Does a love story need a Happy Ever After ending to be considered a good story?
I know that we all like those HEA endings. Who wouldn’t like the hero charging up on his valiant steed to take his beloved away to a life filled with love and contentment? Who doesn’t want to see them walking hand in hand off into the sunset?
We all like stories that are wrapped up with nice happy bows at the end and leave us feeling that all is right in the world. It gives us all hope that even in the worst circumstances there is a chance that our on stories will find a way to end happily. Doesn’t it?
But does there HAVE to be a HEA? Is a romance still a romance if it’s not for life? Is it still as moving and heart-capturing if it leaves you weeping for the characters? Most of what I write has the required HEA, but my story A Time to Dance doesn’t. Does that make it less of a romance? I say… NO. Sometimes in life in order to see and appreciate the good, the wonderful, the beautiful, we have to also witness the bad, the tragic, and the ugly.
What about Love Story? A very good movie. A wonderful book. An extremely tragic ending.
What about Romeo and Juliet? They overcame so much and thought they had the own happily-ever-after all worked out. Another tragic ending.
So, my question you is this… Does knowing that there is no Happy Ever After make you turn away from a book? Even if it could possibly be a very good read? Do you as a reader need a HEA?
3 comments:
Of course everyone likes a happy ending, but sometimes I can see in a story where happy would not be the way to go. I love my romances where the boy gets the girl and everyone lives happily everafter, but I enjoy all genres of books and I would read the book even knowing that is does not end exactly the way I wanted it to.
I don't think every romance story has to have a happy ending. The romance industry simply makes that a stipulation. Oh, you want to get published? You must have a HEA. If you go to the publisher submission pages you will actually see this stipulation on their websites. (Most of them)
I've read romance for so long, I've been trained to expect that HEA. LOL If I don't get it I'm confused. :) If we didn't have that forced HEA, I wonder if there would be a greater interest to the reader as they flipped through the pages of the book to the end. They wouldn't know what to expect.
Then again, romance readers really love their HEA. Great blog post. :)
Hi Jojo - Saw your comment at RJR. As a reader, I think I prefer HEA but it is not required! Look at Sparks' Nights in Rodanthe for example or A Walk to Remember and Message in a Bottle too. Great stories with sort of sad endings. Definitely still romances! And I love series which of course you hope EVENTUALLY will have a happy ending. I'm sure I've read others but just can't think of any right now. And Dawn is right that a lot of the publishers seem to make the HEA a requirement so it might be harder to get your book out without that. But if you can--- more power to you!!
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