What are happy endings?

Kristiina · Dec 11, 2010

There seem to be fairly often these discussions whether people prefer stories with happy endings or depressing, upbeat or dismal.

Depressing is perhaps a bit easier to define, but what do think of as happy, or upbeat? I just realized that for me that mostly means something like justice served, bad guys get at least some sort of punishment and good guys at least some sort of reward - gets a bit more interesting if there are bad guys you end up liking or upstanding characters you find irritating enough that you'd want them to be whacked, but on general terms it's that. How about you guys?

Ken · Dec 11, 2010

... for me, I think of a couple overcoming hurdles and getting hitched like Cinderella and the Prince. There's an acronym I've seen used in the Romance Forum for this sort of ending: "HEA," I think, standing for Happily Ever After. I like this sort of ending, so long as it suits the story as in ones by Jane Austen. Bleak endings are fine as well. I've enjoyed many novels which had such. So I guess I enjoy both.

Fillanzea · Dec 11, 2010

The people we like get things that make them happy; values that we want to affirm are affirmed.

(The hero's happiness is not achieved through government brainwashing; the fresh-faced young MBA confronted with the malfeasance of his own corporation doesn't buy a BMW and say "Screw it"; the workaholic suddenly saddled with custody of rambunctious children doesn't finally succeed in getting rid of them and happily return to his own workaholism.)

Our heroes must make the decisions they make at the end not out of desperation or resignation, but out of having grown as human beings.

Devil Ledbetter · Dec 11, 2010

I don't think in terms of happy or sad endings. I think in terms of satisfying or unsatisfying endings. I want a satisfying ending. To me, that's an ending that fits the story, is achieved via the effort and will of the protagonist, yet is somehow unexpected.

Not the easiest thing to pull off, but nobody ever said writing a good ending was easy.

dangerousbill · Dec 11, 2010

Kristiina said:
Depressing is perhaps a bit easier to define, but what do think of as happy, or upbeat? I just realized that for me that mostly means something like justice served, bad guys get at least some sort of punishment and good guys at least some sort of reward

An English professor I once had described the resolution of a story as 'the restoration of order' -- this includes both happy and unhappy endings.

The ultimate restorations of order are
- marriage, in romance novels
- justice served and preserved, or established
- peace achieved
- life saved or preserved, or ended in dignity
etc

More and more romance houses are accommodating themselves to changing social norms by distinguishing between the HEA and the HFN, the 'happy for now' ending. Many are accepting the latter.

maestrowork · Dec 11, 2010

The story should be unpredictable. Out of which the ending should be expected.

meaning, the ending should be organic to the story being told and should be satisfying in such context. If you're writing a romance, the twists and turns should be interesting and unpredictable, but the HEA ending is expected. If you're writing a mystery, the whodunit should be unpredictable, but the ending, where the detective finds the murderer, should be expected. If you're writing a hero's journey, the journey should be unpredictable, but by the end the hero should have resolution and growth -- yes, even if he dies. That is to be expected. A Deus ex machina breaks that contract, even if it offers a "happy ending."

Three Fish · Dec 11, 2010

I think a happy ending is the resolution of conflict. If the writer's done a good job, the conflict will grow throughout the book, so it's that much more satisfying when it gets resolved. For me, a happy ending doesn't necessarily means a bunch of amazing stuff happens (ZOMMGGGG HE GOT A FAST CAR, A BEAUTIFUL GIRL, AND WON THE LOTTERY) - sometimes it can be as simple as preventing something bad from happening, or finally killing a nasty character.

Libbie · Dec 11, 2010

All of the main character's problems are solved in the way he or she would prefer to have them solved.

maestrowork · Dec 11, 2010

Going by KatieMac's 3 questions for queries:

1. Who is the MC and what does he/she wants?
2. What is the MC going to do to get it?
3. What happens if the MC fails? What are the stakes?

I think if you think of a "happy ending" in that context, then it would be that #3 doesn't happen, but #2 does. The specifics are not the issue here -- the MC could have died or she may have lost everything else in the process. But the "happy ending" should resolve these core questions and deliver #2 in a meaningful way and reject #3.

leahzero · Dec 11, 2010

There's a bit of genre dependence in the definition of "happy ending."

In a HEA romance, a "happy ending" is unambiguously clear (no pun intended

). But what about in a thriller or horror novel, which often have a high body count by the end and an implication of years of serious therapy for the survivors?

The genre, for better or worse, sets certain expectations.

COchick · Dec 11, 2010

When I think of happy endings, I usually think every character in the book has been satisfied, the couple is together, the bad guy is locked up, etc. Order has been restored.

But I think some of the best endings are necessarily "happy", but fitting for the book. At the end of a book I want to feel "Ahhhh, that's the stuff" not "WTF?"

Ruv Draba · Dec 11, 2010

My answer is similar to Libbie's:

In a happy ending, sympathetic characters get what they need, though not necessarily what they want.

It isn't necessarily the viewpoint character that determines a happy ending, because the viewpoint character isn't always sympathetic.

kaitie · Dec 11, 2010

I think for me a happy ending is when the characters I like and enjoy get to go on and have a happy, good life in spite of what may have occurred. Though, I do admit that I get kind of annoyed sometimes in thrillers and what not when someone goes through something horribly traumatizing and then the ending is very HEA. I always find it a big disingenuous.

But yeah, I know that for me a good happy ending is one that makes me feel all cuddly and warm and fuzzy inside. Wow, I'm sounding so cheesy today, but it's true. Sometimes, I'll read a happy ending that isn't satisfying. A recent Dean Koontz book did this to me. It had this nice happy ending where everyone was great, and all I could think was there is no way you could go through this stuff so unscathed. I've read books where couples get together that I don't want together, and that is kind of annoying for me. :tongue

So yeah, for me a happy ending in the most literal sense is just anything that ends well and everything is tied up neatly and the good guys get to go home happy, but a *good* happy ending is one where I'm left with that fluffy squishy feeling that leaves me grinning like an idiot.

EnitaMeadows · Aug 27, 2011

For me, happy endings are different than fairy tale endings. I like happy endings. Fairy tale endings, not so much. A happy ending to me is something that provides some sort of settling closure, a resolve to the problem that isn't a tragedy or something of that sort. However, I'm just as keen on tragedy and unhappy/depressing endings and whatnot, as long as they're delivered well. Fairy tale endings, on the other hand, are too..."too good to be true" for my taste, so I tend to shy away from both writing and reading these kinds of stories....

dangerousbill · Aug 28, 2011

Kristiina said:
Depressing is perhaps a bit easier to define, but what do think of as happy, or upbeat?

A good story involves a social disturbance of some kind. A criminal act, an adulterous affair, a broken agreement.

A happy ending is the restoration of the social order. Marriage is the ultimate act of social order, and figures prominently in the pantheon of happy endings. The bad guys going to jail or being reformed also contributes to a happy ending.

Happy endings are culture-sensitive, too. In some warrior cultures, a happy ending might be where the hero kills his foe and runs off with the woman. Whether she's willing or not may never be an issue.

GFanthome · Aug 28, 2011

For me, if an ending really works, it makes me happy. So to me, that is what in essence, defines a "happy ending".

I have read so many novels with terrible endings and I feel so ripped off that I spend that much time and effort on the book, only to find the author didn't have a clue how to wrap things up well, either in a depressing or upbeat way. Matters not.

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Belle_91 · Aug 28, 2011

Has anyone seen the musical Into the Woods? If you haven't you should. Anyways, whenever I read the term, "happily ever after" I think of the finale song.

In that musical, at the end of the closing act, it fits the HEA, but not in the way you except. Cinderella has left her Prince, the Baker's Wife died, and Jack and Little Red have to make it on their own. However, after expirancing all of their hardships, the four main characters have a "happy" ending. It wasn't expected, and they expiranced some lost, but it fit the story.

bearilou · Aug 28, 2011

I define happy endings by what they are not, to me. They are not depressing. They are not dark. They are not hopeless. They are not filled with regret or longing or loss.

seawitch · Aug 28, 2011

Might be a bit of a tangent, but I generally don't like endings where everything gets resolved, villains defeated, crisis averted... everyone is happy happy... and the MC is all "I would never be the same again" and is secretly jaded and on another level entirely than everyone else in their world. Like they're the only ones affected in their world and everyone else is a shallow twit who couldn't possibly understand that what they went through was traumatic. Either make it all unhappy or make it happy for everyone. Just my grumpy grumble for today, I have a cold and headache and I'm not nice or forgiving. I'm sure I'll change my mind tomorrow and be more tolerant of mixed endings.

Tedashii · Aug 28, 2011

I haven't really even thought of it. I mostly write humorous stories, so there's nearly always a happy ending.

Well, to me, a happy ending is where tragedy doesn't happen. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's one or the other. A happy ending in that definition could mean the MC killing the villain. That's not really happy, in a correct definition. A real happy ending is, and I quote, "where it all works out in the end."

Not a real good definition, but hey. I'm tired.

dangerousbill · Aug 28, 2011

bearilou said:
I define happy endings by what they are not, to me. They are not depressing. They are not dark. They are not hopeless. They are not filled with regret or longing or loss.

That doesn't work for me. There has to be something positive in there, too. Otherwise, it just ends, 1960s existential-style.

WriteStarfish · Aug 28, 2011

To me, a happy ending is when this question can be answered with a "yes": Have the main character/s been changed in such a way that, whatever they've been through or had to overcome, they will now have a positive future outcome?

dangerousbill · Aug 28, 2011

seawitch said:
Might be a bit of a tangent, but I generally don't like endings where everything gets resolved, villains defeated, crisis averted...

It's not necessary to wind up everything. In one of my three favorite novels (of mine), I leave the hero at the end finally having his love reciprocated, but waiting on a likely diagnosis of lung cancer and the possibility of going to jail. Nobody's complained about the ending so far.

But in some genres, it's unusual for a story not to be fully resolved, eg, category romance.

bearilou · Aug 28, 2011

dangerousbill said:
That doesn't work for me. There has to be something positive in there, too. Otherwise, it just ends, 1960s existential-style.

I'll take a 'it just ends' over the crushing angst of the character's existence with the worst resolutions possible that makes me wonder why the hell they even tried in the first place.

seawitch · Aug 28, 2011

dangerousbill said:
It's not necessary to wind up everything. In one of my three favorite novels (of mine), I leave the hero at the end finally having his love reciprocated, but waiting on a likely diagnosis of lung cancer and the possibility of going to jail. Nobody's complained about the ending so far.

It's quite likely you made it work (esp since no one complained) but that would probably make me grumble a little... Real life is messy enough, no way to wrap our issues up neatly, typically, so I love novels that do end up tying loose ends up. It just makes me happy when I close the book - even if the ending isn't "happy" I still want to be satisfied with a definitive end.

For years people debated whether they wanted the heroine of a story to die at the end of a particular series, and a lot of people said that even though it would be sad, they did want her to die, just so they could know how it ended and not be left wondering.

In some cases I think authors might even end prematurely just to not offend any one of the readers. Will Ethel end up with Roger or Jorge? We don't know! She doesn't know! How crazy! Everyone can imagine their fav wins! Awesome! Etc.

I see it a lot in YA as well - I get super annoyed if it seems like a new conflict is introduced at the last minute just so the sequel can drop off it.

Going off tangent a little (don't I typically?) I thought it was interesting how the American editors (as opposed to the British ones) of Clockwork Orange felt they wanted to leave the last chapter out, and the author was quite annoyed by it. The movie ends without the original resolution as well. He insisted that on a reprint the full last chapter be allowed as well. I wonder how much of endings are editorial decisions? Did anyone experience an editor who wanted to change an ending?

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