Since this is my first monthly post, I want say thank you to Dani and Love Bytes for inviting me to be their guest each month. And as I’m not a household name in the genre, let me take this moment to introduce myself. (Though I have to say, the ‘Hi, I’m Andrew Q. Gordon’ bit always makes me feel like I’m at a twelve step meeting.)
Today is a convenient day to start my time as a guest author on Love Bytes. Last weekend I celebrated my one year anniversary with my husband, Mike. Our daughter—’lil q—turned three last week and we just finished the weekend of parties—a friends party for ‘lil q and then a family one for both events. I’ve cleared out the family, started to find homes for the myriad of toys ‘lil q received and am trying to sort through the clothes—she didn’t really care about them, though I suspect that will change.
Three was a ‘big’ year for her. She now tells everyone she’s a ‘big girl’ though I wish she’d stay little a bit longer. (I’m told good luck with that as no one’s wish for that has ever come true.) Since I’ve mentioned it a few times on-line, I’m a prosecutor in my day job. Lately I’ve been doing sex crimes and so if you see me having a bad day, you can assume I had a rough go during my work hours. I’m a big soccer (football to many non-Americans) and baseball fan. I’m trying to teach ‘lil q to play soccer, but it’s a work in progress.
Writing wise—which is probably what many of you really care about—I have more of a fantasy/paranormal bent, though I’ve been working on more contemporary stories lately. Rather than turn this into a promotional post about my books, I’ll just say if you’re interested in finding out more, check out my website for details.
So, with the intro over, let me move into what I wanted to talk about today… umm…mmm…I know I had that topic here somewhere…stupid messy office. Ah, here it is…erm…sorry about that: The case for tragic heroes.
I’m a big fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal fan, reader, writer, movie goer, whatever. I like fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal. Often these works involve large heroic tales, with really nasty, evil bad guys or gals, whose goal is world domination, the destruction of the universe or some other lofty goal that would enshrine them in the Dr. Evil hall of fame. And despite death and suffering on a epic scale, the hero never dies. Same for the other secondary characters who we’ve all formed a bond with. Mercedes Lackey tried to do this with the Last Herald Mage series, but she couldn’t quit pull the plug and end it on a sad note. In comic books, Superman died, but not really. In X-Men Movies, Jean Grey dies—twice—but then they did a reboot of the story and suddenly she and Scott are alive again.
But what about those stories where the main character doesn’t just die, but sacrifices all for the one he or she loves? Isn’t that true love? Making the ultimate sacrifice? As parents, in our hearts we know if we had a choice between us or our kids, the choice is simple, our children win every day and twice on Sundays. When something like that happens, where the parent sacrifices themselves for their child, they are amazing stories of courage, sacrifice, and most importantly love. So why don’t we show more of these?
Because in romance fiction we want that “Happy Ever After” ending, or at least that “Happy For Now” ending. I get it. We read for pleasure, and where’s the pleasure in crying when the book ends? Sure, saving everyone is great, but we’re not attached to everyone, or the world or even the others sub-characters. No one would have been happy if Frodo died at the end of The Lord of the Rings and Sam took over. We like—love really—our main character and we want him to save the day AND have his HEA.
I’ll confess, the bittersweet ending is tough to do. Pulling the plug and killing off a main character even if they make the ultimate sacrifice for the one they love IS hard. And this applies not only to the main character, but even the main character’s love interest. [That might be even harder because not only is the heroic sacrifice sad in and of itself, you’ve left the main character heartbroken as well.]
Lest you think I’m calling anyone out, I’ve only done it once, in a free read on my website, with a warning. [If you’re interested in reading the story, here is a link: The Price of Love.] The point of this post is to see if I could get some feed back on the topic. Do readers like bittersweet endings? Not all the time, but once in a while? Would you buy it? If it was well written and otherwise engaging, would you recommend it? Or are you just an outright no?
Andrew Q. Gordon wrote his first story back when yellow legal pads, ball point pens were common and a Smith Corona correctable typewriter was considered high tech. Adapting with technology, he now takes his MacBook somewhere quiet when he wants to write.
He currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his partner of eighteen years, their young daughter and dog. In addition to dodging some very self-important D.C. ‘insiders’, Andrew uses his commute to catch up on his reading. When not working or writing, he enjoys soccer, high fantasy, baseball and seeing how much coffee he can drink in a day.
Andrew is a part owner of Wayward Ink Publishing, and has published works with both Wayward Ink Publishing and Dreamspinner Press.
Follow Andrew:
On his website: www.andrewqgordon.com,
On Facebook:www.facebook.com/andrewqugordon,
On Twitter: @andrewqgordon,
Or just email him: andrewqgordon@gmail.com
Books:
The Last Grand Master: (Champion of the Gods – Book 1);
The ending of Queer as Folk (US) for me was an incredibly bittersweet ending and it fueled my obsession with the show and its characters. I re-watch the series hoping against hope that something has magically changed and the ending is different (completely illogically I know, but it is an emotional hope rather than a rational, thinking kind of hope). My heart breaks the same now as it did years ago when I saw the ending for the first time, and I think that is a testament to how powerful a bittersweet/unresolved ending can be. It leaves you aching for more, and thus it keeps your thoughts/feelings focused on that story/tv show/ movie.
There is a particular ache brought on only by a bittersweet ending. It’s not a bad ache, in its own way it is a good feeling, and I do sometimes want to feel it, so I will deliberately chase it by seeking out movies or stories that provoke that sharp lingering ache. It isn’t something I want a steady course of, but it adds an extra layer, or intensity, to the HEA stories I regularly read.
I remember well the ending of QAF and agree, it’s not the ending you want, but it is what happened and more it is what happens at time. I’m not sure most of us could take a steady diet of tragic love stories, but they do remind us that everything isn’t rainbows and unicorns.
Thanks for adding to the discussion. (Now I have to go back and watch QAF again. 😀 )
I’m too much of an optimist to appreciate those kind of endings (I even found a silver lining at the loss of my husband). I think that’s why I liked the ending of Mercedes Lackey’s Last Herald Mage – I need that hopefulness to fit my mind set. If she had ended it at the point of the’ sacrifice for love and country’ I would not have liked it as much, nor been able to reread it as often as I do.
I think if you like that bitter sweet ending or if, like me, you prefer a little more hope at the end then I like to think there are authors out there to cater to both choices.
I agree that the Last Herald Mage ended the way it needed to, but while you found it to be necessary, I felt a bit cheated – even though I liked it. What I find interesting in your answer is how you wouldn’t have liked or re-read it as much with out that last little bit at the end. The question then becomes, would it have been as popular without it and the answer is probably no.
Thanks for taking a moment to respond.
Andy
This is a difficult question for me. I agree that often a bittersweet ending stays with me longer but sometimes I have a hard time accepting the reasoning behind it. I think it depends on how it fits the story and the causes for it.
As far as QAF’s ending I basically decided in my head that they stayed together in whatever way they could. Honestly though, assuming we’re discussing Brian’s and Justin’s storyline, it would have rung false if they’d ended it the way they’d originally presented it. That ending wasn’t true to the characters.
Maybe that’s the most important thing for me, it has to stay true to the characters and the storyline. Either way though I need something happy, maybe even sappy after reading something like that.
And yay, monthly posts! I look forward to reading them. 🙂
Hey Allison, thanks for reading. One of the things I really didn’t play up in the post is that killing off a main character is like chewing off your arm for an author. It’s NOT easy. We love them as much as readers do – maybe more. But as you point out – being true to the character and and the story sometimes requires it or else you need to do literary cartwheels to figure a way out of it. And we’ve all done that before too.
Thanks for stopping by and yep, monthly on the 29th for as long as they’ll have me 😀
-AQG
I beta for a few authors and I’ve had that discussion a number of times with one of them so I do understand how difficult it is to some extent. 🙂
I love happy endings. If it’s not a happy ending I want the illusion that it could still happen. Like in QAF -it could still happen in a reunion show. Still have my fingers crossed for that. If it’s a series there is always the chance in the next book. I’m not sure how far into a series I would make it if I didn’t think I would eventually get my happy ending, even if it isn’t what I thought I wanted at the beginning.
I was just talking to a friend about this earlier today. I do read to feel good and don’t want to be depressed at the end of a book. So…. Done rambling. Yes I like a happy ending.
Thanks Bonnie, I suspect you’re pretty much with the majority in your love of the HEA. That seems to be the common theme and I get it, just figured I’d ask about the alternative 😀
Thanks for chiming in.
-AQG
I really like *reading* bittersweet endings. But I have a hard time writing them, partly because I know a lot of readers will want to tar and feather me. But mostly because I love my characters. I killed off a supporting character in one of my books and it was really, really painful.
Kim – Thanks for adding your POV. I’m sure readers would have killed YOU if you had killed Brute or any of your other MC, so I can see why you’d be slow to embrace this. I’m not sure I can do it either.
I prefer to have an HEA in my books. In some stories I’ve really loved having a dual outcome- the best I can think of is with the character Bill from Kim Fielding’s “The Tin Box”. If I sit down and think of it, I’ll still get teary eyed just imagining how many people had a similar fate and the sadness of it made the HEA of the main characters even more emotionally satisfying in a way. Or books that manage to have a happy ending despite one heck of a twist like “Woke up in a Strange Place”, or a story that follows characters thru their lives, up until the end like “Always” by Kindle Alexander that I read recently- tempering the sadness with looking back on a full, well-lived life. All three of those books had me sobbing- but still had such amazing, tender, and loving parts. I’m not sure you could say they are bittersweet per se, but they each have aspects that are incredibly sad.
Lindsay, I think you’ve touched on one aspect I never delved into – the ‘death do us part’ ending. Like you said, a rich full life together is hardly sad, even though one party has to live on, but it is still not exactly the classic HEA.
Thank you for stopping by and adding to the discussing.
-AQG