Therese here. Please welcome today’s guest, author Connie Briscoe, who’s here today to talk about the necessity of being hard on our protagonists. Connie is the author of seven novels, one novella, and one nonfiction book. Her debut, Sisters and Lovers, sold more than 100,000 hardcover copies and about 500,000 copies in paperback. Her work has appeared on the bestseller lists of the The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly.
Her latest novel, Money Can’t Buy Love, released on June 27th. It’s the story of a money-and-man-plagued photographer who wins the lottery and, suddenly, the perfect man. Will she wise up, or lose it all? Said The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
[A]n entertaining story that leaves you feeling pretty good about your cash-strapped existence.
Enjoy!
Why I Pushed My Heroine off a Cliff . . . Almost
I’m sure most women remember reading (or listening to) fairy tales of the beautiful princess riding off into the sunset with her charming prince and living happily ever after. Variations of that theme even seep into many grownup tales and not only in romance novels but also in relationship novels, chick lit, women’s fiction, mysteries, and thrillers. There’s often a pretty girl, a sexy, hunky, desirable guy, and a happily-ever-after ending.
Yet real life is rarely like this. We gain too much weight, we get cellulite and wrinkles and saggy skin. Couples argue, fight, cheat on each other, and grow apart. Most relationships–whether marriage, living together, or just dating—don’t last forever. And even when they do, we soon discover after riding off into the sunset that our mate really is not perfect after all. And if we’re honest with ourselves, we will come to realize that we aren’t perfect either. That together we create this imperfect union, despite any love we may continue to have for one another.
So why are we so soft on our fictional heroines? Why do we usually make our female lead characters flawless or nearly so and give them happy-go-lucky endings? I’ve often asked myself these questions even as I created beautiful lead characters who generally got what they wanted in the end. I was afraid to deviate from the norm, afraid that no one would buy my books if they lacked the requisite happy endings. A couple of times, editors even suggested that I make my heroine more attractive or more appealing in some way. I was encouraged to write happier endings because that’s “what readers want.”
But do they really? All the time? In my latest novel Money Can’t Buy Love, I decided to try something different. I created an obviously flawed lead character. Magazine photographer Lenora Stone isn’t perfect; far from it. She struggles with her weight. She lacks poise and confidence. In short, she’s like many of us. Then I asked myself, what would such a vulnerable woman do if she suddenly came into a fortune and captured the attention of the man of her dreams? Would she smarten up, gain confidence, and do the right thing? Or would she blow it all?
The ending of Money Can’t Buy Love is what I would consider believable. It’s not joyful, it’s not sad. It’s real. I’m going through a rocky, roller-coaster ride in my personal life and I have little tolerance for mushy meandering. I may be taking a risk in terms of sales but I choose to believe that readers are more diverse, more adventurous than we sometimes give them credit for.
What do you think? Are you addicted to happy endings in your fiction as a reader? As a writer? The floor is yours.
Learn more about Connie on her website, or by following her on Facebook and Twitter. Write on!
Photo courtesy Flickr’s suvodeb
How refreshing! I just loved reading this. I completely agree about endings that reflect a more nuanced reflection of life as it is actually lived. I might be an exception but I find HEAs somewhat of a turn-off: too much candy (empty calories—lol). I’d much rather read about female (and male) characters who do their best to deal in a realistic way with life’s challenges. I figure if they can do it, so can I. A very cheering thought indeed.
I have used that approach in my own fiction and will continue to do so. Thanks, Connie, for a very interesting interview presenting another POV.
Unless you’re writing to genre, it’s silly to think you have to have a certain ending because that’s “what readers want.” The most disappointing ending I’ve ever read was a /happy/ one: the final passage in the seventh book of the Harry Potter series. To paraphrase: “Um…and then everyone married exactly who they liked when they were sixteen and had beautiful children who all had names of people who died twenty years ago and everything wrapped up in a neat little package. The end.” Sure, it was ‘fantasy’ and ‘YA,’ but the world was hooked on the series because of the realism within the magic.
Of course, I may be an anomaly. I know a lot of people who loathe perfectly good endings just because they’re not what “should” have happened. I remember the ladies in my mother’s book club having an absolute tizzy when they read that Tess of the D’urbervilles was executed. They swore to never read anything by Henry James again because Isabel Archer knowingly went back to her manipulative husband instead of running off with Prince Charming in Portrait of a Lady. All that suffering, and we don’t even get a white horse and sunset?
Personally, I think Sherlock Holmes should have stayed dead. If Charles Dickens were alive, I would have strangled him when I got to the end of Our Mutual Friend and Mr. Boffin turned around and said, “Never mind–I’m not evil. I was just /testing/ you. Here are your staggering riches. Have fun!” No matter what kind of ending you have, it should rise organically from the story (or at least appear to). You should have to do literary acrobatics to make a certain happy/tragic/formulaic resolution happen.
I have to say I’m a sucker for a happy ending. Although, as I get older, I can’t stop my mind from wondering, after the prince and his new bride ride off into the sunset, what tomorrow will be like for them – when he learns she can’t cook and she learns he only likes to shave on the weekends. . .
Still, real life has enough trials and tragedy. I don’t know if a “real” ending is enough for me. I like my time invested in reading to pay off in terms of an uplifting ending. No it doesn’t have to be a mushy happily ever after, but traces of joy or a glimmer of hope at the very least.
I’ve written endings that dismayed a few of my early beta readers. One even told me she was waiting for it to be a mistake or a dream, but nope, not a fairy tale happy ending. I became very defensive about. So much so that when another beta told me of her shock, I interjected, blathering defensively. She held up a halting hand and said, “I said I was shocked, not that I disliked it.” She went on to tell me how much more ‘real’ it made the story for her, and how much more fitting and moving it was than a manufactured fairy-tale ending. Phew… Well, there’s one.
I choose to give readers more credit too. Thanks for sharing, Connie, and good luck with your ‘real’ ending!
I like to think the story goes on after “The End.” When everything is neatly tied up it is, well, dull. Even with a happy ending, there can still be ongoing conflict. The books that stick with me assume a life outside of a single story line.
Some good points. Thanks all. I had to LOL at Tamara and Sherlock Holmes. I understand that many readers want to leave their troubles behind in the real world and that they read to escape. But I think you can have an uplifting ending without necessarily having a happily-riding-off-into-the-sunset ending. The main character in my latest novel loses a lot at the end. But I do leave the reader who needs it with some hope in that she’s planning to start over. Maybe she will make it with the lessons she learned or maybe she won’t. But a completely happy ending seemed silly given all the mistakes she’d made throughout the novel.
Oh, yes! Thanks Therese for having me on your wonderful blog!
Happy endings are fine, sometimes. I’d rather read that a protagonist’s car stopped at the edge of the cliff, leaving me to wonder if the wheels stopped spinning in time; or if the car defied gravity, leaving the protagonist with hands raised as if in victory. :-) Resonant endings are the best, not so cut and dry.
Sometimes a bad ending is the point. ‘Hamlet’ comes to mind. I wrote ‘The Jewess of Savannah’ to illuminate the abject failure of Reconstruction after the Civil War. My protagonists paid the price to make the case. A happy ending it could not be.
I am not a big fan of the sugary fairytale endings myself. I enjoyed “Money Can’t Buy Love” because it was very realistic. Sometimes we need that realism pinch on the arm.
Someone mentioned the ending should be organic. I think that’s key. Happy ending, sad ending, glimmer of hope–all are fine, as long as they make sense to the story the author has built. When the author marries everyone off (or kills everyone off) and it’s contrived, well, yuck. All that reading, just to be duped.
Connie,
Great post. I’m a big fan of ambiguous endings because life’s that way. Some of my favorite writers (Anne Tyler, Alice Munro) sometimes end their stories leaving the reader wondering what’s going to happen. I also like your comments about flawed main characters. MC’s who are too good are boring and not believable. Thanks again.
Some of the best endings leave some things to the reader’s imagination because isn’t life that way? Losing a fortune (or a man) could make one woman feel like her life was over. Another woman might look at this as an opportunity to start over.
When my own life is full enough of nuanced and ambiguous events, cliffs, and mistakes, I find I reach for the happy ending books.
When my life seems on a more even keel, I can ‘handle’ the less resolved endings better. I’m guessing the publishing push for happy endings might be partly a product of all the tribulations and unhappinesses of life in the modern world. In a utopian society, would the books have sad endings as a counterpoint to perfection?
Good for you, Connie, for believing in non-HEA endings. I was told a similar thing about my first book that didn’t have an HEA – that people wouldn’t buy it. However, personally, I get sick of always reading everything ending on a positive note. It’s not realistic and if I want an HEA I know I can read one at any time.
I stopped reading most romance — I came down with ‘Chronic fluffy plot syndrome.” I’m not saying they’re all like that. But many are. The heroine’s flaws are only there to support the pratfall that you see coming a mile away, Although I smile when I finish them, I’m getting older, and need to be cognizant of how I spend my time – it’s getting more precious every year that passes.
I write protags like you’ve described, and can relate and appreciate their struggles. Keep it up!
I’m addicted to happy endings–at least in my genre fiction. In mysteries/thrillers I want the bad guys caught and brought to justice. In romance, I want a happily ever after. The heroine doesn’t have to be perfect, but I expect her to be happy at the end of the tale.
In mainstream fiction or women’s fiction, I’m less rigid. I expect and welcome something different.
Great post, and very truthful! I get tired of the happy ending sometimes, as it can get very predictable knowing its all going to work out.
My overall ending is happy in some ways, but the main character’s individual ending isn’t really. She sort of sacrifices her own happy ending for “the greater good”.
It’s not so much about happy or tragic endings as it is about your craft as a writer, and how well you can tell a story. What publishers forget is that readers don’t necessarily want happy endings, they just want accessible writing.
Similar to the ‘organic’ argument above, I think the crucial thing is to have ‘fair’ endings. Don’t invest the reader in something just to pull the rug out (or tidy everything up) at the last second. If you tie everything up in a neat bow, readers will roll their eyes. But if you leave a ton of threads hanging, or cut the bow off and stomp on it, they will feel cheated.
That said, I know at least two people who are escapists, and can’t stand unhappy endings, or even unhappy portions of books. Thus, they more or less can’t read my writing, because I torture my characters.
I think the best balance is the bittersweet ending. Yes, the protagonist accomplished something, but at what cost?
I like happy endings. Perhaps my idea of happy isn’t the same as everyone else. I don’t need perfect skin or that perfect number on the scale to be happy. I want people to see the great things they have in their real lives and consider that to be the happy ending. Does that mean everything comes out as planned? No. But I suppose that is what helps us be happy about what does.
Loved the post.
Thanks for all the comments! Now I feel better about sticking to my beliefs and the not-so-sappy endings. You’ve inspired me.
“I know a lot of people who loathe perfectly good endings just because they’re not what “should” have happened.” ~Connie Briscoe
I am one of those people. Thank you so very much for keeping it real and honest. I have been a fan for a very long time. :)