I just saw this novel I that was interested in until I saw that it had a Bad Ending. I looked up the spoiler and people die and everyone is miserable at the end. I'm okay with reading sad and angusty stuff as long as there is a happy ending at the end. If not I just feel uncomfortable. To people who like reading these kinds of works, why?
don't like them....but i guess some people like when other people are more unfortunate than them.....
Desensitizing themselves to the tragedy that's life? IDK. I only like HE; life gives me so much shit that I don't wanna see any of it in my fantasies, too.
feels relatable, sometimes bad endings happens in real life. also, situations forced by author sucks both in forced good ending or forced bad ending. and forced good endings are common enough that it feels fresher to have a bad ending that makes sense, than a forced good ending.
Sometimes bad endings not entirely that "bad". There's a visual novel (forgot the name) where you can achieve harem route but you can satisfy all their need then the story went straight to where you are left alone by the heroines. The bad ending here teaches you being a playboy is not something everyone can accept. You can call it morale lesson or any terms that fit to describe it.
When you read a lot of novels and stories, the usual protagonist wins the day gets boring. it would be even better if it was a surprise and not included in a tag. I don't want a story where the ending is already expected, I want something that will teach me how things could go. There's an infinite variation on how life can go, and most of the times a question has multiple answers, and i am way past reading stories about a hero always making the most perfect decision with fabulous results. It's like reading about perfect utilitarian economy.
I think the only time i was ok with a bad ending was because it made sense and there really wasn't any other logical way to go about it, and after all the shit the main character went through, it was a relief for me and a relief the main character didn't have to deal with it anymore...didn't read anymore tragic endings after that one tho. This one Record of the Fallen Vampire
'It's a journey not a destination' for me, I never look up for novels ending ever, that would spoiled me and probably make me drop the novel regardless of the ending. and most normal happy ending are forgettable I rarely remember novel happy endings I read some years ago but some bad ends are unforgettable.
I guess it depends on pace and tone of story. Tragedies can be just as great as stories with happy endings if done effectively. Spoiler like Beseech the Devil for instance
The "worst" bad ending I find acceptable was "Princess Mononoke": The movie was dark, a lot of (likable) characters died and in the end the hero and heroine decided to "just" be neighbors. But I was fine with all that. Sad, but fine. The most memorable bad ending (and definitely unacceptable) was "Bridge to Terabithia". Spoiler: Bad ending The movie is about a boy and his female classmate/neighbor playing in their imaginary fantasy world They were using a swinging rope across a small stream a few feet below to travel to their imaginary fantasy world (in a forest). He had the hots for their arts teacher, she was kinda jealous. So, when said art teacher invited him to visit an art gallery with her (because she thought that his drawings were good & wanted to interest him in art or sth.), he did not tell the FL. After a joyful outing with his teacher, he returns home only to be told that FL tried to swing across a stream using a rope that broke and fell, hitting her head. And since no one knew where she was, she wasn't found in time she died. To this day, I want to strangle the bastard that thought it a good idea to advertise this as a kids movie. Bad endings are a lot less problematic if you expect them. A horror movie with a bad ending is fine. Scary maybe, but what do you expect from a horror movie. But unexpected bad endings? Screw your "realism", I wanted to use this story to escape from the real world for a few hours to a place where I can just enjoy myself peacefully, not bawl my eyes out and hate the fact that I came across your story.
bad endings are fine as long as they are a consequence of the story development, in this case the satisfactions comes from a great destruction of what could have not been, like watching stuff burning