The endings of stories…

[koslorollo]

I bring a series of questions…!

What sort of endings do you like to write for your stories?
If you had your druthers, what sort of ending to a long fanfic would you like to read?
Have you ever read a fanfic and wished it had a different ending?

Have you ever read a fanfic (that wasn't your own, teehee) more than once?

Comments

[archon_mentha]

1) They vary greatly, from 'everybody dies' to 'they all lived happily ever after.'

2) A satisfying ending. It doesn't have to be happy or hopeful, but there has to be a payoff equal to the buildup. For example, if a fic is all about a get-together/hookup with a very strong focus on the physical that just screams for a sex scene, and the author instead forces a fade to black or (even worse) rushes through the sex with cliche after cliche, then I am unsatisfied. (Disclaimer is that not many fics scream for sex scenes, and forcing sex into a story for no other reason than porn it is just as bad as the reverse - that's what PWP outtakes are for.)

3) Yes - see above.

4) All the time. I probably spend as much time re-reading favorites as I do reading new stories.

[tinpra]

Me feeling about endings in general, mine or other ppl's, is that the ending has to be satisfying. It may not be what I personally wanted, but it has to make sense base on the world and situation that were laid before me, and it has to bring some sense of closure to it. That's not to say that I have to know exactly how life goes on for these chars. For example, I just finished reading a fic that ends sorta abruptly (even by the author's own admission), but still manages to handle the Big Bad, grow the characters, and resolve a number of issues along the way. Everything isn't hunky-dory fine, but the ending doesn't leave feeling dangling. It was a good stopping point

[diabolicalfiend]

Evidentally, I tend to end them on cliffhanger, or at least leave a dangly thread at the end, should I decide to continue in the 'verse, or at least it feels more 'real' to me if not everything ends up tied up neatly.

Pretty much as above, sort of ending that make me feeling like the characters will have adventures after.

Yes.

I have but just the one. I tend to avoid reading something more than once, I generally have too good a memory.

[shiftyjake]

1. I haven't actually written much, but I've written enough to know that I'm really bad at coming up with endings. So far all my ideas seem to involve music in some way and as we all know, music don't work so well in print. Sigh. Back to the drawing board-- er, keyboard :)

2. Something cliff-hangery that leads to another fic. (I heart epic fanfic!)

3. Rarely. Fanfic usually isn't good enough to stand up to canon, so I don't read it like the ending is "canon". If that makes sense.

4. Yes, but so far only in the Buffy fandom.