Lindsay Beers: "Dear Vina Jie-Min Prasad: Beyond Just the Words"

Dear Vina Jie-Min Prasad: Beyond Just the Words

By Lindsay Beers

... and so, the prince and the underprivileged woman got married  and lived happily ever after!

Expected. We've all heard of stories with endings like the above. They are predicted from a mile away, even if it's not so blatant about it in stories such as Cinderella. Happy ending aren't so satisfactory without a twist, or something to keep you thinking over after the story ends.

In Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny, Sam and company did indeed get their wish of moving towards Accelerationism, but that's not what makes the ending satisfying and interesting. What got me giddy was the interactions between Sam and Taraka. Sam was never a god, he says it himself. The concept of the divisions between human and gods is, to me, the most fascinating part of the book. It is Taraka's entire acceptance that Sam is a god, even when Sam blatantly denies it and lays out the reasons he is oh so human, that has me occasionally thinking back to the Lord of Light.

In endings, there can't be loose ends or frustrating questions about the progression of the story afterwards. Sometimes this can go well, a 'what actually happened' ending so to speak, but if it isn't intentional and well thought out, it's just irritating. For an example, I bring up Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling. In the end, Harry defeats Voldemort, and everything is well ... or so you think. The scene cuts to the future, and Harry has married Ginny, has children, with frankly questionable names, and everything seems to be going right with the world. I don't actually think the biggest issue has been solved. Sure, Voldemort was terrible, but there is a reason I hated Umbridge so much more than Voldemort. The Wizard community of Britain is corrupt and has so many issues. No one is denying that. What about people like Remus Lupin? For being a werewolf, he had to leave his teaching position. The Wizardry community treats non-humans like shit, and the mere fact that something like Umbridge and the support of Voldemort could happen, makes me think that there are more issues than just the corrupt minister of magic, Cornelius Fudge. Cornelius, to me, was more of a symbol. A symbol of the mindset the government takes.

A good ending is one that makes you want to see more of the universe it created. After I've finished a story, I often find myself daydreaming of different things that could happen in that world. Of course, the bigger an impact a story had on me, the more I will do this. The endings can make a story, and decide how much I enjoyed it. Tom Godwin's The Cold Equations wouldn't have had an impact on me if the girl lived. Such an ending would have felt out of place, unlikely, and against the theme of the story.

Complete immersion into a story and its world makes it  incredibly satisfying, and such an extremely important piece of the writing as the ending can decide how much I enjoyed the it and how invested I am in it.