What an Ending!

When all the results are tallied, there are only three fundamental conclusions a writer can make to end a story—life is good, life’s a bitch, life is survivable.

People tend to like happy, feel-good endings, a portent of a promising future, everything all tied up nice and neat. The reason for this is simple. The real world is a messy place, rife with apprehension, a daily slog with gremlins hiding everywhere. We know we are being manipulated by the writer. We just don’t care. We need the elevation of spirit the same way people need church. A surrogate buoyancy to get us through the next round of stressors.

The adverse of this deals with the prospect of ultimate failure. This is honest in that such is the case for all of us at any given time, forays into discouragement that lay us low, strain our coping skills, and last as long as they last. The dishonesty stems from the pretense that a desperate end somehow equates to artfulness. A hero is only valuable as a dead one. Someone has to suffer interminably or the real world is left hungry for verity. We rejoin our lives with a skewed sense of gratitude. We leave an immaterial world with the belief that life is indeed unkind but at least we’re not on the receiving end—this time.

The last intends to illustrate that all life is a matter of perspective. Happiness is transient. Death can be a blessing. Nothing can truly thwart us as long as we have a happy face emoji at the ready. Optimism is not only a choice, but a way of life. Of course, so is pessimism. We spend our lives at the fulcrum, proactive or not, reactionary or inert. Careers sour, but there are new opportunities. Relationships fail, but new hope exists. Life is never one thing. Life is what you make it, unless you are a privileged legatee.

As a writer, I tend toward the first, though with qualifications.

First, the real world is for journalists, not fiction-writers. You want to pee in the pool, write an op-ed. Don’t bring doom and gloom to the table just because you think you’re a poet.

Secondly, regardless of attendant tribulations, there is always an exit. At least until you stop drawing breath. This is not optimism. This is reality. The ebb and flow of life does not allow for ultimate defeat—only evolution. One step forward, two steps back, still provokes a change-of-direction. Our existence on this earthbound plane is not static, nor will it ever be.

Lastly, hope is not a delusion. Hope exists because there is a frame of reference for enrichment. If there has ever been love, love is real. If there has ever been success, there is potential. If peace-of-mind has inhabited the psyche but for a fleeting moment, we may yet recognize sanity.

The fiction writer brings all of these elements to bear within the same story. What we have learned is that the true ending is never the last word on the page.

 Beginning January 2, 2024, The Festival of Sin and other tales of fantasy will be on a temporary eBook promo for $.99.