All Comments on 'Happy Endings'

by istanbulnoir

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AnnOnymousFantasiaAnnOnymousFantasiaalmost 15 years ago
Great observations

I'm always curious as to how everyone comes up with "happily ever after" in their stories, which is why I like your article so much. I mean, "I had sex with my mom, but it didn't destroy my family at all." Or, "I found out my wife was cheating, and was totally cool with it and wanted to join in." Then there's my favorite: "I was raped, but there were no serious physical or psychological recourse." Of course, this is all fantasy and authors can do what they want with their characters, but life isn't all fuzzy bunnies and sometimes I want to scream from the lack of reality invested in these stories. If I really wanted happily ever after all the time, I'd go get a trashy romance novel. (Maybe that's why I liked "Revenge of the Sith," when we all knew Anakin Skywalker was going to turn into Darth Vader.)

AnonymousAnonymousalmost 15 years ago
Interesting

and thought provoking, though you said nothing I hadn't thought about previously. It was the <i>way</i> in which you said it, the examples and the turn of phrase that were most stimulating. Thank you for a thoughtful essay. (Enjoyed with a cup of perfectly brewed Earl Grey tea). [An unnecessary detail, but one which adds a soupçon of interest to an ultimately uninteresting comment].

ejlsejlsover 14 years ago
Thank you

From someone who is just learning the process and has so many questions, thank you.

wantsomefun1951wantsomefun1951over 14 years ago
Thought-provoking

Everything you say makes perfect sense. But I think you miss one important point. There are many readers, I believe, on this and other sites, who don't have the sophistication to appreciate stories written the way you suggest, and many writers who lack the skills or honesty to provide them. That does not necessarily make them "bad" readers or "bad" writers. Some people like comic-book heroes, and some like comic-book heroes who have sex. I'm not sure that a feel-good story that makes people want to touch themselves is, by definition, bad. Sometimes people read (and write) for escape, and I believe escapism can, at times, require a happy ending. Those stories are seldom great literature, but not everyone can appreciate or create great literature. Those of us who can, don't always want to. If I seem like I'm trying to defend the mundane, I apologize. Banality irks me, but fun does not. All of that having been said, I now know that I must read your entire collection, and I must also re-examine my own writing. Thank you for making me think! It is something that is all too easy to not do.

AnonymousAnonymousover 14 years ago
Thoughts

I found this to be, Overall, Rather profound. However, I cant bring myself to agree with everything presented here.

For example, you present That stories should lack Depth Beyond the sexual reasoning. I find That fairly discouraging. Perhaps I want some nonsexual life situations, if only to know what we are comparing this other side too.

And while I certainly agree that a story based on a formula, with sex purely included in order to post to this site to be of little value, A happy ending is not An indication of such a thing. A Happy ending is also fairly subjective.. For instance, I find any ending that has Surviving characters to be fairly happy. Especially if they get almost anything out of the experience. (whatever that may be.)

Albeit, I will admit,, I have not read any of your stories just yet to see your ideals put to the test.

AnonymousAnonymousover 8 years ago
Adelchi Mancusi

fantastico, great story

SilenceDancesSilenceDancesalmost 8 years ago
This made me think

I am writing a story, and so far, none of the sex is problematic. Yet, in my life sex is rarely emotionally straightforward. I'll have to puzzle on this. Thank you.

AnonymousAnonymousover 1 year ago

Only happy endings. I have enough of troubles in my life to torture myself with more heartbreaks.

DarkAurther6969DarkAurther696911 months ago

Obviously you know nothing bout Day Time Soap Opera's the ones that I have seen have No 'Happy Endings' as you put it. If anything Day Time Soap Opera's are where anything Bad that Can and Well Most Likely Happen. As Every Episode always ends in some kind of Negative Cliffhanger to keep the Viewers coming back for more. Because I have a Gut Feeling the Bitch Lawyer wouldn't be going to Jail or the Nut House any time soon on Days Of Our Lives.

AnonymousAnonymous7 months ago

Fascinating takes you've presented here. As a fellow writer, I've only considered in part (and not much, admittedly!) your points. I don't post my writing anymore, but comparing it to the 'soap opera plot' you mention, I assume it wouldn't quite appeal to you anyway ^^' I myself find it gets very cheesy at points; it's for comfort. Only recently have I been delving into darker, deeper aspects of plot and how characters' experiences affect them.

You mention that sex doesn't just leave the relieving sense of catharsis; that there's a darker side to it, including that it should prompt the characters to discover and ponder on unanswered questions. This, I definitely had not thought much on before. I wouldn't know what questions those would be, nor have I made much attempt at addressing such questions in my own writing - probably because it tends to lean very much in the realm of wish fulfillment, with more of a gritty edge to it as time has passed and my tastes, interests, and experiences have changed, but it's still wish fulfillment. And maybe that makes my writing shallow. At the same time, though, this piece has prompted me to think on how much more thrilling the ambiguous ending you like in pieces is, that there's something unsettling after the encounter for both partners, whether it's disgust, provoking tension, morbid curiosity, their eyes opening more on themselves, or reaching into the existential, or all of the above somehow.

My writing explores the emotional, into characters' thoughts and feelings, and thus most of if not all the sex within it is rooted in emotion. How most of it ends is precisely why I say you may not like my writing: usually, whatever tension existed before the sex is resolved, either through the encounter or after it. It goes back to the wish fulfillment that I implement to probably higher of a degree than even I'm aware of. It might not make readers think as much as if there were unresolved tension lingering in the end, but that's because I write almost entirely for myself. That, I appreciate that you encourage, and I completely agree. To write for yourself is writing at its most honest, its most raw. That in itself deserves some appreciation. :-)

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Eroticism, it may be said, is assenting to life up to the point of death. Georges Bataille. I like to write about the unusual in the usual and the strange in the ordinary. Those are the places where the truth of the erotic is to be found. I write from experience, fantasy a...