Comments on: Silver linings, hurricanes, and umbrellas–a question

By: Bradly Baird

Bradly Baird — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:12:16 +0000

I often think that the happy ending is too easy and that writers generally run out of steam or haven’t fully thought the thing through to a realistic and inevitable conclusion. A happy ending generally gives one a nice warm and fuzzy feeling, but it rarely feels genuine (cinema is the biggest purveyor of happy ending tripe).

I am certainly not against the happy ending, but my feelings are that most give the audience an unrealistic sense of what happiness really is.

Too often in Mormon lit and culture, the happy ending comes with the conversion or some moment of revelation. The troubling thing about it is that conversion and revelation always signal the beginning of the journey and not the end (as God reveals a path that we must then make sacrifices to follow).

So, great, let’s have “happy” endings in our literature and movies, but they need to be grounded in reality, inevitable, and certainly genuine in their sentiment and pathos. Anything else is laziness on the part of the author, and probably one of the reasons why so much of our Mormon lit winds up being sentimental goop and false in inclination.

By: Laura Craner

Laura Craner — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:55:19 +0000

Angela and Lora– I think you guys are right about it being difficult to translate those kind of experiences into a linear, standard writing format. I do think, though, that modern literature (”creative nonfiction” and all that–Angela’s book _Bound on Earth_ is a good example, even though it is fiction) allows for less linear storytelling.

And, for the record, I’m not against happy endings. I just appreciate it when writers take the time to let me experience the process or the journey. _Lord of the Rings_ is a good example. :) I’m pretty sure most of the male readers especially agree!

By: Lora

Lora — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:32:04 +0000

Not LDS, but- one of the wonders of Lord of the Rings was that it ended in a way that was not entirely ‘happy’- Frodo and Sam didn’t get to live next door to each other like Fred and Barney and be all bright and smiling forever after. But what happened satisfied and moved me because it felt like the thing that had to happen, what we had been prepared for and what the characters most needed. And after all they had been through, they had changed and couldn’t go back, but instead they moved on. Like in real life.
Capturing these kinds of emotional mixes in a linear format like writing can be elusive, too. I can feel several things at one time, but I can only describe one or two in a sentence. And then I have to read the words in order rather than experience everything on the page all at the same time. But sometimes I sure try…! :)

By: Angela

Angela — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:58:09 +0000

Laura, we have some great stuff in the upcoming Irreantum that I think would fit your description. Also Segullah’s _The Mother in Me_ has some excellent creative nonfiction that doesn’t shy away from rainstorms . . . and this book is even published by DB.

One of the problems I think writers run up against is the idea of resolution. A standard plot (as well all know) offers up obstacles–a conflict–and eventually that conflict must be resolved. It is difficult to write about daily trial, and especially unremitting trial, or trial that waxes and wanes (like most real-life trials do) and then try to fit it inside the “conflict/resolution” paradigm of plot.

One of the biggest problems readers have had with my own book is the fact that it feels less resolved than they’d like. I’ll have readers ask me about Kyle, a character of mine w/ bipolar disorder, and wonder if I’m going to write a sequel so I can provide more information about what happens to him. But the only answer I have for them is that throughout his life, he’ll have good months and bad ones, good years and bad ones. Because I wanted the book to be as true to life as possible, there is no miraculous cure, no startling realization that changes everything. Although some readers liked this, other readers felt unsettled by it.

It’s tricky to write in the “magical spot.” Both despair, on one hand, and miraculous happy endings on the other are easier to write about than the ups and downs, the one-step-forward, two-steps-back that epitomize real life.

By: no-man

no-man — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:22:06 +0000

Doug Thayer, John Bennion, Neal Chandler, and Margaret Blair Young come immediately to mind. Yes, I started reading Mormon fiction in the 80’s, and I don’t know that any of these authors would publish with Deseret Book (Margaret did do a series on black Mormon history for them). But if you’re looking through the output of Covenant Books, Bookcraft, or other Deseret Book style publishers, I doubt you’ll find much in the way of dark clouds. I think of their screening of fiction as the mother-in-law test–if it would offend my mother-in-law (who lives in Orem and is a truly conservative, sweet-spirit Utah Mormon), it wouldn’t work for Deseret Book.

By: Eugene Woodbury

Eugene Woodbury — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:40:07 +0000

Well, there's my book. I see two factors here: the unresolved tension over grace vs. works, and the assumption that success is proof of righteousness. Simply consider our eagerness to come up with cause-effect evidence for the Word of Wisdom (and every other dictate), even if this means ignoring all empirical data to the contrary. We confuse religion with self-help.

By: Laura Craner

Laura Craner — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:29:49 +0000

I really enjoyed the Pictograph Murders and Angel of the Danube, but I haven’t read the others ones–yet :)

Oh, and I don’t think uplifting necessarily means we have to jump to the happy ending. Like I said before, I think it’s about the process–and maybe the process is what is missing in so many LDS/Mormon books.

By: Wm Morris

Wm Morris — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:11:34 +0000

I’m pretty sure that we’re not the other blog. All other blogs are. ;-P

—–

Thanks for raising this question, Laura. I wonder if this is part of the reason why very good novels that are Orthodox in faith and don’t really push the envelope in content, don’t do well.

I’m thinking here of Vernal Promises and Leaving Moscow and Angel of the Danube and The Conversion of Jeff Williams and even Patricia’s the Pictograph Murders.

By: Patricia Karamesines

Patricia Karamesines — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:54:25 +0000

I don’t have an answer to your question, but this phrase — “my other blog” — gave me an idea for a bumper sticker: “My other blog is A Motley Vision.”

Whadya think, Wm?

By: FHL

FHL — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:28:52 +0000

FWIW, my wife does freelance editing for Covenant, and my impression is that their policy is that the themes must be uplifting, so it would seem that the authors would tend to do as you say – gloss over the storm cloud. I think they’re given a little more leeway with non-fiction, though.