I am not good at telling happy stories. Everything I’ve written in the past three or four years—be it short stories or novels—has had an unhappy ending. Let me rephrase that: I don’t go out of my way to make an unhappy ending. I just try to think logically. If a happy ending—happy in the physical as well as emotional sense—is possible, then I’ll embrace it. But if a happy ending is far from possible, then reason and reality dictates that I write an unhappy ending. They’re not awful endings where everything goes to hell; they are endings that reflect the most realistic ending to the given situation. Ernest Hemingway wrote that “all stories end in death” and reality—perceivable reality, not hoped-for reality—is built on the foundation that the world doesn’t operate according to how we want it to operate. As much as we may hope for a certain conclusion, chances are that conclusion is a fabrication of our imagination, and reality is not kind to such things.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
on happy endings
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2 comments:
Reality can be kind to such things if you mold it to be.
Just because an old great commented on the matter, well, that does not mean you have to believe him.
I find it hard to believe otherwise, though I am not a pessimist. I do believe great and wonderful and fantastic things happen. I just don't think it's the norm, and I don't think it's valid or even logical to believe that destiny or fate has only good in store for us (if there is even such a beast as destiny or fate).
Man. I'm such a downer.
Thanks for commenting :)
P.S. "What do you mean about 'molding' reality?" Reality isn't something that can be molded. Sure, we can mold our perceptions of reality, but our perceptions may not be in tune with reality. Of course, I acknowledge that my perception may be off, but until I find any evidence to believe otherwise (other than just WANTING to believe otherwise, which I desperately do), my perspective on reality will probably remain the same.
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