And They Lived Happily Ever After by Connie Vines

Classical Meaning:
Live happily ever after. Spend the rest of one's life in happiness, as in romantic novels the hero and heroine end up marrying and then live happily ever after. This hyperbolic phrase ends many fairy tales. [ Mid-1800s ] The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary.

What Life Teaches Us:

Adulthood, however, brings knowledge that life is messier than stories. It does not deliver happy endings, if only because it does not deliver endings. Or at least, it only has one ending. ... When a story is described as having a happy ending it is easy to think of the happily-ever-after of a fairy tale.

Why do I cling to ‘happy ends’ even when I am not writing a romantic novel?

Fairy tales were a very important part of early modern popular culture. Not only did they provide people with much needed entertainment, they offered a means of exploring one’s most secret dreams and deepest anxieties. Beneath their enchanting exteriors, fairy tales contain certain recurrent emotional situations, which are actually quite primitive in nature. Shakespeare recognized this and drew on these popular tales in his plays not just for their entertaining story lines, but for their emotional models, too. This allowed him to connect with his audience on an intimate, perhaps subconscious level.


In the 2003 film adaptation of Peter Pan , Wendy describes the stories she’s been telling the Lost Boys as “adventures, in which good triumphs over evil,” to which Captain Hook sneers, “They all end in a kiss.” Like Wendy and the Lost Boys, millions of people escape into the world of fiction to find happily ever after endings. We cheer when the good guy defeats the villain. We applaud when true love conquers all. We find hope and encouragement in the fictional examples that peace and happiness await on the other side of seemingly insurmountable trials. Without doubt, happy endings are enjoyable, uplifting, and reaffirming.

…Are we squelching hope, beauty, and wonder? Or are we perhaps just exploring the opposite side of the same coin? Life is just as full of sadness as it is of happiness. To ignore that fact is to limit both our personal experience of the human existence and our ability to write truthfully about life. To cap every story with a happy ending is dishonesty to both ourselves and our readers. The moment fiction becomes dishonest is the moment it becomes useless. Novelist Aryn Kyle  comments in her article “In defense of sad stories” (The Writer, June 2011):




My novels (as do many other romance novels) deal with person growth and overcoming the odds, including life and death struggles, as well as, current social issues.  How those stories possibly end in a happily-ever-after?

Sad stories don’t have to be depressing stories.

 The stories that have broken my heart and changed my life are stories of great tragedy, but they’re also stories of great hope. That, right there, is where we find the true power of the sad story—because light always shines brightest in the darkness.



This is why my stories always end with a happily-ever-after.

I have a core belief, no matter how dark the moment, someone—be it Faith, or words from a friend, or a stranger, will offer guidance or give you the strength to face another day.
Before I type The End, I make certain my readers feel there is a happy future for my ‘characters’ and for themselves.



What story changed your life?  Fanned the dying spark of hope into a flame rekindling the fire in your soul; or mended your broken heart so you could reach for tomorrow?

What story did you need to hear when you were a child?  A teen? Finding your way as a young adult?

What happily-ever-after story do you need to read now?

While you reach for your happy-every-after in your life.  Remember to reach for a novel to feed that hope!

Happy Reading,

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WHEN WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE? By Vijaya Schartz

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WHITE TIGER on amazon
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A book can take you wherever and whenever you like. We are bound to the present, and the reality of our existence, but when we read, we can escape and learn about a different time and place. Some of us like to revel in the past, others prefer their entertainment in the future. As a historical and science fiction author and fan, I love both… and to me, they are very similar.

Some readers dream about living in slower times, simpler times… when people worked with their hands, and took the time to plant trees, grow their own food, smell the flowers and bake their own bread. Sounds idyllic, right? As writers, however, we have the responsibility to research the period, discover the truth, and write the reality of those times. The people in those days died much younger. Swords didn’t kill as many as automatic guns, but there was also tyranny, social inequalities, enslavement, exploitation, revolutions, famines, pestilences, the din of battle, the smell of horse sweat and burning homes... vultures swooping over gory battlefields. You get the picture.

CURSE OF THE LOST ISLE MEDIEVAL CELTIC LEGENDS SERIES ON AMAZON

Other readers dream of future times, when we have resolved our petty differences, to explore the confines of space in shiny starships and establish colonies on faraway planets. It also sounds good... until we realize that space is a dangerous, inhospitable place, and we are not alone out there. Our prejudices now apply to other species we call aliens. Our world may have expanded, but the main conflicts remain the same. Competing for essential resources, survival vs. greed… sounds familiar? Except that the stakes are higher, since our weapons can destroy entire planets.

ANGEL FIERCE
AZURA CHRONICLES
ON AMAZON

BLACK DRAGON SET
ON A SPACE STATION
ON AMAZON

 

Whenever and wherever we are, there is good and evil, courage and cowardice, selflessness and greed… and whether it’s a human or an alien world, conflicts will arise. Which is good for us writers, because without conflict there is no story. I’m often told that my imagination knows no bounds, but to me, writing a story is only a matter of logic. I start from what I know from extensive research, then I put myself in my characters’ shoes, sandals, or combat boots. Who are these people? How do they live? What do they want? What do they fear? Who do they love? Then I live their lives in my head, like a 3D movie, and I write their struggles, hopes, defeats, victories, and rewards. 

I have been known to write action, adventure and romance, featuring fierce women, brave heroes, and cats. These are only a few of my latest releases. Find the full list on my website or on my author page at each retailer below:

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Vijaya Schartz, author
 Strong heroines, brave heroes, romance with a kick
 www.vijayaschartz.com
  

Thoughts on a movie-Tricia McGill

Find all my books here on my BWL Author page

The other day I watched a movie called ‘Green Book’. I previously had no idea what this movie was about or what to expect from it. Being brought up in London in the 40s and onwards I was ignorant about racial prejudice and its effect on people. I should rephrase that. I knew about religious prejudice of course, as my mother had strong opinions about certain religions and I could never really understand this, and still do not. I had no idea how her opinions were formed or why. It was just something I never questioned. Ideally, we all want to live in a world where all races and colours get on with each other and find a way to live peaceably together, but it seems inevitable that this wish may never come to pass.

The movie is set in the 60s and concentrates on a journey taken by Don Shirley, a musical genius I have to admit I had never heard about. An extremely talented Jamaican-American, he was set on touring the Deep South in the pre-Civil Rights era. The Green Book in the title of the movie contained information on the places a black traveller could safely stay or dine while touring that part of the country. Thank goodness, times have changed. The sound track contains many tunes that were popular in that era, and added a great atmospheric background to the film. Details on the soundtrack can be found here:

 https://open.spotify.com/album/4VgBFfzmGO4xN6FwkuznGS

The driver/protector he hired was a nightclub bouncer called by all Tony Lip, and the differences between the two men is stark. They became unlikely friends by the end of the movie. Tony’s wife, Delores, was a delightful woman who loved her man despite his brash and often crude manner. For me one of the standout parts of the movie were the love letters Tony sent back to Delores, which Don coached him on how to write.

The main reason this story resonated with me is that in my latest release, Challenging Mountains, I dwell briefly on the struggle our Indigenous Australian people suffered in the early days when settlers took over the land they had nurtured and called their own for centuries. When Tim sets out to travel across the land from Sydney to the new settlement down south that would become Melbourne, Jo, a headstrong young woman intent on finding adventure, joins him. She brings along a companion who was taken from his family as a child and sees this journey as a chance to catch up with members of his lost tribe. But after years of living amongst white folk, he finds he has lost his true identity and belongs totally with neither the black or the white.

A short clip from the book:

The native lad sat alone, his back against a solid eucalyptus, so Tim went to his side. Along the way, the boy had barely spoken more than a few words. What words he did utter could not be criticised, for he sounded as if he too had shared in Jo’s lessons and was as well-spoken as some men Tim knew who had attended King’s School alongside him. “Tell me, Billy…” Tim said as he sat beside him. “Do you have a notion of where you might find members of your lost kinsfolk?”

Billy shook his dark head. His hair was as black as the night sky and as curly as a sheep fleece. “No sir, I was told my people came from down south.” He rubbed his chin as he shrugged. “A lot of my kind have been killed, so perhaps I may never find my close kin.”

“That’s sad.” Tim meant that sincerely. He could not comprehend a life without knowing his family, or where he came from.

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