Downbeat Endings and YA

[Momento Mori]

This is just something that's occured to me as I work on my WIP. Under my structure, the book finishes in a pretty downbeat way - i.e. whilst the story's completed, it's clear that the main characters aren't going to get it together, the good guys have actually lost and have split up and my heroine's life is under threat.

Part of the reason is that I want to leave the way open for a sequel (you know, for the "inevitable" two book deal that will bring me untold riches and something ... ;)) but also because I've always had a soft spot for darker endings (I blame Empire Strikes Back). However, even in books planned as trilogies or series, downbeat endings don't seem to be par for the course (although interestingly, open endings do seem to be quite comment).

Anyway, I was just interested in knowing what people here thought about downbeat endings in general and whether they were appropriate (or completely and utterly inappropriate!) for YA fiction.

MM

[Just Me]

I guess it depends. Personally, if I read the first book in a series and things ended on hopeless note, I'm not sure how eager I'd be to read the next one. I kind of expect it in later books, though, as long as the last one wraps things up well.

Sad, disturbing or bittersweet endings are a different matter. One of my all-time favorite novel endings is for Ender's Game. Although it's beautiful and very powerful, you really can't call it happy. And my favorite book of all time is 1984.

~JM.

[ishtar'sgate]

Under my structure, the book finishes in a pretty downbeat way - i.e. whilst the story's completed, it's clear that the main characters aren't going to get it together, the good guys have actually lost and have split up and my heroine's life is under threat.

Anyway, I was just interested in knowing what people here thought about downbeat endings in general and whether they were appropriate (or completely and utterly inappropriate!) for YA fiction.

MM
I'm not a big fan of books that end on a hopeless note and don't know that I'd read another book in the series because I'd expect the same thing from the second book. For me, reading is escapist entertainment - it takes me away from the stresses and problems in my own life. I don't mind if the characters have horrific obstacles to overcome but I want to feel they've won, probably because in real life we don't always win and I like to enjoy a good vicarious victory!:)
Linnea

[Aslera]

You don't want to end it on a hopeless note, I don't think. I think you can end it on a downturn, saying "Things haven't gotten better, things have gotten worse" but I think there should be foreshadowing or some sort of thing where the reader goes "There's a chance! MC might survive and you know what, she might end up doing and getting and finding exactly what she wanted! When's the sequel's release date?" But if you end with no hope, none of that at all, then the reader will feel let down and not hopeful for the next book.

And I think if you do that, you have to make sure that you have a sketch of a sequel.

How would an agent react to that? I have no idea but that would worry me a bit if I didn't have a sequel well sketched out

[Carrie R.]

I think as long as the story arc is complete and the character has grown, it's not necessarily a terrible thing to end on a down note. It depends on what the story calls for. I have tons of terrible stuff happen at the end of mine, but I actually still end on a more upbeat note (there's still hope which is a big theme in the book). I think readers like to think that the characters they've grown to love can muster on.

However, I'm not sure I'd end on a down note just to open up the possibility of a sequal. I know someone who just sold and while she was revising her agent basically said "I know you're leaving this ending ambiguous because you want the option of a second book, don't do that. Make this book stand on it's own, bring it full resolution." I'd agree with that.

Plus, you don't even have to have a second book planned in order to get that two book deal. I got a two book deal and didn't submit anything about a second book -- no synopsis, no ideas, no nothing. It's just "Untitled YA Book 2" in my contract and it can be anything. The funny thing is I even *had* and idea for the second book (a sequal) but they didn't care. And of course, now I'm writing something totally different for book 2 so I'm glad I didn't box myself in. I'm not saying that's the norm -- I have no idea what is the norm -- I'm just saying it happens :)

[speirbhean]

One of my favorite YA/childrens' series are the Emily of New Moon books, but I always felt the last book, Emily's Quest had its happy ending 'tacked on'. My romantic 14 year old soul would have left it hanging at the second last chapter...
But I always like to have some sort of hope or positive note at the end of a book, even if its not a classic 'living happily ever after'. You can be heading out to face the nasties again, but at least have your shoulders braced for battle...

[brainstrains]

I'd like to think that great endings put characters in a better place (mentally or physically) than where they were before, or at least implant the hope that they CAN be in a better place, after the story ends.

[Maryn]

Au contraire, in some cases. Our daughter's very, very favorite book as a teen was The Girl in the Box largely because of its down ending. By her tweens, she was already highly annoyed by the YA market's insistence on happy endings. Life doesn't always come with happy endings, and she was downright gleeful when Ms. Sebastian wrote one that was deliciously dark.

In a way, YA's endless upbeat endings propelled her into reading adult fiction, so I guess it's a good thing. But please, don't be afraid to let your book come to a close on a down note. For every two kids who'll be sad because it didn't end with pink hearts and butterflies, there's one kid (probably in a T-shirt featuring a skull) who loves that the unnatural happy ending wasn't tacked on.

Maryn, who recommends this YA book highly

[sharpierae]

Yeah, tacked on happy endings are no good. But I would feel cheated if an ending felt unresolved just to allow the chance for a sequel, and even published books in a series tend to work as stand alone books. Both the books in the Uglies trilogies ended on down notes, but were satisfying and complete.

xxxrae

[eyeblink]

In the fantasy novel I recently completed in draft, my protagonist is sentenced to death by hanging for murder. There are sound reasons why she might go defiantly to the gallows, not least the fact that she did kill the two men in question, though a more sympathetic trial than the one she receives would call it manslaughter. And as reincarnation is part of her belief system, such an ending could make sense - she could die and be reborn, and come back in a sequel fifteen years or so later. I'll keep to myself what I decided though!

As the Ancient Greeks and Shakespeare knew, there's nothing wrong with tragedy. If it's done properly it's not depressing but cathartic.

[Danger Jane]

I'm a fan of the bittersweet ending, because I see life as good and bad...so why should endings and resolutions be any different?

(No skull t shirts, but I have a sweatshirt with a skeletal system printed on it.)

[TurkeyLurkey]

If the ending pulls the story together, and provides important meaning to the theme, or has an important impact, then I think it is great. But I am not at all crazy about the ones that are downbeat during the entire story, just to end on the same downbeat. (I don't feel that being depressed is entertaining.)

[Sage]

I love a good bittersweet ending

[eyeblink]

Sharpierae mentioned Scott Westerfeld's Uglies trilogy. His Midnighters trilogy has an ending which I'd certainly call bittersweet. But it worked.

[mara_jade3]

Just jumping in here... My novel ends on a sad note, but I leave it where the reader knows that the MC is not going to give up. So it shows there will be a sequel. I tend to like sad stories, though, but for the majority who don't, I had to give hope.

[Hopcus]

Wow. This really made me think about the note my book ends on. Good question!

[Danthia]

I think there's a difference between downbeat and losing. I like to see my protags win whatever they were after, even if the ending isn't happy. One of my favorite books, "Life As We Knew It" ends (I won't give it away) with a situation where the protag could live or die, and you're okay with either. If she lives, you're happy, but if she dies, it's okay because she's made this amazing personal growth throughout the story and her dying is truly honorbale.

My agent actually told me to make the ending of my YA novel darker. It was too "happyily ever after" based on what had happened to get to the end of the story. It now ends fairly downbeat as a whole, but the heroine wins what she was after all along. Life still sucks for her, but she has what matters most. It's satisfying, even if it's not happy.