Post by account_disabled on Jan 2, 2024 2:11:45 GMT -4
When I talked about the writer's message , in a comment a reader said that a story must follow the canons of cinema, that is, a happy ending. Just last July I saw a movie, Stone , with Robert De Niro and Edward Norton. Well, it doesn't have a happy ending, at least for De Niro, who is the protagonist anyway. And it's certainly not the only film that doesn't end well. The novel I Am Legend does not have a happy ending. Not even the film that inspired it has it. The happy ending is neither a canon nor a rule established a priori. It is the author's choice , which in my opinion should be made based on the story, how the events must evolve and how the characters must react.
When to establish the ending of the story In one of his maxims, which appeared in Marginalia , Edgar Allan Poe wrote: I cannot help thinking that novel writers in general can, from time to time, profit from the teachings of the Chinese, who, though they build their houses on a slope, have sense Special Data enough to begin their books at the end. . I don't know what Poe wanted to say about the sloping houses of the Chinese, but I think I understand what he meant by starting a book from the end and some time ago I talked about it here on the blog. The end of the story must be written first. Perhaps Poe meant that the author immediately decides how his story should end , whether good or bad for the protagonist.
It is something that must be decided in the plot , perhaps already starting from the idea. Yes, starting right from the idea. At least I think that's how it is for me. When I have a story in mind, when the idea for a story is born, it is as if the end has already been written, at least in general terms. And the ones I would like to write don't all end well. They don't all have to end well. Which stories should have a happy ending? Are there novels in which a happy ending is really an obligation? A sort of rule that the writer must respect, otherwise his story isn't part of that specific literary genre? Yes, these obligations exist and like it or not, that's how it is. When I talked about the beauty of narrative genres , in a comment a reader said that the romance genre must have a happy ending , otherwise it is not a romance.
When to establish the ending of the story In one of his maxims, which appeared in Marginalia , Edgar Allan Poe wrote: I cannot help thinking that novel writers in general can, from time to time, profit from the teachings of the Chinese, who, though they build their houses on a slope, have sense Special Data enough to begin their books at the end. . I don't know what Poe wanted to say about the sloping houses of the Chinese, but I think I understand what he meant by starting a book from the end and some time ago I talked about it here on the blog. The end of the story must be written first. Perhaps Poe meant that the author immediately decides how his story should end , whether good or bad for the protagonist.
It is something that must be decided in the plot , perhaps already starting from the idea. Yes, starting right from the idea. At least I think that's how it is for me. When I have a story in mind, when the idea for a story is born, it is as if the end has already been written, at least in general terms. And the ones I would like to write don't all end well. They don't all have to end well. Which stories should have a happy ending? Are there novels in which a happy ending is really an obligation? A sort of rule that the writer must respect, otherwise his story isn't part of that specific literary genre? Yes, these obligations exist and like it or not, that's how it is. When I talked about the beauty of narrative genres , in a comment a reader said that the romance genre must have a happy ending , otherwise it is not a romance.