What Is One Thing All Your Stories Have In Common?

[defaux]

Melancholy.

I have realised, literally just tonight, that I don't write happy endings. At all. At best my stories end ambiguously, but more often they are sad.

I spent the evening practicing writing with a positive inflection, just to see if I could.

 

[Altani]

Melancholy.

I have realised, literally just tonight, that I don't write happy endings. At all. At best my stories end ambiguously, but more often they are sad.

I spent the evening practicing writing with a positive inflection, just to see if I could.

Yeah, I mean, I’ve been contemplating how I want to end my series I’ve been writing a long time, and I think the ending is going to end up being bittersweet. Like, you kind of win, but you kind of lose, too, because that’s how life is.

 

[defaux]

I keep circling back to this thread, but I feel like I have just had an epiphany. It's something so obvious that has been right in front of me, I just haven't seen it until now.

I don't write antagonists. So how do I create conflict? My protagonists usually—possibly always—confront various aspects of themselves. They are their own antagonist, often unwittingly playing both roles.

Perhaps this is why I find it challenging to write happy endings. How do you win when you are yourself the greatest challenge? What does victory look like when it necessarily also means defeat?

 

[Homer Potvin]

I keep circling back to this thread, but I feel like I have just had an epiphany. It's something so obvious that has been right in front of me, I just haven't seen it until now.

I don't write antagonists. So how do I create conflict? My protagonists usually—possibly always—confront various aspects of themselves. They are their own antagonist, often unwittingly playing both roles.

Perhaps this is why I find it challenging to write happy endings. How do you win when you are yourself the greatest challenge? What does victory look like when it necessarily also means defeat?

Person vs themselves... or man vs himself, as we were taught in the 90s. It's a fundamental conflict in all literature and one of the oldest archetypes, so you're fine there.

 

[Naomasa298]

I wrote an unambiguously happy ending once.

I promise not to do it again.

Although seriously, the editor asked me to make it even more upbeat and happy.