On Writing Romance_ How to Craft a Novel That Sells - Leigh Michaels [124]
Since this couple's courtship has been anything but ordinary, it's fitting that the hero's proposal is a bit of a tease as well.
The exception to the need for a declaration of love is in chick-lit, where the happy ending isn't always a permanent commitment. Even there, however, it's a good idea to show an increased level of trust or sharing between the main characters because of what they've been through together.
In her paranormal chick-lit novel Undead and Unemployed, Mary Janice Davidson leaves her vampire heroine uncertain of the hero's exact feelings for her. Because the book is part of a series, making clear the status of the relationship between Betsy and Sinclair would reduce the zest of future books:
Jessica asked me about it, and Tina did, too, but Sinclair avoided the subject entirely, and I wasn't sure why. I told them the truth—I didn't remember much between getting staked, and Marc pulling the stake out.
What I didn't tell them was the one thing I did remember: Sinclair's voice floating out of the dark, coaxing, commanding, and saying the same thing over and over again: "Come back. Come back. Don't leave me. Come back."
Weird. And sometimes I wonder if I dreamed it. Or hallucinated it. Or, most amazing of all, if he really said it. God knows I wasn't going to ask him. ...
So either I can't be killed, or the king of the undead brought me back by the sheer force of his will. Either way, something to think about.
But not today. Neiman's is having a sale, and I desperately need a cashmere cardigan. I'd prefer red, but I'll take any primary color. Jessica's paying! She says it's a "congratulations on coming back from the dead again" present. Works for me.
Though Davidson leaves the relationship unresolved, the strong hint of Sinclair's deeper feelings will help draw the readers into the next book of the series. Notice that despite having come close to oblivion, the heroine finishes the story with her signature sassy style, voice, and attachment to fashion, echoing earlier themes in the book.
FINDING THE RIGHT ENDING FOR YOUR ROMANCE
Inadequate endings come in many shapes and forms, but most of them fail to satisfy because they don't keep the emphasis on the main characters, or they show the characters acting inconsistently, or they tell rather than show the action. Some common inadequate endings include:
• The drawing room ending. The main character (or worse, a secondary character) assembles everyone together like the detective in an old mystery in order to explain what really happened. Explanation is far weaker than showing the characters taking action.
• The surprise ending. This ending will fall flat if the surprise isn't really startling or the readers have been able to anticipate it. If the story has been about saving a historic structure and in the last chapter the wealthy hero decides simply to buy it, there's not much novelty in the solution.
• The going-off-on-a-tangent ending. The ending has nothing to do with the rest of the story. If the entire story has been about whether the heroine should take a particular job or go back to school for her degree, but in the end she decides to sell everything and backpack around the world, the readers will be left scratching their heads and wondering where that idea came from.
• The unresolved ending. This ending leaves important issues or big points of disagreement hanging. If the big problem has been a disagreement between hero and heroine over whether to move across the country, but in the end the couple postpones the decision indefinitely, the readers won't be satisfied.
• The assistance-from-outside ending. Forces outside the main characters solve the problem when the hero and heroine should do it themselves. If the couple has been chasing a criminal, but it's the police who make the capture without the couple's involvement, the ending will feel limp. The ideal resolution would show both main characters deeply involved in bringing justice to the bad guy, even if the authorities are the ones who actually handcuff him and haul him away.
• The brought-about-by-others