I just saw a thread for a poll on story endings and I want to further the discussion. So, here are some questions:
*Disclaimer: I know everyone interprets endings differently.
Have you ever seen a story with a sad ending that was NOT in the thriller or horror genre?
Do you like sad endings?
What do you like to see in happy endings?
Have you ever read a story where the ending ruined it?
Happy or sad endings?
Do sad endings make you feel cheated?
What makes a story’s ending happy/sad?
What do you like to see in sad endings?
Just in gernal:
I dont mind a sad ending. Facts be that I cry at the end and might never get over it but yk that’s life. I’m actually writing a story rn with a sad ending. And Maybe some deaths in a sad ending or that some ends up with no one…
That my opinion but yea
Not really it always just makes it seem like the story is unfinished. I like seeing how the characters can move on from the events of the story and live a happy life despite any of the drama that happened in the story.
I like just having things resolved. I like seeing that no matter what happened in the story, the characters can still move on and be happy.
Definitely. Two come to mind. I won’t say which is which but yeah. Basically in one of them the love interest died (no choice leading us there, it just happened and you couldn’t stop it) in the second to last episode. The last episode was just the MC crying and revealing she was pregnant with the dead LI’s kid. The final scene of the story was a flash forward, showing the MC and their new daughter at the LI’s grave and the MC was like “he died to protect us”. And that was it. From what the author gave us in the last episode, the MC just mourned the loss of the LI for the rest of her life. It just seemed like the author made it a sad ending just for the sake of a sad ending. The other one I remember was a zombie apocalypse-type episode, where the last scene was the character waking up from her nap and being like “wOah wHaT a WAcKy DrEaM” and one of the other characters was like “Come on we gotta go meet insert other two characters from the story” . It just felt like the author was bored of the story and didn’t care to give it a proper ending.
Mostly happy endings. I know now everything ends in happily ever after for everyone, but I don’t really want to see that everyone got screwed over by the events of the story and life sucks now.
The two endings I mentioned, yes. It felt like the authors didn’t care enough to make a proper ending to the story. I loved both of the stories but it felt like the ending ruined my opinion of it, like instead of being like “oh yeah you should read it!” It was always “yeah I liked it but the ending was terrible”
I feel like the ending is really just sad if the characters can’t be happy. Like, even if the big bad is defeated, I don’t want to see the main character being upset because all their friends died in the process. Sure some of them can die, I’m not saying death shouldn’t happen in a story, but there should always be a hope to live on despite the death/terrible thing happening.
If you really want to make the ending of your story sad, at least give the story a proper conclusion or leave some things happy/hopeful. There was one fantasy story I saw where there was a sort of final choice with these two love interests. The second LI was dying and you had the choice between the two of them. You could choose to stay with the first LI and keep them as your soulmate, but the second Li died, or you could trade your life for the second LI and make them your new soulmate so you’d be reborn together. It was sad, yeah, the MC literally died if you picked that choice. But the final scene showed the second LI and the MC together after being reborn and meeting each other for the first time. It gave hope.
I love them. I think sad endings somehow make the story a little bit better imo because it creates more emotions for the audience. It also helps them remember. Sometimes happy endings are too expected or basic, after a while I won’t remember how it ended. Sad endings create more emotions, so it’s more dramatic, leaving a more memorable ending that your audience will definitely recall (what I think)
I think I read a sad ending from a story in the romance section, so yeah!
Yep! Happy endings, to me, are overrated.
Maybe not everything in a happy ending should be happy, it’s best to leave some things in the dark.
There are times where I’ve wished that instead of having happy-go-lucky endings in some stories, it would have been better if the writer had written a bittersweet one.
Bittersweet and sad are my go to!
Well, no. But it does make me sad, it’s why it’s called sad ending I guess
Anything that makes the MC not achieve their goal, drags them down.
The MC tragically dying or maybe someone important to the MC?
therefore, you can leave it to the reader’s mind to decide what happens! often these are very bittersweet, but they leave you with that little bit of hope ahaha!
the readers may bug you for a sequel because of this, but honestly - i love it!
but I’ll say this, happy endings make me sad and happy lol
it always just makes it seem like the story is unfinished. I like seeing how the characters can move on from the events of the story and live a happy life despite any of the drama that happened in the story.
