Introducing Eva and the Belief in Happily Ever After
Some of you might have noticed that, at long last, my publisher has started unveiling other authors. As much as I enjoyed my time in the spotlight, I don't mind sharing, and since I have a neat little blog here I volunteered to introduce them. I'm going to start today with my friend Eva, because she's my friend, and because after reading her stories I realized that she gives me an opportunity to discuss two of my favorite things: climaxes and completions.
Everybody likes a good climax; our bodies and minds automatically relish a nice slow build to a stimulating peak. It is how we view what comes after that is so different from person to person. I'm a happily ever after person. No matter how dark a place my stories might venture into, I always want them to end up in the light. Even if my main character is subjected to humiliation and degradation, I want her to learn something about herself and come out a better person, a person more able and willing to enjoy their lives. I take this ideology for granted. It's in most of the fiction our society produces and consumes. We like happy endings, even when dealing with stories of dubious consent (which is my favorite Amazon product tag by the way).
When reading Eva, I somehow expected those same types of endings. But after finishing Mean Spirited I just sat and stared at the last sentence. The ending was so bleak that I didn't know what to make of it. That night, laying in bed, I thought about how it made me feel. At first, I couldn't get past the idea that the character didn't deserve what happened to her. But after I got over that initial reaction, I realized that there was something pleasingly erotic about the ending. Sure, it wasn't the happily ever after I'm used to, but really sitting down and thinking about it, there's something extremely sexy about the ending.
I don't want to ruin the story for anyone who hasn't read it, but playing around with the story's fantasy, really letting myself imagine it, was surprisingly gratifying. The very statement happily ever after implies eternity, that's what ever after is. Mean Spirited was the exact mirror image of that idea; it was as ever after as things get, and though it might not be my idea of happy, everyone is different, and for some people it isn't about happiness.
The more I thought about it, the more I recognized just how much a story is slave to its ending. If I had written the same story, I would have been forced to make a dozen different choices along the way, just to setup the ending that I would prefer. The story I would tell would not necessarily be better or worse, but it would have to be different, because to tack my ending onto that story would do a disservice to both. The little beats of the story, all the little parts of the setup, are instrumental in earning the happy ending. Just as importantly, those same beats twisted slightly earn a different ending. I admire Eva for being willing to embrace the only ending the story actually earned, even if it might make some readers uncomfortable.
I don't see myself changing the way I end my stories. I like the endings, even if it sometimes takes some serious twisting of logic and circumstance to bring those endings about. But it was fun to think about different ways to come down from the climax. I'm a proponent of trying new things, and that includes trying new authors (though I guess I don't really mind if you decide to read nothing but my stories for your own happily ever after), and I think Eva is a great change of pace if you're looking for something a little different, a little less (or depending on your point of view a little more) happily ever after.Mean Spirited
Everybody likes a good climax; our bodies and minds automatically relish a nice slow build to a stimulating peak. It is how we view what comes after that is so different from person to person. I'm a happily ever after person. No matter how dark a place my stories might venture into, I always want them to end up in the light. Even if my main character is subjected to humiliation and degradation, I want her to learn something about herself and come out a better person, a person more able and willing to enjoy their lives. I take this ideology for granted. It's in most of the fiction our society produces and consumes. We like happy endings, even when dealing with stories of dubious consent (which is my favorite Amazon product tag by the way).
When reading Eva, I somehow expected those same types of endings. But after finishing Mean Spirited I just sat and stared at the last sentence. The ending was so bleak that I didn't know what to make of it. That night, laying in bed, I thought about how it made me feel. At first, I couldn't get past the idea that the character didn't deserve what happened to her. But after I got over that initial reaction, I realized that there was something pleasingly erotic about the ending. Sure, it wasn't the happily ever after I'm used to, but really sitting down and thinking about it, there's something extremely sexy about the ending.
I don't want to ruin the story for anyone who hasn't read it, but playing around with the story's fantasy, really letting myself imagine it, was surprisingly gratifying. The very statement happily ever after implies eternity, that's what ever after is. Mean Spirited was the exact mirror image of that idea; it was as ever after as things get, and though it might not be my idea of happy, everyone is different, and for some people it isn't about happiness.
The more I thought about it, the more I recognized just how much a story is slave to its ending. If I had written the same story, I would have been forced to make a dozen different choices along the way, just to setup the ending that I would prefer. The story I would tell would not necessarily be better or worse, but it would have to be different, because to tack my ending onto that story would do a disservice to both. The little beats of the story, all the little parts of the setup, are instrumental in earning the happy ending. Just as importantly, those same beats twisted slightly earn a different ending. I admire Eva for being willing to embrace the only ending the story actually earned, even if it might make some readers uncomfortable.
I don't see myself changing the way I end my stories. I like the endings, even if it sometimes takes some serious twisting of logic and circumstance to bring those endings about. But it was fun to think about different ways to come down from the climax. I'm a proponent of trying new things, and that includes trying new authors (though I guess I don't really mind if you decide to read nothing but my stories for your own happily ever after), and I think Eva is a great change of pace if you're looking for something a little different, a little less (or depending on your point of view a little more) happily ever after.Mean Spirited
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