Who deserves a "happily ever after..."

Éclairer · Dec 11, 2006

Does your main character deserve their happy ending? (Provided there is some amendment made for all the torture you subjected your MC to throughout the rest of the book.)

I'm struggling with my current main character. If someone went about telling a joke at her expense, I'd stick up for her, but does she actually deserve the happy ending? The guy? (No... it's not a romance.)

Anywho... I'm not used to working with females as main characters. I grew up reading adventure stories which are not only fronted almost exclusively by males, but entirely populated with them as well. 19th century British navy and all that...

Similar conundrums anyone?

IrishScribbler · Dec 11, 2006

For me, it's not a matter of whether or not my MC deserves her happy ending (she does), it's a matter of whether or not said happy ending would be believable in the context of all else she's been going through. And I haven't quite decided.

maddythemad · Dec 11, 2006

Absolutely not.

Éclairer · Dec 11, 2006

IrishScribbler said:
...it's a matter of whether or not said happy ending would be believable in the context of all else she's been going through. And I haven't quite decided.

I agree: the happy ending must first --above and beyond everything else-- be believable.

maddythemad · Dec 11, 2006

That was referring to my MC, btw, not in respone to anyone elses post.

Éclairer · Dec 11, 2006

maddythemad said:
Absolutely not.

No?

Chasing the Horizon · Dec 11, 2006

Oh, my main charactors absolutely deserve their happy ending. I'm not saying they're perfect or that they don't do bad things sometimes, in fact they bring a lot of the bad events on themselves. But they spend the entire story fighting to get/keep love and freedom. If they didn't end up happy, then the entire thing would be rather pointless and depressing.

That said, I like both reading and writing things where people get what they deserve in the end. Whether its HEA or a painful death or something in between.

Éclairer · Dec 11, 2006

Hope To The Horizon said:
I'm not saying they're perfect or that they don't do bad things sometimes, in fact they bring a lot of the bad events on themselves. But they spend the entire story fighting to get/keep love and freedom.

That's the crux of the issue. My character has a lot of stuff happen to her, but she doesn't really do anything; she doesn't take matters into her own hands. Which is probably why I don't particularly like her.

TrainofThought · Dec 11, 2006

Yes, my main character deserves her happy ending. She goes through enough in the story where all the bad finally makes the ending right. I’m pulling for her… oh yeah, I wrote her and she agrees.

Chasing the Horizon · Dec 11, 2006

Éclairer said:
That's the crux of the issue. My character has a lot of stuff happen to her, but she doesn't really do anything; she doesn't take matters into her own hands. Which is probably why I don't particularly like her.

I wouldn't like her much either. Personally, it annoys me to no end in stories when someone gets everything they want without having to fight.

If the ending doesn't feel right or fair to you, then change it. I went through four different endings on my current WIP before I finally came up with one that felt right.

sunandshadow · Dec 11, 2006

I think everyone deserves a happy ending unless they go out of their way to hurt others, so yes all my main characters deserve and get happy endings.

Willowmound · Dec 11, 2006

I don't care what a character 'deserves'. I write the ending that's right for the story.

Akuma · Dec 11, 2006

Willowmound said:
I don't care what a character 'deserves'. I write the ending that's right for the story.

Amen.

AdamH · Dec 11, 2006

Éclairer said:
That's the crux of the issue. My character has a lot of stuff happen to her, but she doesn't really do anything; she doesn't take matters into her own hands. Which is probably why I don't particularly like her.

She doesn't react in any way to these things happening to her? She just lets them go by and forgets about them? Interesting conundrum, Eclairer.

Maybe the issue is that she doesn't see the urgency of what's happening to her. There's no risk. In order for there to BE a happy ending, something in the story has to happen to her to contrast it. Would you recognize happiness if there was no sadness? Would you know what dark was if there was no such thing as light? I'm getting all philosophical, I'll back up a step, sorry.

What I'm trying to get at is that if she doesn't react, if there's no change in her character, there'll never be a happy ending, a sad ending, or anything. All there'd be would be an ending...akin to getting up in the morning, going to the same mundane job, coming back home, going to sleep...somedays you'll get a flat tire, other's you'll meet someone interesting...at the end of the day, it's still the same. (Which reminds me, I've got to go to my stupid job tomorrow :rant:

) Where's the interest in that?

Maybe if you push and push your MC to the point where she does snap (every character has a breaking point...if she doesn't, give her one...for fun). Then you might find something of interest about her.

Sage · Dec 11, 2006

Yeah, after all the Hell I put her through (sometimes literally), she deserved a little bit of happiness (even if she did do some bad things too). That and, without a little concession of happiness at the end, she'd probably go crazy in a month & destroy everyone.

maddythemad · Dec 11, 2006

Sometimes characters get things they don't deserve-- just like in real life.

pianoman5 · Dec 11, 2006

Éclairer said:
That's the crux of the issue. My character has a lot of stuff happen to her, but she doesn't really do anything; she doesn't take matters into her own hands. Which is probably why I don't particularly like her.

That's not a good place for a heroine to be in.

All kinds of attributes can make a character worthy of reader sympathy/empathy. There are the obvious ones like courage, kindness, generosity, stoicism, helpfulness, wit. Even flaws, such as vanity, selfishness, faithlessness and a tendency to take liberties with the truth may be perceived as endearing weaknesses if balanced by some positive virtues.

But the one thing that you can't get away with is passivity. As readers we hate that in a main character, because it's too much like real life for some folks. Maybe the Bible is right and the meek will some day inherit the earth; but we all know that by the time they take possession, the rich and the pushy in society will have stripped it of everything worth having.

Perhaps the reason you don't like your character is that she doesn't have much character?

The more traditional fictional journey is where an ordinary person is assailed by a succession of setbacks but somehow prevails in the end by dint of character, by making the most of their abilities, sometimes even requiring true grit.

Maybe you'd like your M/C better if you made her get up off her *ss and do something?

Kentuk · Dec 11, 2006

Forget about the character, does you audience deserve a happy ending? Does your genre demand it?
I disagree about happy endings having to be believable, they just have to be well executed. Of course I don't know how realistic or serious your story is.
If your question is really about the character then you might give her a sop, a measure of security, children or simply getting over the trauma of the story.

Éclairer · Dec 11, 2006

Hope To The Horizon said:
If the ending doesn't feel right or fair to you, then change it. I went through four different endings on my current WIP before I finally came up with one that felt right.

It's not the ending that needs changing; it's the rest of the book. *grins* I'm lookin' at a lot of work.

Angel~Of~Music · Dec 11, 2006

Kentuk said:
Forget about the character, does you audience deserve a happy ending? Does your genre demand it?
I disagree about happy endings having to be believable, they just have to be well executed. Of course I don't know how realistic or serious your story is.
If your question is really about the character then you might give her a sop, a measure of security, children or simply getting over the trauma of the story.

I'm with Kentuk on this one. If your writing a tradegy, and you have a happy ending, tis pointles, ne? It does also depend on the mood. Comedies usually have happy endings...Although Harry Potter doesn't, from what I've read so far.

It also kind of depends how attached you are to your M/C. Me, I get uber-attached to them. If there isn't at least one thing happy in the ending, I get mad with myself.

Éclairer · Dec 11, 2006

pianoman5 said:
That's not a good place for a heroine to be in.

No, it's not. Which is why it was finally brought to my attention.

But the one thing that you can't get away with is passivity. As readers we hate that in a main character, because it's too much like real life for some folks. Maybe the Bible is right and the meek will some day inherit the earth; but we all know that by the time they take possession, the rich and the pushy in society will have stripped it of everything worth having.

I agree; passivity is deplorable in a main character, unless for some point. As far as the Bible -- technically the earth would only be striped of those things that the rich and the pushy want.

Éclairer · Dec 11, 2006

Willowmound said:
I don't care what a character 'deserves'. I write the ending that's right for the story.

True. If a character does not 'deserve' their happy ending, then the happy ending does not suit the story, provided you're not making some kind of statement about the injustice in the world... or some other unpleasant subject.

NeuroFizz · Dec 12, 2006

Every story requires a resolution (I suppost there can be exceptions). This resolution should follow the track of the story and all of its complications. It can be a surprise ending, but that surprise has to be believable, and it's usually hinted at so it doesn't jolt the reader. The best surprise ending is one where the reader slaps his/her forehead and says, "I should have seen that coming." Does the resolution have to be happy? No. If it is a happy ending, it too must follow the trajectory of the story or the reader will be jolted.

janetbellinger · Dec 12, 2006

My ending has a character nearly die just because I couldn't bear to have a dog get killed.

C.bronco · Dec 12, 2006

Willowmound said:
I don't care what a character 'deserves'. I write the ending that's right for the story.

Yep. You have to ask if your propsed ending serves the purpose of the story. You are trying to communicate something through your story. What is it? Will happy or sad serve it better?

My MC gets half and half, a partial triumph and a partial failure.

Who deserves a "happily ever after..."

Éclairer

IrishScribbler

maddythemad

Éclairer

maddythemad

Éclairer

Chasing the Horizon

Blowing in the Wind

Éclairer

TrainofThought

A flowering bud of bitchiness

Chasing the Horizon

Blowing in the Wind

sunandshadow

Impractical Fantasy Animal

Willowmound

Lightly salted

Akuma

Rare Writer Pokemon

AdamH

Pumped Up Kicks

Sage

Our Lady of Parentheticals

maddythemad

pianoman5

Means well

Kentuk

I want to write what I want to write

Éclairer

Angel~Of~Music

Éclairer

Éclairer

NeuroFizz

The grad students did it

janetbellinger

C.bronco

I have plans...