Happily Ever After

[KanoasDestiny]

Should stories have happy endings?

 

[Jill]

I do prefer happy endings to be honest. I won't read a book or watch a movie if I know it's a heart breaker. Especially with a book, a sad ending will really leave me feeling depressed. I like the endings to feal realistic, but I also want them to end well for the main characters.

 

[Minimor]

Yes! I like books that have a happy ending.....and I always read the ending first, just to see.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

.....and I always read the ending first, just to see.

That's cheating!!! LOL! Alright, I've been known to do that too, especially if I'm worried a character may be killed off.

 

[SugaryCharm]

You must be an excellent teacher--you have quite a knack for making seemingly simple questions that really get me thinking

To address the question at hand: I think stories should have meaningful and/or satisfying endings which may or may not be entirely happy. I think the best endings elicit both positive and negative emotions. They answer your nagging questions and maybe even raise new ones. They leave you thinking for hours or days afterward.

I suppose that in certain light fare, it is reasonable to give the reader a 100% happy ending, but in most other situations such an ending would ring hollow. I think that to be truly meaningful and/or satisfying, a story's ending needs a little rain along with the sunshine.

I still don't feel like I've expressed myself that well, but I'm out of time for now...will be thinking about this for a while!

 

[susanne]

.

I totally agree with Sugary Charm.

I like my fiction to be realistic and truly satisfying -- not cloying. I don't enjoy viewing the world, fact or fiction, through rose-colored glasses.

It's a bit like food -- I love sweets, but too much makes me sick and I hunger for savory, varied flavors. Same with colors -- primary colors are okay for certain things, but I'm drawn to more complex, less saturated colors.

 

[MountainWoman]

I agree with SugaryCharm. I don't like forced happy endings in good, well written fiction. I like realism and that means not tying up everything in a pretty bow just to finish a story. Sometimes in the hands of a great author, it's good to have a cry and to think about life.

 

[ohmt]

I also like "real" endings. I loved the end to the Hunger Games series, but there are few I talk to that feel the same. I guess to me it WAS a happy ending and was so much more realistic than books normally are.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

I guess I'm a big baby. There are so many bad endings in real life, it's nice to be able to escape it for a while and live inside a world where I know there will be a happy ending. When I do read a book with a bad ending I never saw coming, it devastates me! At times, I'll cry over it for hours. Lol.

Thank you Sugary Charm. At times my students get rather irritated with me because I'm always asking them questions to make them think and work problems out for themselves, rather then giving them answers outright. Everytime I think of book-related questions, I save them on my phone to ask later, or sometimes I'll see others ask questions and I borrow them.

 

[SugaryCharm]

I also like "real" endings. I loved the end to the Hunger Games series, but there are few I talk to that feel the same. I guess to me it WAS a happy ending and was so much more realistic than books normally are.

You can add me to your list of people who loved the end to the Hunger Games series! Without bringing up any spoilers, I have heard a number of people who thought it should have been the "other" guy at the end, but I think the way Collins wrote it was very very satisfying.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

My dil and I had this discussion a few years ago. She enjoys a book with a poignant ending.

It depends on the author, but generally if I'm reading for pleasure I want a happy ending.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

Marsha, I love the gate in your avatar. Too cute! I used to work for a company and they raised buffalo on their property. The day I had to point the butcher to the poor 'meal', was the day I knew I had to give my notice. Not that I wasn't already going to, having to do that just made it a couple incidents sooner.

Not that I have anything against people butchering their animals. I just personally don't want to be a part of it, or have knowledge of it.

 

[Kim~Crayonboxminiatures]

Good question! I am all about the endings in books (and movies), if I am not sure I like the book the whole way through it, but then like the ending (the way it pulls it all together or wraps it up), I will say I liked the book. Bad ending, bad book! And they don't have to be happy endnings as others mentioned, but more of a real. Sometimes I like it when they leave things a bit unresolved, but other times I wish the author had finished more and not left so much hanging.

But I will admit that sometimes I need those easy to read books with the happy endnings! Sometimes I need it to help me out of a funk. Even when I'm rolling my eyes at the story as I go! I do not like really depressing books, even if the story is good or subject is hard hitting one. That's why I tend to read Young Adult fiction, they deal with some tough subjects, but it usually doens't get too heavy or depressing, but still says a lot and is meaningful.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Marsha, I love the gate in your avatar. Too cute! I used to work for a company and they raised buffalo on their property. The day I had to point the butcher to the poor 'meal', was the day I knew I had to give my notice. Not that I wasn't already going to, having to do that just made it a couple incidents sooner.

Not that I have anything against people butchering their animals. I just personally don't want to be a part of it, or have knowledge of it.

My son made the buffalo out of iron. I wanted one on another gate, facing the other direction, but he moved and hasn't set up his blacksmith shop yet.

That gate is low enough for me to step over. Does that tell you the size of Dapper Dan?

 

[chandab]

My son made the buffalo out of iron. I wanted one on another gate, facing the other direction, but he moved and hasn't set up his blacksmith shop yet.

That gate is low enough for me to step over. Does that tell you the size of Dapper Dan?

Wow. He really looks like a full-size horse in that picture, all nice and proportionate like a mini should be. [i know this is a mini forum, but I honestly thought the horse in your avatar was full-size.

]

 

[KanoasDestiny]

That gate is low enough for me to step over. Does that tell you the size of Dapper Dan?

Wow, how tall is he? I agree with Chanda, no way does he look that small!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Wow, how tall is he? I agree with Chanda, no way does he look that small!

Dapper Dan is 32". Can hardly believe he will be 16 this year. He thanks you for your flattering observations! One happy ending I'm hoping for is that he lives a long, long life with me. I save the newspaper clippings and thank you cards written to him. Perhaps someday I will write a story about him, and all the things he's taught me.