There are plenty of ways to end a story. Horror stories frequently end poorly, with the looming threat either regrouping in another location or winning outright. Some stories, especially true stories, may end on a sad or downbeat note, such as the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? But the most common type of ending to a story is the happy ending - the ending where everything turns out all right. I've always liked happy endings, and I gravitate towards them when writing. What is it about them that makes me want them?
One important thing about the happy ending is that most or all of the characters get what they deserve. The heroes are rewarded, the villains are jailed, killed, or otherwise dealt with, and there's a bright future ahead. I have always had a strong sense of truth and equality, so it's important to me that justice is served.
And that's another thing - why is it so important that justice be served when the story is fictional? Easy - another one of my reasons for wanting a happy ending is that I tend to get attached to the story's characters. I have a vivid imagination, and when I read a book I see characters interacting in my mind's eye. My imagination will frequently make things interesting by making the characters into other characters I've seen in movies, cartoons, video games, and so on. It will latch on to certain names or details and craft characters around them from other areas of pop culture, no matter how ridiculous the result is. As an example, I once read a book with a character whose last name was Webber. For some reason my mind went on the following path: Webber > webbed feet > ducks > Daffy Duck. The character was then Daffy Duck, no matter how hard I may have wished he wasn't. That is the sort of imagination I deal with when I read.
So anyway, the point of this is that I'm left with a crazy lineup of characters from both my childhood and recent years interacting every time I read a book - some making more sense than others. But this process has not only allowed the characters to come to life in my mind's eye, it also makes them more endearing and interesting. I grow attached to the characters as they interact throughout the book, and if things end badly for them I tend to get a little upset. I may cry, if it was a hard-hitting enough event.
Now, I talk about all this because I have encountered two books in particular that stuck out at me for being interesting, entertaining, and great reads - until the closing chapters, whereupon they twisted into unhappy endings that completely ruined the entire story for me. I'm going to be spoiling both books' endings, so if anyone here happens to be reading these books, don't finish the paragraphs!
The first book was one I read in class for high school, and I no longer remember the name. It was about a large group of dignitaries from all over the world meeting at a single mansion. The mansion was then taken over by terrorists and all the dignitaries (plus a female singer who was there to perform for them) were taken as hostages. Over the course of the book the hostages and terrorists begin to see eye to eye with each other. They form friendships, and when a couple of the terrorists are found to be female, love even begins to blossom. And then... a SWAT team storms the mansion and kills every single one of the terrorists. And I had really been enjoying it, too, hoping that these teenage soldiers who had never known happiness could be turned around, brought back from the brink, and escape or survive the story. But no. Instead, the story ended with the unceremonious killing off of half the cast, taking away all of the most sympathetic characters and with it, my interest.
The second book was found several years ago at a yard sale. Titled Warriors, it's about a middle-aged former fighter pilot getting called back into service for one last war. Along the way he winds up falling in love with a woman around his age. Their romance grows, and the fighting sequences were exciting. But then, halfway though the story, the woman is murdered by the opposing army when a soldier breaks in and shoots her to death while she's taking a bath. The story took a hit here, but I kept reading... until the final battle ends with the dropping of a tactical nuke, killing the main character as well. The story ends with his goofy best friend (who was also recommissioned) being the most important character to have survived the events of the story. Again, the author thought I would still enjoy the book if all of the most interesting and likable characters were slaughtered. And he was wrong. A bad ending can ruin an entire story for me, and so it was with Warriors, which I bitterly shelved after finishing it, never to read it again, my opinion of it forever poisoned by the terrible ending.
Like many people, I read books and watch movies to "escape" into a fantasy world where I can look into the lives of heroes, villains, and everyday folks as they take on challenges and try to come out on top of each other's plans. That is why I like the happy ending - it is cathartic, it is pleasing, it is what I came for. I know the importance of heroes overcoming difficulties and dealing with setbacks, but if they don't triumph in the end it leaves me wondering what the point was.
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