Story Endings Poll (poll closed!)

[BOMB]

Sometimes happy endings can be realistic too. So I'd ask:

Happy endings

Sad endings

Realistic endings

Or maybe even:

Happy idealistic perhaps optimistic endings

Sad pessimistic worst case scenario endings

Realistic grounded endings

[DesiredUsernameTaken]

I know this can be said about everything, so it gets tiring, but... it depends.

If I have to choose, I did pick "happy ending", because happy endings can be realistic too (depending on your perspective on death, and what an 'end' is). A sad ending is a close contender, though. It heavily depends on the story, because the ending may not feel connected to the rest of the story if it's too much of something else that wasn't hinted at in some way throughout the theme, plot, etc. I find life and reality itself a disaster that I pay a lot of attention to already, so I don't need nor want that reflected in the things I read.

But on the flip side... Where I want sad endings is when there's so much blind hope and happiness in a story that it is so extremely detached from some semblance of reality it feels like it's dismissive of the struggles we go through, or if there's complications in the story that are overcome through extremely unrealistic means. If there's a "toxic positivity" feel to the story, I miiiiight want it all to end in tragedy.

[noenoh]

I like both endings, but I also like neutral open endings (and a mixture of all)
tbh it depends on the story as long it is natural/congruent

[sorible]

Personally I like bittersweet or hopeful endings. I don't know if anyone here knows Dear Evan Hansen but I was thinking of something like that. or maybe Jojo rabbit.

it all depends on my mood though.

[LunarScyphozoa]

A bittersweet ending is my favorite kind

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I agree with the point that other people made about happy endings being realistic too. Like, just because something hurts doesn't mean it's inherently worth more, and the sooner that kind of thinking dies in the art sphere, the better.

HOWEVER, due to recent experience...I can understand where the correlation is coming from, kinda. ^^;

In the last few years, I tried out two new 'magical girl' anime. Both had marvelous animation, great character interactions, and amazing music. Both seemed to be building up their plots to emotional, heroic conclusions, where against all odds the heroes would have to try to save themselves.

And both COMPLETELY dropped the ball in the finale episodes, just to secure a happy ending. I'm talking "actually, the Big Threatening Consequence we've been stressing about all season doesn't matter; if you just stare into your lesbian girlfriend's eyes hard enough you can make it go away."
They just took all the significance of the hardships that came before and threw it right out the window. T_T

And it just left me so bitter...like, is this the state of storytelling now? A happy ending means literally cutting threats out of the story at the last second, with no explanation or acknowledgment of that fact??

It's just blatant disrespect for the viewers and the emotional investment they've had up to that point, and the worst part is barely anyone cares because 'at least my waifu didn't die~'. I'd rather see a thousand sad, heartbreaking endings that actually make sense than to go through that again.

[Toastbuster]

I’m a sucker for bittersweet endings. Like when a character achieves their goal, but at what cost? Or maybe things didn’t go as planned, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A little of both is what I like to see

[_calm]

Happy endings all the way

[BarBarKetrab]

Hmmm... In all honesty, I don't really mind what kind of ending a story has as long as it's written well and doesn't feel incredibly jarring and or implausible.

[arxianfall]

Relevant to the story endings. I don't know what it is about endings that make some writers betray their own characters.

[DiegoPalacios]

I prefer an ending that is fitting to the story..... be it happy, sad, bittersweet or realistic......

sometimes happy is realistic too

[vothnthorvaldson]

Any kind of ending, if it makes sense.
And for positive endings, I'm generally more receptive to appeased endings rather than really happy ones, mostly because what an author may consider a happy ending, I may not, and the dissonance can be a bit disappointing. Appeased/peaceful endings are more universal.

[kmlangleyauthor]

Much as I love a classic “happy ending,” I think the end of a story should follow the natural flow of the storyline. If there’s an epic battle right at the end, it would be entirely unrealistic for everyone to survive (meaning not everyone would have their happy ending, even if the protagonist does). I like it best when stories end and I’m left thinking, “that was the exact right ending.”

One of my favorite stories ended on a bittersweet note – but it was literally perfect and I would have been frustrated if the author had tried to force “and then everything turned out great!” After everything the protagonist had been through, it would have cheapened their journey. So, happy endings, yes, but mostly true-to-the-story endings

[BlunderingAlbatross]

Happy endings can be realistic!

But I guess the endings I prefer are ones that wrap the main threads up, even if things haven't necessarily gone the characters' way (or at all). Will always prefer a happy one of those, though, sometimes it's nice to feel nice.

[Oto_Kouda]

Hit me with that Clannad After Story-type beat

[darthmongoose]

There isn't an option for it so I put "happy" because I lean that way, but my favourite type is... bittersweet ending. It's a happy ending but it was won with some kind of great cost. There's an element of loss, even of just innocence or of the end of the adventure that makes it more poignant than just "yay! Everything turned out completely fine and we all got everything we wanted and nobody died or lost anything at all and nobody has been left with any trauma!"

[Manyana]

just to throw this out there since we're talking about story endings...

since there will probably be readers who want happy ending AND readers who want sad ending in EVERY story, do you, as the author, create TWO endings where one is sad ending and the other is happy? What's your take with ALTERNATE ENDINGS?

[Meehow]

Personally, I don't really care as long as I can trace consequences of actions preceding the ending which usually makes characters more believable and story well thought out

[coppermouflon]

I have read stories with both, and have been equally satisfied and disappointed with both. I tend to not have a preference, but if I feel more like a certain type of ending over another, that usually impacts the genre of story I will read.

However, having said that I have also been pleasantly surprised by having endings I did not expect that the story made them feel logical, reasonable and elevated the story.

As for alternate endings. I absolutely hate those unless it's some kind of interactive story based on choices. Alternate endings without the reader's input feel like a cheap copout from the writer. It's as if the author doesn't know how to end the story, or is too scared to end it as they wanted, so they write both to cover the asses (and most often than not one of them is weak). Ultimately a "good" ending, positive or negative is entirely based on how well the story is told and how it leads the reader to that ending. In my opinion always.

[carafox2121]

Hey all! Thanks so much for your thoughts! I did close the poll, but I realized after that "realistic" was the wrong word choice, but there was so many comments that I just left it in the end. Lol. You all make good points!

@Manyana As far as I feel about alternate endings, I've never purposefully done them myself, but for example, in my novel Tempest, (book 1) had a completely different ending when I started the book, but by the time I got to the end, it wasn't what I planned. I'm a huge believer in organic writing, and letting the story go in whatever natural direction that comes to me. So, because the ending went in a different way, I didn't use my originally planned ending. However, I love that ending so much, I plan to use it in a future Tempest storyline! So, I guess technically its an alternate ending for now. Lol. I also think alternate endings are subjective. I know I've watched movies, for example, where the ending was ok, but I liked the alternate ending better, or vice versa. Hope that wasn't too confusing!