Why the “endings” on Gray Zone stories “suck”.

HAHAHA

Okay, I wanted to post this because a lot of people get mad at me about the endings on Gray Zone stories. The thing to remember is these are not complete “stories”. They are not supposed to be. They are “slices of life”. They do not “end” because the lives of the characters do not end. They are only a moment, usually days, of which will take place in the course of a lifetime. If I “ended” these stories, there would be no returning to the characters. I always want to leave that option open. I want to let the reader *imagine* what will happen–maybe they foresee happiness, maybe they foresee tragedy. Just like real life, we fantasize about “what will be” but we never truly know.
I realize what I write is urban fantasy, but at the same time I want to add realism. The realism is, even when one obstacle is completed, there will be so many more. Think about your own lives. The tragedies you have endured, the happy moments, the hurdles you have had to cross. Did your life “end” with a HEA (did you get all your “answers”) or are you STILL living your life, enduring those same things over and over, each outcome different, sometimes good sometimes bad, and LEARNING the answers to all the questions you have?
The Gray Zone stories encompass the “Human” element. They are meant to be dark, real, gritty, violent, full of emotion. They are about survival–both physical and mental. They are about love. Not romance, but love. There is a difference.
So, do I write stories with tied up endings?
No.
Some endings are more complete (simply because of the situations), but there will always be “what ifs” and “maybes” and “what abouts”.
That’s simply what living is about. It only ceases to be that way when you die.
I don’t expect everyone to like it and I am okay with that. But I just wanted to explain my reasoning behind it. It’s not because I have stock in e-readers and want people to break them so they go and buy a new one (although that might be a good idea now that I think about it) I do it because, I want the characters to be real, I want their lives to be real. I want to give the reader (and I cherish everyone of you, even those who hate what I write!) something different and sometimes a bit scary.
There are hundreds if not thousands of writers out there who do a wonderful job of giving a HEA where the characters sign off holding hands and skipping into the sunset (I read these books too by the way because they make me happy but in truth utopia isn’t real ). But there are very few writers who are willing to touch the darkness, to poke a sick into the rattle snake nest, or climb the stairs into the dark room above. I am one of those writers. My characters live, they hurt, they cry, they suffer, and they die.