Story Building (Part V): when the ending still hurts

How do you write a settled story without the ending being “happily-ever-after?” Is it possible to find resolution even in pain? Those are the questions I closed with in last week’s post, Story Building (Part IV): story currency, and today, I will do my best to answer them.

Absolutes, Morals, Ideals, Theme

There are a few terms you may have heard me or other writers use, and they all intertwine. Absolutes, morals, and ideals are all words that express the same thing—the lines between good and evil—and when you’ve found the main type of opposites that your story centers around, you’ve found part of your theme.

I won’t spend time arguing the ideas of relativity versus absolutes. For the purpose of understanding this post, know that I am coming from a point of belief that there is no relativity. There are absolutes and truths; there are solid divides between good and evil; there are qualities and their opposites. Dan Schwabauer, creator of the One Year Adventure Novel does a phenomenal job of explaining this, and I recommend you check out what he has to say in his curriculum.

In story, as in life, there cannot be relativity and resolution side-by-side. Good or evil is what will ultimately win in the end. It is not subject to what the reader feels. There is an end that the author creates, and that is what is.

What is the main opposite that your story revolves around? What two conflicting characteristics, virtues, or ideals define your story? What positive ideal opposes what negative ideal? Is it peace versus turmoil, selflessness versus selfishness, truth versus lies, etc.?

In the end, one of those ideas will overcome the other and that is how we know the story is over.

Sparks in the Dark

In Drowning in the Dark (Part III): Lighting the Candle, I wrote that light or hope is “the goodness despite the evil, the triumph of truth over lies, the courage while in the fear. It’s love overcoming hate, selflessness giving till it can’t give anymore, and peace when the world is crashing down.”

Even in life when it feels like the evil wins, we know the story isn’t over yet. The Bible shows us that ultimately, good always overcomes evil. Your story can reflect that. It’s like a candle. Even the smallest spark breaks the greatest blackness. Goodness or light always wins in the end, even when it hurts.

Resolution in the Pain

The satisfaction in the end of a painful story comes because the MC’s positive ideal (i.e. selflessness) overcomes the villain’s negative ideal (i.e. selfishness). Even if the story goal is left unfulfilled, if the hero sacrifices that goal in order to stay true to his positive ideal, your story will feel complete.

In my Vietnam War novel, Defending That Which is Not Mine (in its current state), the African American MC (Tim) is looking for recognition and honor from the whites around him. He saves the life of his racist sergeant, but the sergeant figuratively spits in his face after it’s over. Tim loses his arm in the rescue because his sergeant injures him so badly it requires amputation. But Tim doesn’t retaliate. He forgives. Even though Sergeant Sanders doesn’t honor or recognize Tim (the story goal), there’s still resolution because forgiveness is what wins in the end.

The story doesn’t need to be satisfied by Tim killing the villain. The villain’s death isn’t necessary because if Tim killed Sanders out of spite, we’d call him a jerk and the story would be a waste of our time. But because Tim sticks to his ideal, the story is over in a satisfying way.

The same happens in Unbroken. Louie Zamperini doesn’t kill The Bird. But he endures to the end. His courage overcomes the fear and despair that The Bird tries to plant.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t have a story where the story goal is fulfilled and/or the villain dies. But if that happens, it needs to occur in harmony with the triumph of the positive idea over the villain’s negative ideal.

This takes place in my fantasy novel, Lionel of Angrasté: Assassin of Love. (For those who don’t want major spoilers, PLEASE skip to the next heading, “Theme”).

Lionel is an assassin so scarred by atrocities of his past that he is terrified to let himself love anything or anyone. Despite him feeling like he’s hardening himself successfully, he unconsciously comes to trust the man he meant to kill (Erik).

At the end of the story, Lionel fights and kills the villain to protect Erik, but not before the villain injures him fatally. Lionel dies. He kills the villain, yes. But he also demonstrates the height of the positive ideal he didn’t know he had left in his heart: love. In dying for Erik, he gave the most sacrificial, purest, brotherly love any person could give.

Theme

At the start of this post, I said that once you found the two opposites that your story balances on, you’ve found the foundation for your theme. What is theme? Theme is the ultimate truth that your book displays:

·       True forgiveness covers the deepest of wounds.

·       Courage pulls us through the darkest of times.

·       Real love never hits a limit.

Portraying these truths in a believable, non-preachy way gets tricky, however. You’ve got to show them played out. You’ve got to present the extremes of both sides for the reader to believe that love actually never fails. You’ve got to show us the deepest hurt, the darkest cell, or the most bitter betrayal before we’ll believe you when you say, “Yes, true forgiveness holds nothing back.” You can’t tell us. We need to see it, figure it out, and accept it for ourselves, or we won’t believe it.

Another helpful tip for minimizing preachiness comes from Dan Schwabauer. He said, “The audience must accept the theme through the plot before the hero does or is willing to.”

Additionally, your theme intertwines with the consequences I talked about in my last post. We want to see the MC give everything, demonstrating the theme as true. If he doesn’t, we’ll lose hope that the good truly does overcome the evil.

So of course, the positive ideal will win out in the end. But you can’t let your reader know that. You’ve got to make them wonder. You’ve got to scare them into thinking that maybe the positive ideal isn’t powerful enough. What if the hero doesn’t stick to what he believes in? You’ve got to sow doubt in your reader’s mind. And how do you do that?

That’s what you’ll find out in next week’s post, Swordfights and Spitballs.

Until then, think about what opposing ideals your story might represent, and what theme that might translate into. Shoot me your questions, and I’ll look forward to chatting with you!

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You’ve got to show us the deepest hurt, the darkest cell, or the most bitter betrayal before we’ll believe you when you say, “Yes, true forgiveness holds nothing back.”

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