If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.

“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”

Because this is true in reality, it’s required in fiction.

I love watching characters grow in stories. I love seeing them triumph against insurmountable odds. And I’m a huge sucker for happy endings.

I can forgive all sorts of flaws with storytelling if the ending is satisfying.

From the moment I open a book until I reach the eventual climax, it’s a no holds barred pro. wrestling match between Character and Plot.

Character comes in swinging, but quickly becomes the under dog with a few minor successes, but mostly just taking a beating from Plot. Right up until the last few moments before getting tapped out, when, with a surprising, yet inevitable reversal, Character finds strength I didn’t know they had and they win in the end.

Of course, once it’s all said and done, I can see the whole match was a carefully choreographed routine and that the Character and Plot were working together all along.

But in the moment it’s convincing and it’s exquisite. The more desperate Character’s struggle appears to be and the closer the reversal gets to the tap out, the more satisfied I am.

It’s not that I want characters to hurt, but their pain is the only way I can see their growth and feel their triumph. Victories without struggle feel hollow. So, characters have to earn their victories.

But, the characters can’t just struggle. There has to be a purpose for their pain, a trophy for their torment. In the end, their victories must come.

They have to, because we need the reminder that we can be strong too. We need to be shown the glory in sacrifice, to remember that there’s a purpose to our own struggles and that there’s a life for us on the other side of them.

“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”
-Fernando Sabino

On a personal note:

This weekend, my kid learned that sound comes out of the speakers and not the TV screen.