unhappy endings.

Posted on 20 September 2015 by what sandra thinks

The first time I saw Tangled, I cried at the end. Kind of a lot. Eugene gives the best ever one-slash haircut. Eugene is dead. Eugene is alive! Rapunzel gets her real parents back. I have seen the movie at least fifty times, and I still cry at the end. Because it is beautiful and emotional. And because it is over.

theendnosm

I always feel a touch of disappointment when a book I love ends. I may love a story’s ending, but I don’t love that the story is ending. I immerse myself so deeply I hate to leave. I am never ready. I face precisely the same struggle when I write. I cannot let the characters go. I know them intimately. I love them. I need to write what happens next. I want to stay with them inside their stories forever. My heart breaks when I write the ending… when it’s over.

I need to overcome this. Right? But… after writing madly and bringing my characters where they needed to go, how can I keep from writing what happens in that place? Finally, they’re exactly where they’re supposed to be, doing what they’re supposed to do, feeling how they’re supposed to feel. I want to write all about it… I want to write their futures.

Could this be a good thing? Maybe someday, someone else will get lost in my story, too. Maybe someone will become so invested he/she won’t want it to end. Or maybe it only captivates me that way because I imagined it in the first place. Still, I hope this means I could succeed in reaching a reader through my characters and their world. Maybe it even means the ending is the best part – the part that leaves a reader wanting more.

Of course, lacking enough confidence to expose my words to the world, I may never know how they affect others. Am I too close? Am I too lost in my own head? Is this normal? Does this happen to every writer? I’ve felt myself slip into a depressive state when I’ve come to the end of a story. Granted, I have a predisposition to depression and anxiety, so this isn’t exactly shocking. But usually my downturns manifest from my reality, not my fiction.

Maybe the answer is to write after-the-ending just for myself. Then everybody’s happy. Of course, right now, everybody is just me.

About what sandra thinks

Sandra is a writer, sometimes blogger, poet, artist, emotional disaster. She thinks far too much and sleeps far too little. Sandra lives in the Northeastern U.S. but dreams of an oceanfront home in Italy, but she would settle for a non-oceanfront home in Italy. She loves books, brutal honesty, coffee, and the color black. She hates insincerity, beer, whipped cream, and facebook. And she is uncomfortable talking about herself in the third person.
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23 Responses to unhappy endings.

  1. thelonelyauthorblog says:
    23 November 2015 at 12:48 pm

    Happy endings. In books and literature it appears as if the tragic ending is more memorable. Don’t you think? Enjoyed reading this post.

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  2. Pingback: bedtime quickie. | what sandra thinks

  3. thelonelyauthorblog says:
    24 March 2016 at 3:53 pm

    You adorable doll. I want to hug you so fucking badly. I remember this post. It always comes to mind. This is where we started to truly make a creative connection. The blossoming of a special friendship.

    Liked by 2 people

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