Exactly! Happy endings are not the mainstay of fiction anymore. Just the elements of beginning, middle and resolution. I read somewhere once (and this greatly improved my writing) that good fiction is not only creating good and believable charactors, but creating good plot:
"Plot is not only putting your charactors on the edge of the treacherous cliff, but putting them there in the middle of a snowstorm with an avalanche above and a hoard of angry monsters below!"
My dear and talented friend, if all we wanted was
Care Bears we wouldn't even be here!
(more sad faces...)
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