Happily Ever After – My Take

With my second novel, my editor suggested I shy away from happily ever after, or even the idea of someone ending up in such a state. My first reaction, of course, was second guessing myself or my work. But then I told her I needed to take a few weeks to think about her suggestion, and see what I come up with.

Taking time is probably the best thing I did because here is what I came up with.

If there was no belief in life that one day we would find a partner capable of making us feel as if we are living happily ever after. Then how can we expect to make the world a better place?

I decided to stick with that notion, and continue to write my novels as I deem fit.

And it seems there are others who agree.

Individual lives, and even whole societies, can be changed for the better by novels that illuminate and expose the world’s problems with grit and realism. I have read many such books in my lifetime: wonderfully written books that have stayed with me long after the cover was closed; stories that have caused me to examine and sometimes alter my thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes. I have been made better by these books, as has the world. Of course, we’ve a long way to go yet, the world and I. Still, it’s a start.

My characters will face serious, thought-provoking problems. They will suffer and grieve and laugh and cry, and readers, recognizing some piece of themselves in the realistically drawn, often flawed humanity of those characters and the complications of the plot, will, I hope, laugh and cry with them. Though every problem won’t necessarily be tied up with a big bow, when the characters and readers reach the last page together, there will be happiness and hope. {Marie Bostwick}