On our plot skeleton, the legs represented two reactions to all the protagonist had gone through. We see many novel, movies, television shows that have a negative or "no change" ending. The author if asked would probably say they prefer to be a realist. Things aren't always Polyannaish. Right? I mean we live in a real world they might add.
Now here is my moral question for you all. I understand we won't all agree, but I want to hear what you think. Is it our moral duty to end with a positive happy ending? Think about it and give your answers plus reason why.
I look forward to hearing your answers,
Dan
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Dan and fellow writers,
ReplyDeleteI think this is an awesome question. I am not privy to the “skeleton” model, but I think I understand the question.
I looked at my first draft of Bo Wulf and read the original ending. Here it is:
She scoffed, “You have no way of knowing what really happened there.”
James smiled warmly at her, “I did not know Jesus before that day. And I did not know what possessed Zev.” His smile broadened, “But this I do know. Every man in that room was saved that day.”
That final line was very important to me. So much so that I used it in my proposal. Les Stobe complained that I over spiritualized the ending and that my personal adult conversion influenced what I wrote. Fair enough. So I changed it to this:
She scoffed, “You have no way of knowing what really happened there.”
James smiled warmly at her, “Maybe.” His smile broadened, “But I know what I saw that day.”
Far more mild, and I probably won’t leave it like that either. But my goal, was that I wanted to leave a lingering spiritual aftertaste in the readers eyes. The question (and I paraphrase) is if we have amoral obligation to leave the reader with a happy ending. I don’t think we do. I think we have the moral obligation to leave the reader affected. You can affect someone by having the protagonist go to hell. To give someone a character they identify with, fall in love with, care about and for that character to suffer the consequences of poor decisions: that can create an emotion of change.
If my ending makes someone go, “Whoa. Am I right with God?” Then I have not squandered my gifts.
Just my opinion. And like Denis Miller, I could be wrong.
Fred
Good morning, everyone...
ReplyDeleteInteresting question, Dan. I'd offer this to chime in - as a romance writer - ahem...
We have the opportunity to point our readers to Happily Ever After (HEA) or Happy For Now (HFN). If you think about it like life, it's kind of like the half-empty, half-full feeling.
Be it romantic love, love of friends, or love of our Savior - without the happily ever after...to me is completely unfulfilling.
I think it totally depends on your subject matter. Fred is the action writer of our bunch, so I defer to his wisdom in that regard, but for me - I am a huge fan of HEA - Providing a nice tidy bow for my lead characters. I want to know in my soul that they are happy, forever, being soul-mates, friends, partners and lovers, and share a joint-love of the Lord.
Some messagese leave you wondering - asking questions; others gently remind how great is the love of our Savior. Both are valid, and have their place. It's up to the author to know which is the one to end your story with. Just bear in mind your audience, and how you want them to feel at the end. Fulfilled? or needing to be filled?