By Jamie Hill
"And they all lived happily ever after." I totally concur. I'm a nut for Disney movies, Hallmark movies, Lifetime movies...wherever I can find them, as long as they have a HEA (happily ever after) ending.
To sit through a movie for hours and have it end unsatisfactorily is a bummer for me. I want to see the couple get together in the end (if not sooner.) The bad guy should get his comeuppance, the mystery should be solved. Come on, people, don't leave me hanging. Those movies that end suddenly with a black screen and I have to ask my husband what the hell just happened... No thanks.
As a reader and lover of romance, of course I want the books I read to end HEA. When I started writing, before I knew many publishers wanted HEA, I wrote it anyway. It just felt right. First and foremost, I had to write what I liked to read.
(The big exception is when I write horror. Horror, I like to leave unsettled, hanging so you're wondering... huh? But that's a whole 'nother animal.) Romance, to me, needs HEA.
I don't mind HFN, though these acronyms are getting a little tedious. *LOL* HFN, or happy for now, is sometimes necessary. When I'm writing a short story that takes place over a matter of hours, it's not always feasible for the characters to fall in love. We settle for HFN, and know that they're going to give it their best shot and see what happens. Lots of movies end that way. We don't know for sure what's going to happen with the couple, but they're going to have fun trying to make it work for a while, anyway.
Two
of my favorite movies have the best HEA endings. In An Officer and a
Gentleman, when Richard Gere walks through the paper factory with the
theme song pounding in the background, my heart melts. "Way to go,
Paula! Way to go!"
In Pretty Woman, when Richard Gere (do you sense a theme?) climbs the fire escape to 'rescue' Julia Roberts, and she rescues him right back...sob. I could watch those endings over and over again.My Blame Game series ends happily ever after. In fact, I follow the main couple's family for twenty years, and in the epilogue everyone gets their own HEA. If you like romantic happy endings as much as I do, I hope you check the series out!
Find all my titles at: http://bookswelove.net/jamiehill.php
OMG those are two of my most favorite movies. I agree completely with you and the HEA. I'm sure most romance writers/readers do. I have these on my To Be Read list. Now if I could just find the time to read. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Roseanne. Love most of Richard Gere's movies, LOL I like George Clooney too, but his movies haven't been so great to me, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI do like HEA (though in my YA's I consider it HFN (Happily for Now--they are teens, after all). But sometimes a "hanging" ending works for me. Gone With the Wind, for example. It's fun to speculate as to whether/how Scarett gets Rhett back. :)
ReplyDeleteLOL Ann, I don't like to have to speculate, I guess. But I agree about YA, can't make life plans as a teenager, or not many of us can, anyway! Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteI'm so there with you, Jamie ... no one wants to a unhappy ending - what a waste of my time. I'd add Into the Blue and Fools Gold...
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on this Jamie...on Richard Gere too:-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Rita, haven't seen those movies and will have to check them out!
ReplyDeleteI'm another on the same wave length, I hate it when a movie ends with one of those "you figure it outs". I did not pay admission to use my own brain figuring out where their lives are going - I have to figure that out in my own books. Movies to me are turn off the brain and sit back and let the magic play out for you. I turn off the mind editor and let the players do their job. That's the only reason to watch a movie for me, and you bet I want everything to end just the way it should - HEA. Your Blame Game stories are excellent, if any of you haven't read them you won't be disappointed.
ReplyDeleteHi Shelia, he's aging like fine wine, isn't he? LOL
ReplyDeleteLOL Jude, I totally agree. Thanks for stopping by and for the kind words!
ReplyDeleteJamie, I totally agree. HEA is the best way to wrap up a story resolution. I've noticed that some reviewers say a book is too predictable--but if they're reading a romance, what else would they expect? LOL...
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely and d--n skippy. Personally, I'm too old for angst and depression. Life's rough, we all know it. We've all lived it. I read for entertainment and the older I get, the more I not only want it to be HEA, I want it to be humor-laced throughout. (Though no, not if I'm reading or writing horror, which is a love I'll never truly outgrow, I don't guess. But that's not romance, that's another animal.)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Sydell. I guess that's our job, to make the predictable seem not so much. I've heard that there's nothing new under the sun, it's all in the retelling!
ReplyDeleteHey Gail, good to see you Skippy! I love a good dose of humor myself, and I still love horror, too... Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteHi Jamie,
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I am a sucker for HEA endings in romance. Well, I only read romance, so all the books I read should have HEA. It is amazing that sometimes they don't, then I feel like throwing the book against the wall because my expectations haven't been met.
Regards
Margaret.
Don't throw your Kindle, Margaret! LOL Thanks for commenting. ~ Jamie
ReplyDeleteI am a sucker for an HEA. I get so mad when I've been invested in every page and then get let down at the end. If a movie doesn't have an HEA but maybe a HFN, I always expect a sequal. Love Pretty Woman, I don't know how many times I've seen it now and wish I could write lines like the 88 inches of therapy.
ReplyDeleteLOL Victoria, I do agree. I can write some lines like that, but I'm not quick enough to come up with them in real life. Have to stew over them on the computer for a while! Thanks for commenting. Jamie
ReplyDeleteKnow I'm late getting to this but I've got to have HEA in books, movies and preferably in real life too or I want my money back with the first two. Can't get a refund on the last so have to put up with it and make each day as happy as possible.
ReplyDeleteI can't pay to be made unhappy or uncomfortable with open/miserable endings.
Nice topic Jamie...strummed the right chords in my heart.