If I'm writing the greatest love story of all time, should it end in joy or tragedy?

Question

Should one or both of them die? How so?

My characters could go either way right now.

After all, what greater sacrifice can there be than to give up your life?

Answer 1

Make it a tragedy......phychologically, people consider tragedy as an excitement. Happy endings make people happy and cool but they just feel good and forget about it. But if you end it in a tragedy and if it is powerful enough to make the reader cry or make them shocked, they'll remeber it and think of it for weeks. they'll even talk about the book with their friends and your book will be a best seller. All the best.....

P.S - If you end it in a tragedy.......be sure to reserve a copy for me ;-)

Answer 2

I think it could end in both joy and tradgedy. For example, they could both die, but with that comes the promise of a reunion in the afterlife. Or if only one dies, the other could live the rest of their life alone. That may sound bad, but isn't it joyous becuase their love triumphs and is never destroyed by one preson's interest in another. Joy and tradgedy don't have to be black and white. In any case, if I read this love story, I won't want a perfect ending, nor will I want a completely depressing. What I'm saying is that you could end it tragically, but leave something hopefull at the end, something that tempers the tradgedy.

Answer 3

I would suggest putting the tragedy just past the middle. Like the man leaves for a business trip and the wife/lover hears his plane has crashed and she is wracked with guilt over not saying "I Love You" or not kissing him on his way out the door. She grievs and has no idea how to go on alone. She puts the bottle of sleeping pills next to her bed and pours some out on the nightstand trying to get the guts to take them all so she can join her knight in shining armor on the other side. She takes a handful and then a few more to be certain. Time is lost to her as she wakes up in a hospital with her man lying beside her and rocking her back and forth while sobbing because he too thinks he's lost her. His shaking shoulders wake her up and she asks why he is crying. He just laughs, says welcome back, they kiss, Tragedy and a beautiful ending. Just a suggestion and I hope your book succeeds. Thanks. Forgot to mention that the airport had the flight number wrong so his plane didn't crash after all.

Answer 4

An interesting question.

Essentially, if it employs the classical convention of "comedic" love, such as Aristotle would have enjoyed, then the story must inevitably end neatly and happily, as this convention demands a beginning, a crisis, and a resolution.

If, however, you want to keep it vital and modern (in all their senses), then employ a dissatisfactory ending, which not only surprises the reader, but also gives you a nice opportunity for continuing the story in another book.

Answer 5

Either tragedy or happily ever after could work it all depends on your characters and your plot though. Is it plausible that they die? will it make the ending too melodramatic? If it ends happily will it be too predictable? Would the characters be the type to actually give their lives?

It's not merely about living or dying it's about the message you're trying to send and the characters you have developed.

Answer 6

I think tragedy is overrated lately... see all the horror movies they have come up with lately, most of them end in tragedy lately.. my point is the world needs a bit of optimism... if you want to write a love story I suggest you end it with joy but let us (the readers) suffer through all the drama... before that happens... think titanic but with a happy ever after ending :)

Answer 7

This is really a silly question. The impostant thing isn't if they die or not. What matters is the intensity of the story, the vocabulary used and the message you are trying to send. If what you are trying to tell to the world is extremely profound and has not been so oftenly told, if you are presenting it in an extremely interesting and maybe even philosophical way and if you are expressing yourselg coherently and richly, than you have to kill nobody. Or maybe you do?

Answer 8

Romeo and Juliet is the superb love tale. the tale states that maximum of Shakespeare's performs he did not write, they were others performs that he stole. the reason he's known is because he might want to take that persons artwork and make it tell each little thing inspite of no putting. Romeo and Juliet is the superb love tale because of how Shakespeare wrote it.

Answer 9

I can't write it for you but I would advise that you consider your theme instead of your plot when you decide. The end should support not just your story but what you are trying to say by telling the story.

Or... write two endings and play around with each during your re writes.

Answer 10

From a personal standpoint, and from a consumer I believe a happier ending is more likly to please. Action, death, and sorrow can be incorporated in the plot but leaving people with that feel good feeling, now that is what the greatest love story of all time will accomplish.