On Living Happily Ever After

[rolanni]

I begin with a disclaimer:  I am not a writer of genre Romance.

This likely says more about me than it does about genre Romance, and really, for a while I thought that I would write Romance.  It could’ve gone that way; my reading, ‘way back when mass market paperbacks cost 35, 45, 60 U.S. cents, was split between SF and Romance, with a hearty side of Mystery.

At that time, Romance was pretty much all relationship, all the time; and SF was pretty much action-adventure with some cool shiny things tossed in for squee, and relationships both few and shallow. Obviously, this over-simplifies, but grant that the past is a distant country and we did things differently there.

What I found as a reader, ‘way back then, was that each genre was wanting in something that I did want — more action in the love story, and more love in the action story.  It could, as I said, have gone either way when I finally uttered that Fateful and Explosive Sentence “I can do better than that!” which graduates Readers to Writers.  But, when I landed, I came down on the side of SF, and have ever since plotted to include relationships (not just romantic relationships) in my work.

It might have been that the action-adventure in SF that seduced me, but I think, now, that I knew subconsciously even as a proto-writer that I could not do my best work under the constraints of HEA.

For those who are not Romance readers, “HEA” means “Happily Ever After” and it was for many years the mandated Romance novel ending.  I have been on Romance writer lists where the HEA is often a topic of intense conversation.  I think that perhaps the field is expanded enough now — and enough of the newer writers who came down on the Romance side of the equation had a love of SF/F or action-adventure — that there is a little give, some room for ambiguous endings.

Notice that I say ambiguous.  In genre literature it is of course one of the writer’s goals to leave the reader wanting more of this.  Therefore, a story that ends “and then they all died” (while apparently appealing to a certain subset of readers) really isn’t the way to go if the writer envisions a long-term career.

Ideally, a genre story gives the reader hope for the future, and a nice kick of satisfaction — the hero and heroine pledge their love; the murderer is discovered; the world is saved — each according to its own peculiar and particular rules.

Ideally, the ending of any particular story is predicated by everything that has gone before.  The ending ought not devalue the characters, nor their sacrifices and lessons.  This is why (IMNSHO) not all stories can have happy endings.

I was on a panel discussing SF Romance and Romantic SF at Oasis.  One of the very interesting questions posed by the moderator was how each of the panelists made their characters worthy of a happy ending.

This is a question that makes sense to a Romance writer, and to Romance readers.  The characters will have a happy ending; it’s mandated by the form. Therefore an important part of the tension of the story is how the reward will be earned.

In SF — and in Fantasy — it is by no means certain that the characters will achieve a personal happy ending.  They may do everything “right,” grow morally and spiritually; be brave, upstanding, true; see the resolution of their efforts fulfilled — and still be denied a Happy Ever After with the love(s) of their life.

I personally believe that this is. . .truer, and more resonant.  Sadly, I have read SF Romances (Science Fiction written from the stance of the conventions of the Romance genre) where the mandated HEA warped the entire shape of the story and negated everything that the characters had achieved.

In Romantic Science Fiction (Science Fiction that includes a strong Romance sub-plot while adhering to the conventions of the SF genre), the lovers may part, if the plot so demands, perhaps to meet again — or not –  when their respective work is done, thus allowing the character’s growth to continue beyond the end of the story.

One of the many interesting things said by my co-panelists at Oasis was the observation by Gennita Low, who writes espionage romances, that she tries to give her characters a happy ending, while realizing that — given the nature of her characters, in this example a professional assassin — the happy ending cannot be forever, or even, perhaps, for very long.

This felt true to me.  “And they lived happily ever after, for as long as they could,” is something I can accept, as a reader, and as a writer.

Notice that the Liaden Universe® novels tend to deliver “And they lived happily ever after, for as long as they could,” endings.  Given our characters, and the lives they lead, it does sometimes happen that a major character will die.  We try to keep these deaths to a minimum, and to handle them as respectfully as possible — by which I mean, as the character would have wished.  But!  Our characters know they live dangerously, and they know that sometimes things Just Go Horribly Wrong. On more than one occasion one character or another has given voice to a variation of, “Life isn’t safe; people die here.”  Which is something that we all know to be true.

As a writer, I would say that this knowledge increases the tension for the characters and for the reader, but it’s certainly not something that I could get away with in a HEA mandated Romance novel.

So, that’s why I write SF/F, and why I’m interested in the shift toward a middle ground, as Romance woos SF and SF tries to commit to relationships.

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[tessie614.livejournal.com]

And that's why we come to the Liaden universe time and time again. Each character grows and strives and sometimes doesn't succeed. But they are always interesting, intelliigent and fun to read about.
Thanks for all the wonderful hours I've spent in the Liaden universe. M&D was wonderful and am looking forward to GS

Edith

[sleary.livejournal.com]

The strict adherence to the HEA is one of the reasons I dip into romance from time to time, but can't live there. I much prefer the more realistic ambiguous endings.

I have just made with the clicky-clicky, and acquired one of Ms. Low's books.

HEA

[dvdscar.livejournal.com]

Kind of along those same lines, a few years ago Conestoga in Tulsa had the Fangs, Fur and Fey paranormal writers group do a mini-con inside the Conestoga con. One of their panels dealt with the differences between writing paranormal "romance" and writing straightforward SF or F with romantic themes. At the end of the hour, the only thing they were in agreement on was that in paranormal romance the relationship trumps everything. If the main characters haven't triumphed in their love relationship by the end of the book, the book fails. It doesn't matter how good the plot and storytelling are, if the relationship fails, the book fails. Contrary-wise, they also admitted that from their worldview, the plot could have holes you could drive a starship through, but if the relationship succeeded, the story succeeded.

Needless to say, most of the SF fans and writers in the room (including yours truly) disagreed with them. :-)

Re: HEA

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I've also heard that the Occam Razor for "Is it SFR or is it Romantic SF?" is when the romance resolves within the plot. If the relationship resolves last among the story's problems, then the book is an SFR.

It was this reasoning that allowed both Local Custom and Scout's Progress to win awards for Best Futuristic Romance from an RWA chapter whose precise name escapes me at the moment.

Re: HEA

[peanut13171.livejournal.com]

"they also admitted that from their worldview, the plot could have holes you could drive a starship through, but if the relationship succeeded, the story succeeded."

Yeah, I've noticed that and it's why I won't read paranormal, futuristic or any kind of SFR. Also, most (not all) of the writers are crap at world-building.

Re: HEA

[readinggeek451]

Same here. I will make the occasional exception, when the writer *isn't* crap at world-building, but that's extremely rare.

HEAs

[chipwyn.livejournal.com]

Rolanni

The acronym you are looking for is HFN--Happy For Now. And that is an acceptable ending in Romancelandia. And it often the most realistic ending for stories in the SF, Paranormal, Romantic Suspense branches of Greater Romance. We, the readers, hope the Now in their HFN lasts for a good long while, even while realizing that it might not.

Re: HEAs

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

The acronym you are looking for is HFN--Happy For Now

Thank you for this; it's a new acronym for me.

On the HEA

[rylmandus.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

I'm also trying to wrap my head around the demand/expectation for guaranteed HEA's: http://wp.me/p41t9-FQ

Granted, I enjoy the fairy tale format, too. But like you, I want to know why is *this* character is getting a happy ending when that worthiness was never shown in the story.

(And I'm very unhappy with how Disney completely subverted Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" to force their idea of a happy ending.)

Re: On the HEA

[(Anonymous)]

I think most romance readers would say the HEA is an expectation in romance just as the solving of the mystery is a requirement of the mystery novel. In fact, a romance will garner bad reviews if readers think the characters did NOT earn their ending, e.g., one feels sure they will break up in six weeks or the relationship is stable but unhealthy. But I wouldn't read a locked-room mystery if the author might well say on the last page, "hell, I don't know how it was done and neither does my detective or anyone else?" If a writer can't get these people their plausible HEA, they shouldn't label it a romance (understood as a contemporary genre classification--not getting into literary history here).

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

Just finished my first inhalation of Mouse and Dragon. Yum.

[gryphonlsb.livejournal.com]

I do love the as long as they could bit. The end of Princess Bride (the book) that I thought was awesome was after they rode off on the white horses all hell broke loose. I wish they had left that for the movie because it made it that much better. I explain to people the Liad books mostly by the amazing love stories that are never easy. They are always paid for in sweat and blood.

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.... I suppose it depends on your personal flexibility of "Happily Ever After."

For example, in a series, you're bound to get individual books where the characters are left in a precarious position, but you trust that at the end, it all works out. It would never occur to me that your Liaden books DIDN'T have HEA. Because no matter what bad thing happens (and yes, there are plenty of them out there) to the characters after the book ends, I feel that the characters have proven they will be able to face that thing better and stronger for the relationships they have built and proven over the course of the book. And after all, isn't that what happiness really is? Snatching those moments of joy when we can, rather than giving in to pessimism and despair?

I loathe and despise, with a depth of vitriol otherwise reserved for discussions of extreme-wing politics, the idea that "Happily Ever After" MUST include marriage and children, and there is never ever a harsh word or problem ever again for the rest of their lives. There are books that have the stupid epilogue of the happy couple bouncing a baby a year later talking about how everything in their lives are wonderful now that make me want to rip the offending pages out of the book. That's not happiness. That's replacing real characters with Stepford Characters, and declaring that lack of conflict (as well as lack of original thought or any sort of novelty) is happiness. It's stultification.

Whew. How'd this soap box get under my feet? Stepping down, now...

Science Fiction Romance

[capricchio.livejournal.com]

Foof. Even old science fiction had relationships in them, or at least the ones you would bother to read again did. I do like the stories where the characters developed real personalities and 'earned' the love/friendship/respect of the other characters. And yes, I'm sad when one of those characters in a series dies but glad if they went out in an honorable fashion. (Man, it is hard to type with a cat laying on your arm purring.) I hate when a favorite character gets splattered just to move the plot along. I read the liaden Universe again and again becasue I like the people in them and see some new aspect when I go back and read both novels and chapbooks again. Good stuff all around. I may have to re-read Balance of Trade in preparation for Ghost Ship. :)