Almost all romances on the market today have a Happily Ever After (HEA) ending. Most publishers request you to have it in this genre. The big presses do require it. We read to escape reality, and readers want to have the protagonist and her love to be together in the end.
Yet does love truly conquer all? In reality, no matter how much we wish it, it does not. There are many sad real life stories out there. A lot of heartache and heartbreak. Surely this isn't what readers want... right?
Some of the most popular love stories of all time are tragedies: Romeo & Juliet, Cleopatra & Mark Anthony, Lancelot & Guinevere, Tristan & Isolde, Orpheus & Eurydice.
Why do people love these tragedies? There are great characters and magnificent stories. The forbidden love, the love that was lost, the lover scorned. Sacrifice, betrayal, and murder. Fierce passion and immense sorrow.
I never set out to write tragedies. If a book I'm reading doesn't have a HEA, sometimes I do feel frustrated. Yet there are a few books I've read that have been magnificent without the boy gets girl ending. If the story is great and the ending fits, I will love a tragedy as much as a HEA.
Paranormal romance is a genre that challenges the HEA more often than any other romance sub-genre. The supernatural elements bring forth many possibilities, and the readers don't seem opposed to a dark ending as much as readers in other genres would be.
I'm a firm believer in never forcing an ending. I have a few manuscripts that do not have a HEA. Yet they have the endings that are right for the stories. It makes them difficult to sell. Even if they were the most brilliant stories of the decade, without that HEA, most editors won't read the manuscripts.
Do you like to read tragedies? And if so, why?
