[ SECRET POST #2315 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2315 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 081 secrets from Secret Submission Post #331.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

01. http://i.imgur.com/DLocv6f.png

[(Anonymous)]

[ex_mek82]

You and me both, OP.

I don't even mind bittersweet endings (or endings that have a fairly positive/open resolution), but the outright depressing/hopeless ones infuriate me to no end.

[(Anonymous)]

Agreed, and I don't think happy ending automatically means "rainbows and fluff" either. If it's a case!fic or something having the case solved and everyone alive in the end is still happy.

[kaijinscendre]

I like depressing endings in movies/tv shows/books but not in fanfiction. I guess because fanfiction is about character I really love and specifically want to read about.

[dreemyweird]

Considering any literary device or trope inherently "bad" or "good" is silly, especially when they're very non-specific (which is obviously the case with happy endings as such).

If people look for quality writing, then, IMO, the nature of the ending should be determined by the inner logic of the story and the idea the author wants to convey. There is, however, id fic - and this is something that can ignore inner logic for the sake of tropes.

Taking into account the fact that fandoms are full of id fic and other trope-concentrated stuff, I find it ridiculous that somebody objects to having stories end happily.

I'm not entirely with you on this one - I don't hate sad endings at all - but I do love both wish-fulfillment fanfiction and happy endings, and I do wish there was more of that.

[the reason for finding sad endings "inherently superior", though, probably lies in the fact that people consider sad stories "deeper" and "more serious" than the happy ones. But, first of all, one can have plenty of drama and still use a happy finale; and, second, sad endings are not something that is meaningful a priori. Sometimes they're just dumb.
One of my favourite literary examples of a happy ending is the finale of Catch-22 - and who would call this shallow and light-hearted?..]

[visp]

Honestly, I think a proper tragedy is harder to pull off, and most people suck at them.

[badass_tiger]

ia with this secret. I don't have anything against angst, but people love making their characters miserable so much, it's depressing. My current OTP is a rarepair, and it's impossible to find something well-written that doesn't end in death and tears.

[straycatblues]

I understand what you feel,anon.It can get pretty emotionally draining at some point.Different strokes for different strokes,I guess.

I gotta say,I like sad endings better.Maybe because you can try and fix it.Happy endings seem very final to me (yeah,I get they're endings,but it feels like I can't move it or shake it up a little or work my way around it),whereas sad endings leave a huge door open for shippers and people who like happy endings to get the thing they like.

But maybe it differs from fandom to fandom?If we're talking about a show/book/video game based on angst,I'm going to expect sadness and a broken heart (and partially want it). If we're talking about Glee,for example,I'm not going to buy it if everyone dies tragically.

[(Anonymous)]

I love sad and depressing endings. That said, I totally get why people don't. In the end, it's just going to come down to people write what people write and you...can't really do anything about it. Sad endings are not better than happy endings. Happy endings are not better than sad endings. It's a personal choice.

[forgottenjester]

Me too. I almost feel like sometimes a happy ending is harder to write because we're so used to the unhappy ending occurring in real life. We expect it so it isn't a big deal. But when a happy ending happens it must be explained and earned. I'm not saying that I think happy endings shouldn't have to have this qualifier though, because I think that having them makes the happy endings we do get better. What I'm saying is that I think sad endings should have to fit this kind of requirement too. Because I have seen so many poorly done "bad endings" simply because the author thought that would be deep and didn't think about much beyond that.

[dethtoll]

I like ambiguous endings to either of those, myself.

[(Anonymous)]

I prefer a balance between happy and downright depressing. My issue with happy endings is that they can feel misplaced - when you go from a scene where the lead couple is crying because everyone they knew is dead or injured, and suddenly they're kissing and the sun is rising, it bugs me. On the other hand, not everything needs to be a tragedy. And I like happy endings when they're done in a way that doesn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.

[elaminator]

NGL, there are few things I love more than a well-written angst filled ending (whether it be canon or fanfic), but everyone's different and I respect that.

Sometimes I want a happy, fluffy ending and can't stand the thought of anything else. Other times I actually want to drown in sorrow and find the tragedy incredibly satisfying. Liking either or both is perfectly fine. I can definitely understand where you're coming from; I've seen that same attitude before and it can be really frustrating. (Let people like what they like, geez.)

[(Anonymous)]

I've never agreed with a secret more. I hate sad endings in most of my media, but fanfic in particular. If I wanted to be depressed, I'd watch the news.

[(Anonymous)]

I have found myself annoyed at happy endings before but that isn't because they were happy, rather they just weren't written well. I seem to have come across more happy endings that are written badly in comparison to sad or more ambiguous endings, but that may be confirmation bias speaking or the media/fanfiction that I like to read.

I don't think happy endings have to be earned, as such, but when there's been a long journey, fraught with perils, death, and moral dilemmas and it's all been building up to this long climax where no one will ever be the same... and poof! the day is saved, everyone is happily married off and that's it ... I just feel mood whiplash. I might not be articulating it well, but I have ready many long, well-written stories (both published books and fanfiction) that have a very rushed finale that seems to shoe-horn in a happy ending. A story that examines dark or angsty themes doesn't have to have a tragic ending, but it does have to have an ending that makes sense within the context of the story because otherwise it starts feeling false and hollow. It shouldn't just happen magically. I don't dislike happy endings. In fact, when I've come to love characters I want them to have a happy ending but it's not always written well.

I think endings, as a whole, are hard to write. And I don't think that happy endings are a cop-out, only badly written ones are. I have come across stories that seem to end in tragedy just to be 'deep' but they seem rarer, though I admit this is only anecdata.

However I have to disagree about sad endings - you may not like them (and it is your prerogative) but I do, although only when they are also written well. I am quite partial to bittersweet endings, but again it has to make sense within the context and themes of the story. 'Dark and gritty' by no means makes something actually good, however, and I fully understand you being annoyed by people that claim that is the case.

[(Anonymous)]

I enjoy sad endings a fair bit, I especially love bittersweet endings, but this idea that only sad endings are real or that a show is only good or meaningful if it has a sad ending is one of the dumbest trends to come up in recent years. I mean Merlin had a sad ending with a bucket load of death, but nothing will ever convince me that made it a good show. It just made it a shitty show with a sad ending and a ton of deaths.

[bored_bitch]

It depends on the story, for me.

Happy endings can be good if they're not forced and handed out for no reason other than to give fluffy feelings and a sense of self-satisfaction to the reader.

Sad endings can be good if they're not forced and shoved in for no reason other than to make the story "so edgi!!" and depressing.

We should not "just have" one or the other. Different stories call for different endings. Having only one type would make everything super predictable and boring, and we would miss out on a lot of great mind screwy "Oh shit" moments.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh god yes. Yes, yes, yes, a million times yes. I'm sick of kids trying to prove how grown up they are by writing something stupidly miserable in an attempt to show how grown up they are that they can do unhappy. There is nothing wrong with "and then they all lived happily after". The first few misery!fics were entertaining because they had difference on their side, but only because they were different. Once they stopped being rare, they stopped being any good and they became the shit writing they claim to be different from.

If you disagree you can find me at the end of the rainbow with your true love. Bring candy.

[tasogare_n_hime]

Gotta agree OP. I'm ok with sad/bittersweet endings in canons, but I just don't do angst/sad endings in fanfiction. I'm a happy endings kinda girl. Almost all the fic I write are AUs about undoing things that made me sad in canon. I hate it when people act like that is somehow inferior fan fic(I don't think anything I write is better than, or trumps the canon, but I'm always waiting for that "You have ruined everything with this fic because you brought back/stopped (character name here) from dieing!) though it only encourages me to keep writing what I do.

[fenm]

"automatically considered bad storytelling"

Yeah, that's the part that bugs me. If you prefer sad endings, that's fine; I've seen a few things with sad endings I thought were really good. But to consider them better, by default? Sorry, but no.

[(Anonymous)]

To all those fanficcers who want to write a depressing story to showcase how deep and intelligent you are. Don't. Especially if you are trying to subvert a canon's more hopeful tone to show how you can be edgy.

You aren't that deep, and you aren't that bright. You are too dumb to write like that, now stop thinking you can and go write something within your capabilities. That will be a half drabble, by the way.

[tenlittlebullets]

Tolkien agrees with you, OP.

I love stories with tragic endings, but only when they're earned--there has to be a sense that within the world of the story it didn't have to be this way, a happier outcome could've been possible, and at the same time the tragedy has to feel completely inexorable according to the deeper logic of the story. Everything that happens is the confluence of bad luck and bad decisions, but the decisions are the ones these characters would always have made. A poorly-earned grim ending just feels juvenile--either like "lol the world is total shit and this is what always happens" (why are you telling the story then?) or like the author is inflicting arbitrary misery on characters and reader alike to make themselves feel dark and edgy.

[cassandraoftroy]

My boyfriend just asked me if I wrote this in my sleep. I could have. I hate the seemingly-pervasive idea that there is something inherently shallow, amateurish, or inferior about an ending where the characters you've grown to love save the day and reunite with their loved ones to the satisfaction of all concerned.

[(Anonymous)]

While I enjoy sad and happy endings, and generally prefer something in between--ambiguous, open or mixed endings do it for me most--I still agree with you in the end, anon.

I feel like there's a trend of dark, gritty or tragic fiction being considered deeper, better story telling, or (my least favorite) more realistic than happy endings. And that is intensely problematic.