~~ the ending that wasn't quite
May. 16th, 2005 02:02 amThe oddest things can spoil a story for me these days. A happy ending is one of those, I think. You know the deal: tied up loose ends, prickly emotions calmed, misunderstandings all cleared up, satisfaction guaranteed, etc.
It seems most stories operate either that way or its opposite: lives ruined, love lost, hopes dashed, people dead and/or drowned in depression, and no end in sight. That's kind of annoying also, and also frustrating 'cause unless it's a very good writer, if the characters' lives appear to be a waste, the process of reading the story is also easily enough a waste to me.
Then there's the third popular ending: bittersweet. Where some of the protagonist's wishes are granted and some not, in unexpected ways, and we get to feel sorrow and satisfaction in semi-equal measure. Some important things are lost, but the price paid makes the precious things that remain all that much more special, and the life-lessons usually learned all that much more poignant and lasting. This is a type of ending I enjoy, but it still doesn't fulfill me entirely.
Upon reflection, I feel a bit like a freak, because I'm starting to think that my favorite ending is also the most rare for a reason: because most people don't like it. I don't know, am I? My favorite is the open ending: where the future is uncertain, there are a tantalizing few dangling plot-threads, and characters are still in the process of living-- bitter and sweet and most of all not finalized, really. There are some conclusions reached, but they're clearly either temporary or uncertain in nature; it's clear that some major event is just around the corner, and we have no more idea of precisely what it is or how it'll play out than the characters do. The story had reached a stopping point but not really an end; there's no more 'significant' sadness or happiness than at any other point in the story, though often some emotional revelation had occurred that throws the rest into a new light.
Most of all, I've realized it's how I end most of my stories; in fact, I'm really hard-pressed to think of any fic I'd ended definitively, and if there was one, it's usually 'cause I wasn't writing it in a linear manner to start with and it's more of an allegory of some sort (so the ending is more like a punch-line than anything).
And... well... most peoples' responses to these fics tend to be either "write more" or "what happens next?" It seems like their natural inclination is to wait until the story arrives somewhere definitively, whereas my own natural inclination is to feel hemmed in and frustrated by just such a conclusion. And basically, I've just read through several H/D fics in quick succession (for the Big Bang Challenge, teehee), and the ending that left me happiest was also the most ambiguous one, much moreso than the clearly upbeat one. Though, all right, I have to admit that with H/D in specific, I just feel rather amused at the idea that things will be 'okay' for them anytime soon & probably ever. Suffer, my pretties, suffer!!1 I like wanting more and wondering what happens afterwards at the end, and I like feeling that sense of possibility and future just like with life itself, and when it comes down to it, I like painful hope-in-spite-of-everything more than I like happiness itself, perhaps. I think that hope lasts more.
... Yeah, it's not an accident that my favorite H/D fic was long `A Brief Interval Before the Resumption of Play', which can be read as a brilliant example of how to end ambiguously and well. Somehow, the idea that they'll keep actively tormenting each other no matter what (not as in apathy or flatline depression) seems as romantic as anything to me.
It seems most stories operate either that way or its opposite: lives ruined, love lost, hopes dashed, people dead and/or drowned in depression, and no end in sight. That's kind of annoying also, and also frustrating 'cause unless it's a very good writer, if the characters' lives appear to be a waste, the process of reading the story is also easily enough a waste to me.
Then there's the third popular ending: bittersweet. Where some of the protagonist's wishes are granted and some not, in unexpected ways, and we get to feel sorrow and satisfaction in semi-equal measure. Some important things are lost, but the price paid makes the precious things that remain all that much more special, and the life-lessons usually learned all that much more poignant and lasting. This is a type of ending I enjoy, but it still doesn't fulfill me entirely.
Upon reflection, I feel a bit like a freak, because I'm starting to think that my favorite ending is also the most rare for a reason: because most people don't like it. I don't know, am I? My favorite is the open ending: where the future is uncertain, there are a tantalizing few dangling plot-threads, and characters are still in the process of living-- bitter and sweet and most of all not finalized, really. There are some conclusions reached, but they're clearly either temporary or uncertain in nature; it's clear that some major event is just around the corner, and we have no more idea of precisely what it is or how it'll play out than the characters do. The story had reached a stopping point but not really an end; there's no more 'significant' sadness or happiness than at any other point in the story, though often some emotional revelation had occurred that throws the rest into a new light.
Most of all, I've realized it's how I end most of my stories; in fact, I'm really hard-pressed to think of any fic I'd ended definitively, and if there was one, it's usually 'cause I wasn't writing it in a linear manner to start with and it's more of an allegory of some sort (so the ending is more like a punch-line than anything).
And... well... most peoples' responses to these fics tend to be either "write more" or "what happens next?" It seems like their natural inclination is to wait until the story arrives somewhere definitively, whereas my own natural inclination is to feel hemmed in and frustrated by just such a conclusion. And basically, I've just read through several H/D fics in quick succession (for the Big Bang Challenge, teehee), and the ending that left me happiest was also the most ambiguous one, much moreso than the clearly upbeat one. Though, all right, I have to admit that with H/D in specific, I just feel rather amused at the idea that things will be 'okay' for them anytime soon & probably ever. Suffer, my pretties, suffer!!1 I like wanting more and wondering what happens afterwards at the end, and I like feeling that sense of possibility and future just like with life itself, and when it comes down to it, I like painful hope-in-spite-of-everything more than I like happiness itself, perhaps. I think that hope lasts more.
... Yeah, it's not an accident that my favorite H/D fic was long `A Brief Interval Before the Resumption of Play', which can be read as a brilliant example of how to end ambiguously and well. Somehow, the idea that they'll keep actively tormenting each other no matter what (not as in apathy or flatline depression) seems as romantic as anything to me.
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