My neighbor's kid asked me why I write sad endings and I didn't have a good answer

I was at a backyard barbecue last Saturday and this 14 year old girl who lives next door asked why every story I share online ends with someone losing something. She said 'don't you ever just want things to work out?' and I honestly froze. I've been writing prompts for years and I always default to tragedy or bittersweet stuff. It made me wonder if I'm just scared of writing something happy or if I think conflict equals quality. Has anyone else noticed they lean too hard into dark endings?

3 comments

3 Comments

hannah_wells9d ago

Three years ago at a community college writing workshop, someone called out my third story in a row where the main character died and I had no real excuse either. It hit me that I was using sadness as a shortcut to make stories feel important. Now I literally have a note on my desk that says "try a happy ending" because sometimes you have to trick yourself out of old habits.

fiona_kim979d ago

Oh man, I feel this hard. I had a similar wake up call a few years back when I realized every painting I did was this melancholy gray-blue nothing. Someone pointed out it looked like I was trying too hard to be deep. So I set a dumb rule for myself: paint the first thing that makes you smile that day. Ended up with this goofy painting of a raccoon eating a slice of pizza and it actually got more attention than anything gloomy I'd done. @hannah_wells, sometimes we gotta weaponize simple joy against our own instincts. The "try a happy ending" note is genius, honestly. It's like training wheels for a different creative muscle.

jordan_henderson139d ago

Hannah that actually made me stop scrolling, I had to read it twice. Three stories in a row where the main character dies? That is wild. I mean I get it, I think we all fall into ruts where we think pain equals depth, but jeez, three in a row at a workshop takes guts to even bring. And then to have someone call it out like that, that must have stung but clearly it worked. The note on your desk is a good idea, sometimes you need to force yourself out of those patterns because left to your own devices you'll just keep killing people off like it's going out of style.