Happy Endings? Sad Ending?

[azureXtwilight]

Endings are one of the hardest things for me to write. Obviously, I feel the weight of the readers’ expectations—hey, if anyone is reading this, they’re trusting me to end this satisfactorily! And I’ve read so many stories where a so-so ending kept the story from becoming great.

But both happy endings and sad endings have pitfalls. Happy endings can come off too unrealistic and gushy. But do a sad ending badly, and no one believes your tragedy. Even done well, a sad ending can be rather—depressing. Really, does nothing good ever happen in life?

So, pick which one you prefer!

[PandaFlute]

To be honesty, I prefer the middle ending, bittersweet! It's possible to have a story end where bad things happened, but there's a sliver of hope left for the future. Honestly I'm a sucker for character pain so I love tragedies too :"D If things are tied up with a bow and everything is perfectly fine at the end of dark story it just feels wrong. But if the story was lighthearted to begin with then a happy ending is great! But like I said, I tend to prefer bittersweet endings heh

[J.Lovelace]

I just prefer endings that "fit the story", and by that I mean that the ending shouldn't feel forced or completely out of place or leave the reader confused with a lot of unanswered questions.
It can be sad or happy, I'm fine with either, as long as I don't feel "betrayed" in the end.

[mariusthered]

i like ending like they had in empire strikes back, dark but with hope , the possibility of more tales (but my stuff always leads to more tales)

[UrMom]

While sad endings are fun, I prefer bittersweet endings. For me they feel practical, nothing ever is 100% good or bad irl. But they aren't used very often from what I can see, maybe bittersweet is harder to pull off?

[Shark]

I know it's the worst possible answer, but I prefer well written endings, no matter if sad or happy ;p
I mean, that's a too generic question, it depends a lot on the comic. If I really had to choose, I prefer bad endings, because they usually have more impact than the good endings. I love huge plot twists.

[Rueleer]

Tbh, I default to liking 'happy(ish) ending' for most stories, and my reasoning is rather simple; if you don't have to leave a bad taste in your readers mouths, then try not to.

Realistic pessimism is all well and good for lesson learning, but I also think that a healthy dose of optimism is good for spirits. Tragedies already happen in life plenty, so I prefer kinder ends.

However, my personal view on a 'happy' ending is just 'when the main problem of the story is resolved nicely', rather than ends were practically every problem the MCs have is resolved.

[shazzbaa]

Hmmmm!!! I think.... I do tend towards happy endings over tragedy, but my biggest preference is an ending I can believe in. That's not the same thing as a realistic ending -- I just have to be able to believe it in order to really find it satisfying.

I love Undertale an unreasonable amount, but I actually felt kinda mixed when I first finished the True Good Ending... because there are enough fakeouts before the real boss, where you think you've won, that when the real final ending came I couldn't quite believe in it. I found myself feeling like I preferred the bittersweet but optimistic ending I'd gotten before I found the True ending path -- just because I really believed it. I believed in the happiness and hope that your character had created in spite of the bad circumstances that hadn't quite been fixed.
Looking back on the game now that I know what's going on, I love the true ending and I get emotional about it, so I know it's not that good endings are less believable than bittersweet ones... it's that in this case, the way it was set up led me to doubt it.

Another example of what I mean is from The Dark Knight -- my memory of this movie is foggy, but the bit when Joker has the two boats rigged to explode unless one of them blows the other up stuck with me. Both boats choose not push the button ultimately, and I 100% believed and LOVED the scene on the criminal's boat, when an intimidating criminal takes the remote, saying "I'll do it, you can tell them I took it from you," and then selflessly throws it off the boat; but I couldn't believe in the other one, where the Good Upstanding Citizens take a vote, vote to blow up the other boat, can't bring themselves to do it, and then one guy says FINE I'LL DO IT, and then he can't bring himself to do it either.
So it wasn't whether the ending was good or bad -- both of them ended the same way, where they chose to spare the others. And both of them seemed to be heading towards the bad choice and suddenly veered to the good one. But in one option, it built to a powerful statement about the goodness and bravery of one unexpected person. In the other... it was chickening out from the statement it was clearly making. You can't paint a cynical picture of people willing to murder the unseen other and then at the last minute say "nahhhh, not really" without it feeling a lil unsatisfying.

But that said.... I do tend to prefer happy or hopeful endings. A lot of that is because that's honestly my worldview! It's tough for me to believe in a world that's too cynical; I find it easy and cheap to create a gross world where there is no good that can be done, and it tends not to ring true to me. Tragedy with a purpose and meaning to it is something really powerful that I have a lot of respect for, but I get frustrated reading fiction about relentless tragedy when I can see the author's hand clearly contriving this horrible world.

[VermillionWorks]

To be honesty, I prefer the middle ending, bittersweet!

I think I tend to prefer this kind of ending the most. XD Though I agree that whatever ending 'fits the story' is the good one, which is why I kind of get thrown off by a series or something that was a mix of drama, comedy, ect that suddenly ends with brutal, relentless death and/or mind-fuckery. XP I've kind of discussed this before when it comes to character death, but such things feel like a slap to the face rather than tragic or thought provoking.

Happy endings can come off too unrealistic and gushy.

It depends on the story and the approach, but sometimes a happy, gushy ending is NEEDED, konsarnit! Happy ending's have such a bad rap these days. XD

[Pyomatic]

tbh I think watching/reading things, I lean towards a happy ending, its satisfying to end it where it feels like it should end without dragging out, and theres always a bit of wish fufillment. But, like a lot of people have said, bittersweet endings can be painfully effective! My personal favourite ones where the character has to sacrifice their position physically/mentally/socially for their goal (eg they may be exiled for doing The Right Thing) or they don't achieve their goal but get to be happy in their position, and are happy with that. In my opinion, these endings are sooo good because you get to see how much the character has grown, and what sacrifices they have made, and it wraps the story up because now things won't be the same as the start, but it doesn't mean that everything is nice and cleanly finished. idk, imo it always feels alive if thats how it ends, rather than everyone lives ideal lives or everyone is sad and/or dead.

[Zetsubonii]

For me, the best ending is the one that sticks with you, which doesn't necessarily have to be either happy nor sad. The best example I have was Kimi no Na Wa (Your Name) where for me SPOILER ALERT the ending was more of a melancholic happiness.

[artsy_oleander]

I'm typically a happy-story person, since I get attached to characters real easily. I really don't want them to get hurt or die, and when that happens, I get really mad lol but when I write my own stories, I tend to make them bittersweet.

[hushicho]

I've discussed this before a few times myself: it's often better just to leave it open or understated rather than trying to overwrite an ending or neatly -- almost always too conveniently -- tie up every single plot point. Concertedly downbeat endings are usually harder to write well, and most writers don't do a good job in them, but forced happy can also be disappointing. The most important thing is writing a fulfilling, satisfying ending. I'd say concentrating on the major themes is the best rule of thumb.

If you don't think you'll be able to pull an ending off, I recommend (and have before) giving the audience a sort of "resting point" in case they want to stop before the ending and its approach. To be honest though, these days I just prefer an ending that isn't really an ending so much as a place to rest the story for the time being. You might want to pick it up again someday, and tying everything up too neatly can make it an unnecessary challenge.

[demthorshie]

I'm a sucker for happy endings. Happy endings are becoming a dying breed as of late.

[dojo]

Sometimes I'm just in the MOOD for some oscarbaity sadschlock, sometimes I'm in the mood for nihilistic "there's nothing good in this world, happiness never existed", and other times I'm in the mood for "and everyone lived happily ever after and everythings happy and fantastic". SO I DUNNO, I don't have a solid answer, just a lot of thoughts.

I'm of the opinion where it ultimately depends on what kind of story you're trying to tell. I like any kind of ending, but I have also seen instances where I just didn't feel that satisfied with the end result because it felt opposite of what the author was trying to go for. I do feel like the reason why this might be is a failure on the writer's part to understand what the message they were trying to convey even was in the first place. Every story has some kind of message that's being told along with it, and whether it's a positive, negative, or even "good" message doesn't matter, but it does matter whether the writer understands what they're trying to say or not. Because if they don't know, then they're not going to know how to set up their ending. If they don't know, they may throw whatever ending out there they think will evoke a strong emotional reaction from the audience.

I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS STUFF A LOT TODAY, I've been binge watching a lot of film theory shows the past couple days so I have a lot of technical storytelling stuff sloshing around in my brainspace at the moment.

[NickRowler]

For me it depends. I guess it all has to do with build up. If the build up is positive and hopeful, then don't have a sad ending. And if the build up is more sad, do not have a tacked on happy ending (which Hollywood loves doing).

America media tend to have happy endings.
European media tend to have sad or bittersweet endings.

Tho personally, I dunno which one I would choose. I am a sucker for sugary sweet stuff which are overally happy however, I applaud a film which takes the risk of having a sad ending. I think the film When the Wind Blows would be less impactful if the ending was happy. It gives a eerie sense of realism on the topic of nuclear war, despite the film being animated.

[Pleaki]

I think when it comes to happy vs sad endings, it really depends on the message you're trying to give your readers. If you're trying to tell a story that is supposed to give a positive message, I think a sad ending is a disappointing and seems like a big middle finger to the readers.

So I think it's important to establish the general tone of the story early on so that readers aren't thrown off when they're already in too deep. (I find that something taking a very dark tone too close to the end is a bit cheap and rarely executed well.)

With that said, if I'm looking for a happy story then I don't think I would want a sad ending.

But my favorite types of endings are generally bittersweet. They're the most realistic and give the readers a sense of fulfillment while not being "too good to be true"

[Parkblog79]

I like endings that make you think, kinda like the ending in Inception. Such an ending is difficult to craft, though.

I'm seriously doubting on whether or not my current comic will have a happy ending. It will probably at least try to make readers think.

[whirlwyndstorm]

I prefer to read and write happy endings because I've seen enough sad endings in real life. That doesn't mean that all my stories have one though, because sometimes a happy ending makes no sense.

I'm lucky that endings are easy for me to write -- actually getting to them on the other hand --

[whirlwyndstorm]

That scene in the Dark Knight is one of my favorite movie scenes of all time <3