310. SNOWFLAKE_CHALLENGE #10 AND #11.

[peaked]

Doing the unthinkable for me and combining two challenges since I purposefully stalled on Challenge 10 because I was tossing up on what to do.

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snowflake_challenge #10: In your own space, create a fanwork. 

My first fill for my hc_bingo card and another fill for slippery_fish's weekly music prompt:

to the devil that i love in you
the vampire diaries | katherine/klaus; mature; 1,520 words
During captivity, Katherine and Klaus reminisce about their relationship in England during the 1400s. Even after five hundred years, one of them remains in denial about their shared truth.

I love rare pairs and I love fucked up rare pairs. Bring on the toxicity! (Bring on writing for myself! Guys! I wrote for myself!)

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snowflake_challenge #11: In your own space, Talk about your favorite trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme.

I really like ambiguous/open endings and I like not reading or writing love declarations that say "I love you". Sometimes I feel like these two go hand in hand for me.

I mean this in the sense that a story follows a certain plot or problem, and by the end of the story, that specific problem is solved. If I follow two people getting together, I want to see them together at the end. In this scenario, what I love about the two people getting together at the end is the story ending on a note of "They're together, they're happy, but what comes next is left up in the air".

I'm not the biggest fan of declarations of love as I prefer it being shown rather than told to me as a reader. I feel like this is often seen as being ambiguous as a lot of stories I read and watch have a love declaration that ties up the "getting together" nice and neatly. But what I love most about a getting together story is that they work through the hurdles that keep them apart and get together in the end, and it's not all rainbows and butterflies. They still haven't gone on a date. They haven't moved in together yet. They're not in a place emotionally to say "I love you". I like the ambiguous endings because I feel like they're more realistic. (I classify people not saying "I love you" as open because, well… I've grown up with love stories that conclude with "I love you" and that's it with no real promise of anything further. The story ends here. The "I love you" is the neatly tied bow.)

(That said, I do like it when "I love you" is featured in a story, but one person says it and the other person denies it. I love it when that declaration brings on more problems than solutions, and introduces yet another hurdle for two people to work toward. I guess in that vein, I really like trust issues and insecurities flaring up.)

And even outside of this example, I just prefer open endings because I feel like it gives the impression that the story I read exists in a bigger story itself. Not everything is hunky dory in real life, and while I know we escape to fiction to get away from real life, I really like having that impression of "More can happen and will happen". The story isn't over yet, but this thread of it is.

I recently reread one of my favourite book series (Six of Crows) and I really like how it ended on an open ending. The main plot thread that spanned two books is concluded, but the characters' endings are open and offer promise of further stories and movement. I find this more fulfilling than anything else, really. I have my closure, I'm satisfied, but I'm not left with what I feel is unrealistic which is a neatly tied bow at the end of it. I like my bows wonky.

I have no idea if that even makes sense, but it's often a driving force for me as a writer. As I've mostly engaged with fanworks in exchanges, the gifts I receive that have open endings (with the plot thread coming to a nice closure-giving end) are the ones that I really love the most. I like my open endings because I feel like they offer a closure that promises that the characters' journey doesn't end with the story. The plot thread I took you on does.

Comments

[cornerofmadness]

Thanks for sharing! That potential for further adventures can make you happy (I think sometimes about the Cheers! finale. It wasn't a great one but it ended with just another night at the bar and you can picture them there and that made it satisfying)

[scytale]

Yay for wonky bows!

I can go for either, I think (and sometimes I find it frustrating if what's set up makes me want a sequel), but one of my favorite book endings is an open ending that completely upends the magical rules of the world, the characters' future roles and their sense of themselves, the implications of the magical rules... and the last line gave me chills the first time I read it, and still when I think about it.

That said, I do like it when "I love you" is featured in a story, but one person says it and the other person denies it.

Ooo, yes, this is good. :D

[vriddy]

Open endings that still give the right sense of closure can be hard to nail down, but it's so cool when they hit right! Great trope choice :) I really have to read Six of Crows, I've seen so many enthusiastic reviews by now...

[shipperslist]

There's a reason why I often say I don't write happy endings, I write hopeful beginnings. The story doesn't stop with the last line.

[mrsluigivargas]

I'm personally mixed about ambiguous/open endings, but I really resonated with a lot of this! Especially what you said about stories existing inside a bigger story; I'd always thought of stories as glimpses into an alternate universe, and it doesn't stop just because we're not looking at it, you know?
I also agree with what you said about declarations of love; whenever the 'I love you' is treated as the final stop of a couple's journey it's always a bit disappointing. There are so many interesting aspects of being together that get glossed over in those cases :(

[rekishi]

Oh this is so interesting!

I find coming to and writing the "I love you" part so awkward as well. Also, there are characters where it's just weird for them to say so. I think I spent the whole of my Hobbit fics without once having anyone say it and that was very much a loving relationship. On the other hand, there are some characters who need to hear it, even if the other party, or even they themselves, might not be big on saying it.

[svgurl]

This was an interesting read! I get where you're coming from, in terms of potential for further adventures. I've always liked the blatant happy ending, but while an "I love you" can seem sweet, sometimes it just ends up feeling out of place depending on the characters and stories.

I like my open endings because I feel like they offer a closure that promises that the characters' journey doesn't end with the story.
Well said.

[silveradept]

Showing love, rather than declaring it, sometimes makes the live feel more real, because the characters are taking the time to get to know each other so they can make their intent known.

Open endings are great when you want to imagine further adventures in the world, rather than a closed space where no more adventures or other things happen to the characters. So they're great for fic writing for before or after the end of the canon narrative.

[slippery_fish]

(Bring on writing for myself! Guys! I wrote for myself!)

Cheers to that!

I tend to go for love declarations that aren't "I love you" as well and usually prefer them. I'm more into gestures and lines that make it clear to the readers and characters, that yep, they are in love. "I love you" works for me when one of them is just too stupid to get it and the other is all annoyed that he has to spell it out. :D

And with endings, I think I'm similar as well. I tend to end with moments, The moment before they kiss, before the big battle, before returning home. I want the characters to have some closure but the story to go on in a way.