Happy endings in science fiction

[[deleted user]]

Geoffrey wrote: "The consensus for Blade Runner was what? among which group? And who says you don't get a second chance."

The consensus was just among the group I saw the film with and a bad review in the Washington Post. Back then, that would have been the world as far as we knew. As for second chances, I did see the Director's Cut years later, but made no lasting impression. It also turned me against seeking out books by PKD -- and that's a crime.

Also, I not looking for non-happy endings that work, I'm trying to find the storybook HEA end that does work and doesn't seem saccharine.

[L.]

Greg wrote: "@Micha

I saw Blade Runner opening night at the Uptown in Washington DC. I don't care if the HEA wasn't in the working print or enforced by the studios, it got released under the director's name,..."

@ Greg

I like Irving's idea, even if my philosophy is closer to Simmons'. I've started a story at the ending before, working backwards, and was pleased with the result. I also favor the idea of writing chapters out of sequence, but that requires a lot of plotting.

[Ken]

excellent examples, Geoffrey!

I think you have to know where the story's going. Especially in SF, and especially if time travel is a story element. Backwards compatible, literally.

[Ken]

Oh yes, the WTF ending is always welcome here!

[[deleted user]]

Double plus good on WTF endings.

[E.D.]

WTF are the parameters of a great WTF ending? A pedestrian beginning? A plausible middle? Or a story that appears to be heading to a predictable point, then.......?

[Will]

I'll second the idea that I like a mixture of endings - some happy, some sad, some WTF. It would be boring if every story ended in the same way.

Most of all, I don't want to know what the ending is until I get there. If the ending is so clearly telegraphed that I've worked it out before the prologue has finished, then I sometimes don't bother reading much further.

A prophecy, you say? A magical sword, ring, whatever? A destiny? A clearly identified bad guy and an equally clearly identified good guy. Now let me think ... I wonder how this one is going to end?

[Ken]

E.D.,

I'd say a WTF ending is one that throughout the book, you did not expect. Not even in the second to last chapter, did you see this coming. Then you turn the page, and you exclaim WTF! It is an emanation of surprise and appreciation of the author's wit to have lead the story to such an unexpected place. The great WTF ending doesn't just come out of nowhere, it appears to come out of nowhere but is deeply founded in everything thing came before it. It was heading there all along. The great WTF ending isn't deus ex machina. It's like the widening of a crack that runs all the way to the beginning and was there all along. The crack becomes a chasm and you fall in. It doesn't come from nowhere.

In David Mitchell's number9dream (HUGE spoiler)
(view spoiler)[The last chapter is a blank page. This WTF cliffhanger open ending is totally unexpected, but ties tightly to everything that preceded it. It's really the one and only way to end the book properly. (hide spoiler)]

[Micah]

My favorite WTF ending was in A Maze of Death...probably mentioned it here already.

Everything is being tied up neatly in the end...not happily, rather depressingly actually...and then reality is pulled out from under us again and we're left no longer knowing what reality actually is. It satisfied because it echoed the wild ride that came before it...reality being shredded and reworked in the mind of the characters and reader alike. And just when you're finally going "Oooooooh! That's what's going on!"...you're left with the realization that you really have no clue. And yet somehow that's alright. That's totally fine. ;D

[[deleted user]]

I must say that prophecy might be the most damnable sin in fiction.

What ever happen to the prophecy (that everyone believes) that turns out false - the ravings of a nut job 1000 years ago; the magic item that is just old junk - a pitchman's snake oil in metal; the hero who gets knocked off in 2/3 act; the Dark Lord who wins.

Those would be great WTF moments.

[Micah]

Greg wrote: "the hero who gets knocked off in 2/3 act..."

That would be GoT...and I found it terribly annoying after the 3rd time Martin did it.

[Vardan]

Somehow, I always know the ending of the story when I start writing it... I know the title, I know the protagonist and I know where his/her journey will end. How he/she will get there is a different question whatsoever but I do cherish the element of the unexpected and also duality as I think clear-cut endings are possible only in... well, I don't think clear-cut endings are possible anywhere. Even the most primitive of stories can be understood in a variety of ways. A clear-cut happy ending is as real as a smiling politician and twice as superficial (which is saying a lot).

[W.]

@Kenneth Great post on WTF endings. Made me flip to the back of my copy of Number9dream. I read it many years ago. I remember the first half vividly and totally forgot the ending. It was indeed a WTF...and now I have to re-read it to figure out how it got there!

[E.D.]

Kenneth,
A crack to a chasm. Beautiful. :}

[[deleted user]]

@Micha

James Ellroy kills off character too; regularly that it's probably become an expected plot line to any book by him.

[Adam]

I think you can have a happy ending for the characters even in dystopian sci-fi. This does not necessarily mean all the problems are resolved in the world, though. If the world's problems are too easily fixed, maybe it wasn't so horrible to begin with.

[Brandon]

In sci-fi, I much prefer my endings happy, unless the tale is a cautionary one, or where the future is intended to be uncertain, or where a sequel is intended, or it matches the tone of the story, like Neuromancer. It has a happy-ish ending, but the future is certainly left uncertain, and of course, Gibson continued it with "Count Zero" and "Mona Lisa Overdrive."

[S.C.]

No set preference for happy endings or other types; whatever seems right.