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WARNING Self-involved Ranting WARNING

Happily Ever After

I am joyfully returned from my holiday to Mexico. I will speak of this in the next Status post, which shouldn’t be far off. But, for now, a thought.

Am I the only one who dislikes ‘happily ever after’? Not necessarily the ‘happy’ part – lord knows we torture our characters enough for them to occasionally deserve it – but the finality of it. The end. And that’s it. Like ending a world, as well as the bit of that world’s story you’ve been sharing. I don’t like the neatly tied endings, endings cut with scissors, the ‘there’s nothing more to see here, people’ endings.

Sorry, I should probably clarify what I mean, maybe explain myself a tiny bit better.

I finished the Stephenie Meyer ‘Twilight’ series of books earlier and, despite a bit of wavering on the final volume in places, ended up enjoying it. But the last line, the one before ‘the end’ (which I dislike anyway – the end of what? Life won’t end with a ‘the end’, why should these snippets of it?), made me think about story endings. I don’t like ‘happily ever after’ because it is, fundamentally, like denying the characters further rights to live or make choices. At some point characters – and I know this isn’t just me, it’s commented on by writers way too much – gain a life of their own, you’ve lovingly created an entire world around them, nurtured, tormented, hurt and shown them love- so why qualify the rest of their lives in one piss-poor sentence?

I might be just crazy from jet lag, but for some reason thinking about this while I was cleaning the kitchen and suchlike really bugged me. I’m not saying those horrible trail-off endings are the way to go – perish the thought! – but I like endings to have some sense of continuance, some sense that the world will keep on rolling despite what has happened in the story itself. Unless it’s a story about a successful apocalypse, in which case it’s excused. Though a story about an apocalypse that finished with ‘the end’ would probably make me grind my teeth anyway…

Have I clarified? Doubtless you’re wondering why you’re still reading because I’m making about as much sense as Seiko shaving his head and becoming a Buddhist monk (yes Ob, I agree – the orange must be burned before it reaches his skin). Still, I said what I wanted to say. My endings will always conform to my ideals from now on, though undoubtedly there have been projects in the past that didn’t… I haven’t really finished many so I should be able to remember, but alas.

And they lived happily ever after. The end.