Unhappily ever after.

"Maybe it's not about the happy ending, maybe it's about the story." ~Unknown

Todays literature has returned to the days of Hans Christian Anderson and the Grimm brothers. Lots and lots of Unhappily ever afters. Soul mates die, rebellions ruin more then they save, and Democracies are only fronts for the Monarchies they overcame. With the state of our world it's not much of a surprise that our literature's two main endings have come to be 'Everyone you love dies' or 'they got married, had 2 and 1/2 children, and lived happily ever after'. 

But maybe it's not about the ending, maybe its about the journey? 

Things are only special because they end. Every life, every season, comes to an abrupt close in one way or another. Rarely, even in our world, do happy endings exist. What may be a fulfilled life for parents leaves tragedy in it's wake for their children. 

One person's happily ever after is another's nightmare. A girl who defeated an evil queen may rise to take the reigns of the kingdom, but the queen she defeated is exiled to the far reaches of her once great kingdom. 

In the final scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows we are introduced to a older, more domesticated version of the Golden Trio. They settled down, had their 2 and 1/2 children, and they seem well established in their jobs and settled with their families. For many Potterheads this extra scene, while domestically adorable, was a bit of a let down. It seems as if everything they went through has just disappeared. We don't see Harry and Hermonie struggling with PTSD, or the Weasly's fighting to overcome Fred's death. It's only in the Cursed Child that we are shown that everything isn't as rosy as it seems. 

Our experiences, our pain, doesn't end when we've stopped fighting. It haunts us, tainting every moment of joy and every second of silence to remind us that we can't escape what happened to us. But we can overcome it. 

While it may be tempting to give your characters a happy moment after all the troubles they've endured, I urge you not to completely ignore their past. While a bright spot, like watching children play, is a great way to show your readers that their life has improved dramatically; It rarely has the desired closure that readers need to fully accept the book's end. 

Similarly, it may be just as tempting to give your readers a heart wrenching jolt by ending your novel with a tragedy. Maybe your main character dies or everything isn't as golden as it seems. While this is ok if you are writing a series, its never a good idea to end a stand alone novel on such a bleak note. It gives your readers the impression that everything they suffered through with your character was for nothing. Every heartbreak, every triumph, that in the end none of it mattered. 

Take Veronica Roth's Divergent, though it is true that she ended the series on a rather bleak note she is able to give us a glimpse of the characters healing after Tris' death. If she were to have left the readers with nothing but the horror of her sacrifice it would be likely that she wouldn't be considered the acclaimed author that she is today. 

In the end it's not about a happy ending, it's about the readers feeling fulfilled at the end of your book. Wether thats a domestic scene with a tinge of hardship or a tragedy with a hint of healing, if it brings closure to your story then it will be remembered as a good story. 

Vicious Villainy

"Every villain is a hero in his own mind" ~Tom Hiddleston 

Our entire lives we have been told one thing: There is good, and there is bad. 

What we weren't told is that our thought process of good and evil is actually a varying gray scale. 

The key to making a convincing villain, is giving them a justifiable reason for their actions. We don't have to like it, but there is rarely ever anyone who ever does something bad just for the sake of being bad.

Take Madelyn from my short story What's coming, You don't realize that she's the villain from her point of view. But from the way Even and Teresa talk you begin to see that Madelyn isn't as innocent as she seems to be. She claims that she 'did it all' to protect them. Now while we don't know what Madelyn did, we certainly can imagine what it must have been to end with her being treated so harshly. 

She had a reason for what she did, and while she was using a "the end justifies the means"philosophy, she has a valid point. How do you know that if the story was from Madelyn's point of view, we wouldn't say she was the hero? 

Villains are heroes in their own mind. Madelyn believed that what she was doing was wrong, but that she was doing it for the right reasons. Take a closer look at many of the characters you know and love, many of the 'heroes' that our culture raises up actually believe the same thing at one time or another. 

Writing isn't Protagonist verses Antagonist, its actually the Protagonist against another version of themselves. Thats what makes all the difference when it comes to the final count down. If the reader can see themselves becoming the villain then you've done your job. But there's one crucial thing that you have to remember: Every villain is a hero in their own minds.

Pastels and Butt-kicking

"She wasn't looking for a knight, she was looking for a sword." ~Atticus

In our culture boys and girls are asked to choose between a masculine or feminine way to act, dress, or speak. They are rarely ever introduced to the idea that its ok to kick butt while wearing pastels. If we change these tropes in our literature then we change them in our culture.

There are four different stereotypes for main characters, two for female, and two for male.

For female characters you can have the gun slinging, butt kicking, heroine who doesn't seem to have anything to lose. Or the timid, book loving, femme fatal who has no idea what she's getting herself into. 

For male characters you have the macho, gun loving, hero who also doesn't seem to have anything to lose. Or the stuttering, klutzy, geek who built something he shouldn't, or quite possibly ended up here by accident. 

We're never told if Tris Prior had a passion for knitting or if Katniss Everdeen wanted to be a chef. We never get to know if Malcolm Reynolds loves chess or if Han Solo geeks out over galactic comics. 

Thane and I have struggled with these stereotypes many times, especially in creating our characters Alex and Katara. And while I'd be the first to admit that I love these tropes, reading the same story for multiple people gets tiring after awhile. 

Lets take Fawke from my Novel excerpt; Tamám shud. Fawke has been through a lot in her life, she is the epitome of a heroine with nothing to lose. Something not many people know about Fawke is she has a passion for weaving and gardening. Adding a characteristic like this to your POVC will not only add another dimension to your character, but make them more relatable to your readers. It's ok to have a photography loving, sweater wearing, POVC who has a passion for martial arts. Or a macho, thrill seeking POVC who's favorite down time activity is huddling behind their computer and playing Skylanders. 

It's time to see some tiny girls kicking butt in their pastel sweaters and macho men who's favorite pastime is their choir.