"All happy endings have consequences." I'll take it! I like happy endings, but this sentence can add a new dimension to it. Everything has a price, after all. Still, I am never sure how my stories will end. I just write and somehow my characters will lead me into the ending whether it is a happy ending or not.
Yup, I added that "All happy endings have consequences" as a temptation. In that one sentence, you have a title and a story idea. :-) And it lends itself naturally to psychological suspense. Run with it. :-)
I also got feedback from a reader that the horror of a scene was quite a lot. I did wonder for a time if I should pull back on the closeness, but another reader didn't say anything negative about the scene. My guess is that it was a matter of reader taste.
Also a part of the theme for the character going through horrors is clinging on to life and family even when things get really dark, and the short stories have a happy (for now) endings.
I feel that if the dark parts are less dark, it would make the light parts less bright.
This touches on something that I, as a reader, think is important to recognize: predictability begets boredom. I think everyone hopes for happy endings, but if nothing ever comes along to threaten that outcome I quickly lose interest. As a reader, I am captivated by the ups and downs, the cycles of suspense and relief that come from the roller-coaster of emotions a well-told story evokes.
Great point. Thanks, Russ. And you're right: predicability begets boredom. If the writer can 'think' through a scene, so can the reader. That's why it's important to convey the characters' story as authentically as possible.
"All happy endings have consequences." I'll take it! I like happy endings, but this sentence can add a new dimension to it. Everything has a price, after all. Still, I am never sure how my stories will end. I just write and somehow my characters will lead me into the ending whether it is a happy ending or not.
Cool Journal today, as always.
Thanks, Balázs.
Yup, I added that "All happy endings have consequences" as a temptation. In that one sentence, you have a title and a story idea. :-) And it lends itself naturally to psychological suspense. Run with it. :-)
I also got feedback from a reader that the horror of a scene was quite a lot. I did wonder for a time if I should pull back on the closeness, but another reader didn't say anything negative about the scene. My guess is that it was a matter of reader taste.
Also a part of the theme for the character going through horrors is clinging on to life and family even when things get really dark, and the short stories have a happy (for now) endings.
I feel that if the dark parts are less dark, it would make the light parts less bright.
"if the dark parts are less dark, it would make the light parts less bright"
Exactly, Emilia. And you can never go wrong if you just write what the characters give you, then present them as best you can.
This touches on something that I, as a reader, think is important to recognize: predictability begets boredom. I think everyone hopes for happy endings, but if nothing ever comes along to threaten that outcome I quickly lose interest. As a reader, I am captivated by the ups and downs, the cycles of suspense and relief that come from the roller-coaster of emotions a well-told story evokes.
Great point. Thanks, Russ. And you're right: predicability begets boredom. If the writer can 'think' through a scene, so can the reader. That's why it's important to convey the characters' story as authentically as possible.
Part of this post reminded me of a quote I heard once: "It doesn't take all kinds. There just are all kinds." <grin>
Excellennt point, Bob.