It’s that unfortunate George RR Martin tendency to take down stories with good endings that really rubs me wrong. His “What was Aragorn’s tax policy” rant was I think the thing that finally dropped the scales from my eyes. Some things we don’t NEED to know. There is a wellspring of hope and, dare I say, faith, that abounds from stories that end happily. Even the saddest ending ever of an innocent man nailed to a tree to die has an ultimate happy conclusion. We need to know that this world of suffering isn’t the end, and that there is, at the bottom of the box, hope.
Excellent essay. I've thought about it quite a bit as well, and it's the same reason why I won't write revenge (justice has been served) endings. It's much more difficult to write about the struggle of forgiveness and restoration. I'm not saying I haven't taken the easy road from time-to-time, but I'm usually left feeling unsatisfied. For a long while, I wanted to write a post-apocalyptic masterpiece like The Road, but I realized my vision would serve people's carnal desires and convince them there is absolutely no hope left. I simply don't believe that, which makes it all that much harder to write.
Call me a fool, but I've always believed that the best use of art is not to portray the Real, but to imagine and inspire the Ideal. So, Happy Endings all the way!
I despise unhappy endings. I realize that life is full of them but I deal with death and grief every day. Reading, writing, film, these are all the things I do to escape that reality. Not that I don’t like the struggles. As you said, that happy ending must be earned or it feels dishonest. And, the harder the struggle, the more heartfelt emotion it sets off at the end of those struggles. If it’s not at least a bittersweet ending it feels like a waste of time.
I didn't read The Road, but saw the movie. Depressing as hell, but the cast was amazing. And you had me at the picture/movie still from Shawshank, which is one of my favorite movies EVER.
I like happy endings well enough. What I'm finding about my writing, at least from what friends who have read my stuff are telling me, is that apparently I'm leaving them with 'What happens next? TELL ME MORE MORE MROE." I guess that's a good thing?
J.E.! Yes. A happy ending, well earned, is such a fantastic thing. Maybe the key is the way that art mimics life. What we define as happy may not be what we once thought. How we get there is pretty likely not all happiness along the way. And like you say, it’s damn hard to get there. :) thanks for this essay!
You write, "What will a person do whose heart is full of tragic endings?" I worry about this a lot, as more and more of the media that is produced seems to me to represent this too-clever-by-half cynicism you're describing.
I also find it weird, because the people who are most excited about tragic endings are compared to the global average pretty wealthy, and compared to the historic average people whose lives are going incredibly, impossibly great: You didn't have multiple siblings die in childhood? None of your own kids have died as babies? That's just freakishly good fortune, from the perspective of basically all of human history until, like, last week. And yet Team Tragedy pretends that they're the ones being "realistic."
I enjoyed this essay a lot Jordan. For all my skepticism and cynicism, I subscribe to this belief that happy endings are worth pursuing the stories we write. And you’re right when you say earning them is the hardest thing to do.
I like happy endings. I also like closing loops and resolving chords. Something I do without thinking as a writer is create people in my stories that I aspire to be like. And a lot of time it's because they're "more good" than me. They're not perfect. They're just always trying to be better. Which is why I think they earn their happy ends. And endings, depending on which book of mine you're reading. 😉
But why resist Nihilism when you can become one with it?
It’s that unfortunate George RR Martin tendency to take down stories with good endings that really rubs me wrong. His “What was Aragorn’s tax policy” rant was I think the thing that finally dropped the scales from my eyes. Some things we don’t NEED to know. There is a wellspring of hope and, dare I say, faith, that abounds from stories that end happily. Even the saddest ending ever of an innocent man nailed to a tree to die has an ultimate happy conclusion. We need to know that this world of suffering isn’t the end, and that there is, at the bottom of the box, hope.
Excellent essay. I've thought about it quite a bit as well, and it's the same reason why I won't write revenge (justice has been served) endings. It's much more difficult to write about the struggle of forgiveness and restoration. I'm not saying I haven't taken the easy road from time-to-time, but I'm usually left feeling unsatisfied. For a long while, I wanted to write a post-apocalyptic masterpiece like The Road, but I realized my vision would serve people's carnal desires and convince them there is absolutely no hope left. I simply don't believe that, which makes it all that much harder to write.
this is an interesting essay. i disagree with nearly all of it, but i'm glad i read it - lot to chew on. good read
Call me a fool, but I've always believed that the best use of art is not to portray the Real, but to imagine and inspire the Ideal. So, Happy Endings all the way!
Write that essay.
I despise unhappy endings. I realize that life is full of them but I deal with death and grief every day. Reading, writing, film, these are all the things I do to escape that reality. Not that I don’t like the struggles. As you said, that happy ending must be earned or it feels dishonest. And, the harder the struggle, the more heartfelt emotion it sets off at the end of those struggles. If it’s not at least a bittersweet ending it feels like a waste of time.
I didn't read The Road, but saw the movie. Depressing as hell, but the cast was amazing. And you had me at the picture/movie still from Shawshank, which is one of my favorite movies EVER.
I like happy endings well enough. What I'm finding about my writing, at least from what friends who have read my stuff are telling me, is that apparently I'm leaving them with 'What happens next? TELL ME MORE MORE MROE." I guess that's a good thing?
J.E.! Yes. A happy ending, well earned, is such a fantastic thing. Maybe the key is the way that art mimics life. What we define as happy may not be what we once thought. How we get there is pretty likely not all happiness along the way. And like you say, it’s damn hard to get there. :) thanks for this essay!
Great essay. Thank you very much for it.
You write, "What will a person do whose heart is full of tragic endings?" I worry about this a lot, as more and more of the media that is produced seems to me to represent this too-clever-by-half cynicism you're describing.
I also find it weird, because the people who are most excited about tragic endings are compared to the global average pretty wealthy, and compared to the historic average people whose lives are going incredibly, impossibly great: You didn't have multiple siblings die in childhood? None of your own kids have died as babies? That's just freakishly good fortune, from the perspective of basically all of human history until, like, last week. And yet Team Tragedy pretends that they're the ones being "realistic."
I enjoyed this essay a lot Jordan. For all my skepticism and cynicism, I subscribe to this belief that happy endings are worth pursuing the stories we write. And you’re right when you say earning them is the hardest thing to do.
I like happy endings. I also like closing loops and resolving chords. Something I do without thinking as a writer is create people in my stories that I aspire to be like. And a lot of time it's because they're "more good" than me. They're not perfect. They're just always trying to be better. Which is why I think they earn their happy ends. And endings, depending on which book of mine you're reading. 😉