WRITING CHRONICLE #24: the happily ever after

Via: Daily Prompt – Quill & Caper

 

Image: Pixabay, PD

There is a growing trend of romance novels with alternative endings to HEA (Happily Ever After). There’s HFN (Happy For Now) and also conclusions that are not so happy at all – like hero/heroine/both die(s). This post is not about them. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to romance novel endings. I’m perfectly fine putting my romantic MCs through the mills during the conflict phase, but the resolution must be that they live and enjoy a full life together. Anything less than that is an overpromise – nay, a prank on the unwitting reader.

 

Which brings me to my next point. For centuries, happily ever after has received a bad rep (among non-romance-readers, at least) and to no fault of its own. I don’t understand why people feel that romance novels set “unreasonable expectations”; if anything, I believe they set a standard we should all aspire to. Why should a person settle for anything less than happiness in love? What else would be the point? And for those people who think “happily ever after” is equivalent to a permanent cheering charm, let me assure you, it’s not. It means that our couple now knows that to stay together they will have to work at it and face the ups-and-downs of relationship; but long as they are teamed up, they will remain content and it will be okay. In fact, that the couple goes through so many obstacles during the novel to reach that place where they decide they were meant to be together is a testament to their commitment. So happily ever after really just translates to

“Committed ever after. Happily.”

Having said that, for a romance author, attaining closure is not that easy. I mean, as a reader, you must’ve realized how each time you reach the end of a good book you feel that sense of bereavement when finally putting the book down, right? Well, you have spent only a handful of hours getting to know those characters; imagine what the author must’ve felt closing the book on those wonderful characters after giving birth to them and then nurturing them for months, maybe years. So a romance author (or any kind, for that matter) needs all the help he/she can get to give their writing that flourish.

So what does a good romance ending make? 

Letting Go

Via: Daily Prompt – Nervous

Lexi sat in silence on the edge of their bed. No, it was only her bed now, she realized as her eyes followed Michael around the bedroom while he collected things to pack. He picked up the Linkin Park CDs from beside the stereo and she stopped herself from pointing out that those belonged to her. Seemed a bit petty to do so. Besides, she had lost much bigger things in this relationship than that.

Like the baby. Now, there was a telltale sign that this relationship was doomed. He had failed to demonstrate an appropriate level of sympathy when she had been lying in the hospital bed after the miscarriage, his relief palpable. She never pointed that out to him either.

He was so used to taking things from her. To think she used to let him crawl into her skin. She couldn’t really blame him now after she had enabled the habit for four years with her shy silence.

“Those are mine.”

Happy endings came in all forms, she discovered.

 

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY !!!