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Post by Kessie on Oct 12, 2011 17:13:35 GMT -5
I just finished chewing through the latest issue of Cross and the Cosmos. The three stories in this latest issues are wonderful, and I'd love to see all three of them made into books. (Except the last one. It was completely perfect as a short story.)
But all three of them had happy endings.
I've read a few spec fic anthologies in my time. But I gave up on them because they're DEPRESSING. The last one I read, the stories pretty much ended like this:
Girl dies. Species wiped out. Man loses humanity. Man is a monster. There was one story where the man saved the world.
Back when I was on a Ray Bradbury kick, I read one of his short fiction collections, and even those seldom had happy endings. (But Bradbury always delved into the Really Weird, so I could allow for Twilight Zone endings. At least they made me think afterward.)
By and large, happy endings are anomalies in secular spec fiction, from my limited experience. So I was astonished to find that all three Cross and Cosmos stories had them. Was this just a weird, one-time thing, or do you notice happy endings occur more often in Christian spec fiction?
Because if it's the norm, I'd getting the previous Cross and Cosmos anthologies. :-)
(Also, are happy endings something that only Christians write, because of our worldview?)
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Post by Divides the Waters on Oct 12, 2011 18:34:06 GMT -5
I think it's reasonable to think that Christians are partial to happy endings because we believe in them. After all, what is our faith about if not one big triumph over evil and happily ever after? I suspect that we all write variants of the True Story as we understand and perceive it.
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Cat
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Post by Cat on Oct 12, 2011 21:13:49 GMT -5
That's very true. I myself write fairly dark stories, but there's always some kind of triumphant "happy" ending. I REALLY loathe sad, morbid, or dark endings, unless they are done INCREDIBLY well.
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Post by Kessie on Oct 12, 2011 22:36:01 GMT -5
Cat: I'm on board with dark stories, as long as things work out in the end. Heck, I've written some really dark stuff myself (exploring a character who was half living and half robot, and the robot side was eeeeeevil).
It's that happy ending thing that surprised me. Every short story anthology I've ever read made a point of awful things happening to the characters that don't get resolved. You're just left there going, "Wow, what a sucky future THIS person envisioned."
If Christians generally write happy endings in their short stories, by gum, I'm gonna get more! They're like eating popcorn--crunchy, tasty, and over way too quickly.
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Post by metalikhan on Oct 13, 2011 9:59:54 GMT -5
I agree with Divides -- our stories reflect that, even in the midst of darkness and tragedy, there's hope because the ultimate Story has already been accomplished.
Not every story ends on what the world would see as a happy ending -- characters suffer losses, make hard choices, die. But there's always the keynote that there's reason for the suffering beyond the mortal life, that life's not all just a pointless, hopeless plunge into darkness and oblivion. That is the biggest difference. Christian writers show glimpses of an eternal perspective.
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Post by tris on Oct 13, 2011 10:05:31 GMT -5
Kessie, It's not necessarily a Christian thing. There are lots of secular sci fi/speculative authors who write really tense stories with upbeat endings. (All you have to do is check out a few Star Wars and Star Trek novels for starters. Then there's Ann McCaffrey and Andre Norton and I can go on and on.
and Christian writers don't always do happy. Winterflight for instance has an absolutely horrible storyline. The most depressing part was the grandpa carrying the grandson into the ocean and drowning themselves to avoid the mandatory state euthanasia. Shudder.
I do think the endings reflect the author's viewpoint on life, though. And I'm for happy, upbeat endings. (Which is why there's a whole line of Star Wars books I've avoided because they don't end happy). I can even take bittersweet, if it's a satisfying ending, but I'll take warm fuzzy every time.
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Post by Kessie on Oct 13, 2011 19:02:36 GMT -5
Tris: Ah, thanks for the tips. I've only ever read a very few Star Wars novels, but they were pretty good. (I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole was win and awesome.)
That's why I mostly read juvie fiction, because juvie fantasy generally has pretty good endings, and you're (usually) safe from all the adult hijinks in adult fantasy. I'm just afraid that I'll wind up writing juvie fantasy, because I'm writing what I like to read. (My characters are adults. Does that make it non-juvie?)
Also, Steven Moffat is win, because he's destroyed the universe multiple times and still pulled off happy endings in Doctor Who.
When the Doctor told River, "I just wanted you to know, you are completely forgiven," I got chills.
/random Doctor Who fanning
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Post by tris on Oct 14, 2011 12:12:39 GMT -5
Kessie, Nothing wrong with reading or writing juvie fic. I still do and I'm on the upside of 50 (grin). Anyway, juvie fic isn't limited to characters who are teens. I have a lot of teens who like my stories and I use grownups in most of them.
Haven't gotten into the Doctor Who fandom yet... my son has watched every single episode of every single series, though. If he builds a telephone booth in his yard, I'll start wondering.
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Post by yoda47 on Oct 14, 2011 13:01:09 GMT -5
Oh yeah, I love happy endings!
I usually stop reading an author/series if they end badly.
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Post by Kessie on Oct 14, 2011 22:55:26 GMT -5
Kessie, Nothing wrong with reading or writing juvie fic. I still do and I'm on the upside of 50 (grin). Anyway, juvie fic isn't limited to characters who are teens. I have a lot of teens who like my stories and I use grownups in most of them. Oh really? Do you have any of them published? I'd love to give them a try. I think my very favorite books are ones where there are kids and adults working together. The kids aren't smarter than the adults, and the adults don't talk down to the kids, even when one set has more information than the other set. That's my very favorite juvie fiction. :-) (Although to my knowledge, I don't think I've ever written any like that ... hmm ... must remedy this.)
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Cat
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Post by Cat on Oct 16, 2011 19:47:28 GMT -5
Oh yeah, I love happy endings! I usually stop reading an author/series if they end badly. An idle question. Did you read Hunger Games? If so, what did you think of Mockingjay?
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Post by yoda47 on Oct 17, 2011 8:49:09 GMT -5
Cat: Nope, I haven't read Hunger Games. If I recall correctly, the title/description didn't make it sound that good to me... I have read Endrer's Game... which isn't the same thing at all...
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Post by Kessie on Oct 17, 2011 10:13:00 GMT -5
I keep trying to get Hunger Games at the library, but there's like 52 holds on it. I don't want to shell out cash for a book I'm iffy about.
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Post by Kristen on Oct 17, 2011 20:37:59 GMT -5
Yep, I'm definitely a happy-ending-er too. Life has enough depressing things in it. I don't want to read depressing fiction. And yes, Stephen Moffat never ceases to amaze me with his ability to resolve the seemingly unresolvable. Teselecta -- brilliant! (I was expecting Flesh, actually, but his way was better.)
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Post by yoda47 on Oct 18, 2011 7:55:56 GMT -5
Kristen: Yes, that's it exactly! Fiction is an escape, where one can pretend, for a time, that everything does always end happily.
Giving this further thought, Christian writers might have a higher proportion of happy endings because of the hope we have in Jesus. It might not be in this life, but we know that if we trust in Christ, everything WILL end happily!
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