As I go through the process of writing my book I can’t help but think about what makes a good ending for a horror story. Sometimes you’ll see them end happily for the heroes which usually entails them surviving through the entire story. You’ll also see stories that end bad for everyone involved. Then there’s the gray area where the hero might survive, but at great loss. Calling it a happy or sad ending is debatable in those cases.
I’ve had conversations before about which type of ending makes for a good horror story. It’s all subjective, though. Sometimes when everyone involved meets their demise or suffers great loss, then that can make for a great ending as it invokes the meaning of true horror. It’s not fair to say, however, that when people survive the many life threatening situations in a horror story that it’s not a “true” horror story. As long as it provides good scares and makes sense then a “happy” ending can provide a sense of relief for the reader/viewer. It just depends on your preference.
I don’t want to reveal what my preference is in fear of spoiling how my story’s going to play out. My friends might have an idea, but just because I prefer a specific type of ending doesn’t mean that my story will reflect my preference. I will say that I like any type of ending as long as the story’s good and it gives me a good scare, but I do grant more weight toward a specific ending over the other. Ponder that.
So what do you think makes a great ending to a horror story? Do you like happy, sad or the gray area type of endings? Feel free to use the comments section to express your preference. Stuff like this can make for interesting debate!
A quick update on my current story. Things have been slow going this past week, but I finally finished up Chapter 6 of the first draft. I hope to have the next couple of chapters completed before next week.
That’s all for now.