long as the historical facts are observed, these people can have a brighter outlook.

Just got back from my very happy-ever-after vacation. I like "kind-of" hopeful endings--not necessarily happy, but with happy possibilities--especially ones that change or broaden my view of what happy-ever-after might mean.

I love happy endings because they make me feel good, but being a realist tells me it's happy at the moment the book ends, but life will settle into "normal" before long--like marriage after the honeymoon.

I also like endings which have me wondering where the story would go from there. It seems if all the questions go answered, the story would bog down too much.

In my opinion the way the writer ends his/her story is always the best way and I doubt if there would have been any other (beter) ways of ending it.
Readers have been very unkind with George bernard Shaw's .Pygmalion. Even during his lifetime the plays ended in Galatia and Pygmalion getting together and this really enraged the writer. In the movie "My Fair Lady" it happened again.
The Ending in The Little Black Fishis also not satisfactory to some readers. The style is "open-ended" and the author intentionally ended it that way to show the dynamism of the movement. Even though the younger readers wonder what fate the hero faced, yet the message here is that his legacy continues when A Little Red Fish thinks of following the same path, in spite of all dangers and mishaps and given the death of the hero.