Have any idea what that means?

It's a "literary" term which means "Happily Ever After".

It's how most romance books end after all problems and issues have been solved and the two lovers can ride into the sunset, never more to be troubled.

I like those kinds of books. I want the two main characters to find the peace and happiness they so richly deserve. And I'd be disappointed if they didn't.

However, I'm also a fan of stories which don't end up with a nice, neat little bow. I like stories where folks still have angst, where the reader is left knowing, somewhere down the line -- though we may never get a chance to read it -- the couple will have even more trouble and might even end up losing one another to either death or to something -- or someone -- else. Stories that mirror life. Stories that are more realistic.

Did you know, though, that some authors who have written romance, have gotten hate mail from readers because the story didn't end HEA? I can't imagine ever writing an author and castigating them for something which sprang from their head. Maybe it's because I know how it is - the story is what the story is. But, really, don't people have anything better to do? Do all novels have to end the same way? I, for one, surely hope not. I would find it very difficult to pick up a new book if I thought it was going to be the same old thing.

I've told how I love historical novels, especially those written about real people -- how every time I pick up a Richard III novel, I always joke, "this is going to end badly". Of course, it is and I know it -- and I suppose if one ended well (unless it was a fantasy), then I'd be going, wait a minute, this one can't end HEA -- and I'd probably be put out about it. But I don't think, even in this case, I'd write a scathing letter to the person who wrote it. After all, fiction means, well, fiction, doesn't it?

Yes, I've reached the end of a book and been disappointed that it didn't end some other way. I've read a book, which was superb, then read a sequel and wanted to pitch it into the fire because it didn't go the way I anticipated. But, in the end, an author's vision is what it is and who am I to quibble?

Writing has taught me that. Anybody who has that much of a quibble with an author's choice should just go, well, read another book.

Edited 2 times by MLS859 Jul 19 08 8:42 PM.