I remember reading Stephen R. Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever as a teen and feeling frustrated. At the time, I didn’t have the experience to define the source of that frustration, but later in life I was able to put my finger on it. I was reading good-sized books about epic fantasy adventures, and at the end of every book (there were initially three, later more), the efforts of the heroes invariably ended in failure.
I had a similar experience reading just about any book by Harry Harrison, only in this case each book ended with the main conflict resolving itself—efforts of the protagonists ultimately had nothing to do with how things came out. Michael Crichton wrote similar books.
I remember during the furor over the “Red Wedding” episode of Game of Thrones, in which the erstwhile heroes of the tale were all slaughtered and the bad guys won, George R. R. Martin, the author of the books on which the television series is based, said in an interview that he deliberately killed off protagonists to shake up readers’ expectations. He didn’t want anyone to root for one side or the other.
In all of these cases, the source of my frustration (and the reason I never went back to read/watch any more) was an underlying feeling of betrayal. I’d invested my time and emotions in an expectation to be entertained, to escape from the disappointments of life, and maybe even to feel good a little bit. I felt these deliberate plot choices by the writers disrespected that investment. George R. R. Martin was even chortling in his interview, as if giving his readers a kick in the gut was funny to him. One of the countless reasons I don’t care for horror is that the ending is rarely definitive and rarely entails the good guys winning.
Perhaps there are readers who enjoy such so-called twists in the plot, but I’ve never met them. Be careful when toying with readers’ expectations. You can stretch that metaphorical rubber band only so far, and when it snaps back it’s going to sting. If you are deliberately catering to a specific audience, all right, but such audiences are going to be much smaller. When writing for a wider audience, be sure that when you build an expectation in your readers, you satisfy it. It doesn’t have to be predictable, but you will do better with an ending that rewards the reader for the time they’ve taken to read your story.
Lots of good points in this post, Kevin! As a reader, I do want a satisfying ending to a novel. That doesn’t necessarily mean a happy ending.
No, not necessarily a happy ending, per se. However, in my opinion (and perhaps only in my opinion) an ending in which the bad guys win, evil prevails, and no hope remains is a betrayal of all readers. The few who like that sort of thing are not enough of an audience to warrant setting up the rest of us for such darkness.
That red wedding scene was horrible and so shocking! The thought of the author chuckling about it is disturbing, but the other Stark children kept hope alive. I haven’t read the books, but in the series, the slaughter was a well motivated act of revenge by Lord Frey, who was furious after Robb reneged on his promise to marry one of Frey’s many daughters. Robb Stark’s mother, Cat, made a series of errors by trusting Frey in spite of his clearly hostile reaction to Robb’s broken promise, and by not taking prudent measures to protect her family.
Stark himself made similar fatal errors. Realizing Cercei’s true character, he called her out about her incest-conceived children and ordered her to retreat from the kingdom like a weak-minded child –give up the throne, go and sin no more, more or less. So this hero, this man of high morals and loyalty, got his head lopped off by a snot-nosed little king.
Your point is well made,though, Kevin. As a reader, I sense and resent author manipulation. If Martin (or the GOT scriptwriters) makes evil prevail, my expectations will be denied, and I’ll probably hate the series. I’m all for a good ending!
Thanks, Janet. Yes, I got all of the reasons for it, but even if you accept that the heroes were no heroes at all (just naive, self-righteous people) that leaves the reader with no one to root for, and therefore what reason remains to read/watch the story at all? Again, in my opinion, which is no better than anyone else’s.
Yep. This is exactly why I never watched Game of Thrones. The books were a constant let down. None of the good guys ever won. Thank you for letting me know that I’m not the only one who found this frustrating.
Maybe this is melodramatic, but I have a theory that A Song of Ice and Fire, the book series on which Game of Thrones is based, could be single-handedly responsible for ruining the Fantasy genre. One of the reasons I loved The Hobbit, Lord of The Rings, the Shanara books, even Harry Potter was the golly-gee-whiz of it all, the wonder and enchantment and, yes, even the innocence. By bringing fantasy into the jaded, corrupted, pornographic, sordid little realm of certain cynical grown-ups, entries like Game of Thrones, The Magicians, and the like could drag the genre down and drown it in their own dirty bath water. Or not…
I like a satisfying ending. And that includes… an ending. Not having to read the next book in the series to get the complete finale. There are enough bad things happening in the real world, I will steer away from books where I’ve heard the bad guys come out on top. I have read a couple of books where I know the ending won’t be happy but from reviews of others, will read it, knowing the ending will be at least satisfying. Thanks for sharing!
I understand your point, and while I don’t mind a bad ending in interim entries of a series (as long as it goes somewhere positive by the end of the last book) I know plenty of other people who feel as you do. Series are not for everyone.
I know what you mean, and I’m not disagreeing with your opinions about the endings, but I write novels for kids and there’s an interesting difference. In book for the 0-12 set, the protagonist must solve his/her own problem. This is because in real life, kids usually are not able to do this. They have no cars, no money, and no power in the world. In stories for adults, (especially screenplays) the protagonist tries everything, is frustrated at every turn, and the problem is only resolved when he/she gives up. This is because adults, especially young adults, have so much responsibility and are expected to solve everything on their own. I agree that in the end the initial problem must be resolved if the story is to be satisfying, however, novels are long and complex. At a mid to late turning point in the plot, the hero must realize that he is not all-powerful and will not be able to resolve the problem alone.
If that’s a trend in adult fiction, it’s a bad one. I’m an adult, with more resources, confidence, and experience than when I was a kid, and yet I still feel as powerless as when I was that young boy. And I know I’m not the only one. A book where the conflict is only resolved once the protagonist admit’s that powerlessness would leave me as unsatisfied as it would if I were still that young.
The books I write have a common underlying theme – common people with ordinary lives plunged into extraordinary circumstances – certainly they feel helpless at first, stumble around and fail often throughout the story, but by the end they plumb the depths of resourcefulness they never even knew they had and not only come out the other side, but do so in a spectacular and victorious fashion.
The books I like don’t necessarily have to be as melodramatic as mine, but the ending should be as self-affirming and inspiring for me to call it satisfying. Reading about ultimate failure just leaves me asking, “What was the point? Was it to remind me of my own powerlessness? Because if so, I didn’t need that reminder.”
I had a similar experience with the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant when I was young (and was appalled by the hero being a rapist), although I liked the second and third series. As for Song of Ice and Fire, I stopped reading the series because I got tired of the negative vibe–not just death of protagonists and bad guys winning, but the ongoing misogyny and malice and cruelty. I never even started the TV series. I don’t expect happy happy, but neither do I want the same slog we have going on in this world. (I made the mistake of reading the comments on some of the online news articles about the burning of Notre Dame. Some of the trollishness surrounding this tragedy is unbelievable).
My reaction to GOT made me start writing my own fantasy series, almost ready to start the querying process.
No better reason to start writing – to write the kinds of things you like to read! Good luck with that, and let me know how it turns out!