The End
Hm. I'm not inspired to go out and buy the book. Heck, I don't even want to watch the movie. I'd rather subject myself to 2am infomercials pimping potato peelers that let you pull your own teeth, or at least make you want to.
On the other hand, if they're sharing a small pot of greens because that's all they have, we tend to watch to see how fairly they share it.
If they must hide their only child because the soldiers are coming to kill the children, we wonder if this one might survive.
If they sacrifice themselves, both dying in futile gestures to save the other, we rail at the injustice -- but now we're involved.
Happy is nice, but it doesn't sell the print, and it doesn't make us remember the story or buy a copy for friends. Don't get me wrong, there are exceptions, but in general, even Disney movies have villains and injustice.
If my heroes can make it through a book and walk away at the end healthy and happy and sane, I am relieved, but I wonder what went wrong. When they stagger away broken in body but not in spirit, supporting each other in their grief for those they lost, I admire them. I honor them. I remember them. I want to be them, though I thank my stars I don't have to go through the hell they've endured.
That's the point. A good story is always about character and conflict, and nobody walks away unscathed. If the character is untouched, we do not love them. At best, we can pity them, but they have not earned our devotion.
And again, of course, there are exceptions, but those just demonstrate the rule. People who survive lightning strikes and falling out of airplanes without parachutes do not convince the rest of us that it's safe. They amaze us, because they beat the odds.
Break your heroes. Even if they are angry, your readers will feel something. If you do it well, they'll curse you with their tears, but praise you with their wallets.
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