Hi friends,
The following question has been nagging me for a while: Do we always have to have a happy ending in a story? No matter if it's romance, suspense, adventure, or a nail biting thriller; sometimes the happy ending is a disappointment. Truly, I have read books where I really wanted the heroine and the hero to come together and (at least try to) live happily ever after. Sometimes I was bummed when it didn't work out between the two of them.
But often enough there is a happy ending and those happy endings make the story not believable. Personally, I like to read a tale that could be actually happening with believable characters. I don't know about you, but I know when I read a good story. A picture begins to start in front of my mental eye, like a movie.
As I was writing my recently published romantic suspense 'Relocating Mia' I played with the idea of having a dramatic, almost sad ending. My editor went nuts and STRONGLY advised me against it. She argued that I would 'scare' first time readers of my work off and that they might not want to pick up future books of mine. Okay, I got it! I revised the ending. It's not as dramatic as I would have liked it, but it's not as mushy that you'd roll your eyes.
Well, of course I would like to encourage everyone to pick up a copy of my debut novel and judge for yourself, but today it's more important to me to find out how you think about 'Happy Endings'. I'm working on the sequel to 'Relocating Mia' and I see the ending clearly in front of me, but I might have to revise it again...
Thanks for any input on that issue! It's fascinating for me as a writer to communicate with you readers (and of course my peers) while I have a work in progress.
Many thanks and happy days!
Rebecca Lerwill ~ author of 'Relocating Mia'