Comments on: How Stories End http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/ A mutual support group for SF/F Novelists Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:14:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: fritz freiheit.com » Link dump http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3795 fritz freiheit.com » Link dump Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:54:48 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3795 [...] How Stories End at SF Novelists (Writing,Ending,Trope) [...] […] How Stories End at SF Novelists (Writing,Ending,Trope) […]

]]> By: Kelly McCullough http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3786 Kelly McCullough Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:42:55 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3786 Alma, thanks for this. You made a nice point to riff off of for my current post. I started to reply here about five times but couldn't fit it down into a reasonable sized response and so ended up writing the front page post that now sits a bit up the slope from this one. Alma, thanks for this. You made a nice point to riff off of for my current post. I started to reply here about five times but couldn’t fit it down into a reasonable sized response and so ended up writing the front page post that now sits a bit up the slope from this one.

]]> By: Alma Alexander http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3769 Alma Alexander Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:04:50 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3769 cindy - I hear you on the "deserved". But in one sense I think of everything coming home to roost where it should as "closure". Not a happy ending. And I do love me a good love story [ the "two people finding and loving each other". I just don't believe that life ENDS when they do, but rather that it begins again, this time with a cast of two rather than a singleton - and because both are human it's bound to get... interesting... at least sometimes. A happy ending isn't a white gown and confetti and wedding cake - it's "Darling, you snore, but I love you anyway". cindy - I hear you on the “deserved”. But in one sense I think of everything coming home to roost where it should as “closure”. Not a happy ending.

And I do love me a good love story [ the “two people finding and loving each other”. I just don’t believe that life ENDS when they do, but rather that it begins again, this time with a cast of two rather than a singleton - and because both are human it’s bound to get… interesting… at least sometimes. A happy ending isn’t a white gown and confetti and wedding cake - it’s “Darling, you snore, but I love you anyway”.

]]> By: cindy http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3768 cindy Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:08:29 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3768 i wanted to write a story about unrequited love. (with a fantastic journey thrown in, etc.) so it's not a happy ending. but i admit, i do like to read happy endings, not the sugary kind, but the kind where the characters suffered and worked hard for it--the kind that is deserved. i so like reading about two people finding and loving each other, it makes me wonder why i wrote about unrequited love. other than it's mostly what i know from my younger years. it resonates. great post, alma. i wanted to write a story about
unrequited love. (with a fantastic
journey thrown in, etc.) so it’s
not a happy ending.

but i admit, i do like to read happy
endings, not the sugary kind, but the
kind where the characters suffered
and worked hard for it–the kind that
is deserved.

i so like reading about two people
finding and loving each other, it makes
me wonder why i wrote about unrequited
love. other than it’s mostly what i know
from my younger years. it resonates.

great post, alma.

]]> By: Adam Heine http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3763 Adam Heine Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:25:09 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3763 My version of "happily ever after" is to end the stories with hope, but always with the possibility that it may be hope unrealized. They've defeated the villain, but they still have to live in the world - it's easier now, but still dangerous and who knows when another villain will raise his head? My short stories tend to end unhappily, though - more like the Twilight Zone. When you described "a pink land of smiling zombies", I imagined a Night-of-the-Living-Dead-style story with a decidedly unhappy ending. Though I guess you're right: it is a happy ending for the zombies. My version of “happily ever after” is to end the stories with hope, but always with the possibility that it may be hope unrealized. They’ve defeated the villain, but they still have to live in the world - it’s easier now, but still dangerous and who knows when another villain will raise his head?

My short stories tend to end unhappily, though - more like the Twilight Zone.

When you described “a pink land of smiling zombies”, I imagined a Night-of-the-Living-Dead-style story with a decidedly unhappy ending. Though I guess you’re right: it is a happy ending for the zombies.

]]> By: Phil http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3762 Phil Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:26:13 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3762 My stories end with a bang, not a whimper! This usually involves turn-of-the-century Colt firearms, run-away stage coaches and sticks of dynamite that sweat clear, lethal nitroglycerin! Few are left standing when all is said and done, and those that survive are usually dazed, face blackened supporting cast members, who pull on their mustachios and aver to each other that it never pays to attract the narrator's attention. My stories end with a bang, not a whimper! This usually involves turn-of-the-century Colt firearms, run-away stage coaches and sticks of dynamite that sweat clear, lethal nitroglycerin! Few are left standing when all is said and done, and those that survive are usually dazed, face blackened supporting cast members, who pull on their mustachios and aver to each other that it never pays to attract the narrator’s attention.

]]> By: Paul http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3761 Paul Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:37:44 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/10/05/how-stories-end/#comment-3761 I don't want happily ever after. What I do want in a story/novel I read is a universe where I can imagine the characters continuing to explore, learn and grow. A playground of the mind, to quote Larry Niven. "And it would be wrong to say that they lived happily ever after, for in truth no one ever lives happily ever after, and perhaps would not even want to. Suffice it to say that they lived well, and were equal to the challenges and difficulties that they faced." I don’t want happily ever after.

What I do want in a story/novel I read is a universe where I can imagine the characters continuing to explore, learn and grow. A playground of the mind, to quote Larry Niven.

“And it would be wrong to say that they lived happily ever after, for in truth no one ever lives happily ever after, and perhaps would not even want to. Suffice it to say that they lived well, and were equal to the challenges and difficulties that they faced.”

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