What makes for one of those stories you can't stop thinking about?

[mollyringle]

My lovely and delightful author friend Melissa McTernan was one of my early readers for Ballad for Jasmine Town, and said recently that she found herself still occasionally thinking about the book, months later. Which to me is such a high compliment! And it has led me to ponder: what is it that makes a story, be it book or show or film, stick in

Comments

[ext_6563463]

I do like a good happy ending though….

[mollyringle]

Oh, I definitely do too! I would say I require them, practically. Thus it's kind of annoying to me to discover this bittersweet feature about the stories I keep thinking about the longest. That said - there are different levels of happy endings. The ones where everything is neatly tied off and everyone is happy and no one died (e.g., Jane Austen, or most rom-coms) are one type, and (probably) less likely to be ruminated over later. Then there are endings like LOTR, which is still a happy ending on the whole: very low body count of named characters, bad guys defeated, peace restored. But damage has been taken that can't be fixed, which leads to the Grey Havens, which leads to me being sad about the happy ending.

The ending of Merlin, though, no one would call happy, and we all hate the BBC for doing it the way they did. 😄 Yet flaws like that can launch a thousand fix-it fics and retellings. So even those can be inspiring. To my regret!

[pathvain_aelien]

I like your theory! Regarding the stories you enjoy, but possibily forget-have you ever experienced having a different reaction to the same story later? I've experienced this with both books and movies/TV, usually if I reread a kindle that I know I don't remember well or if I'm re-watching a movie/TV show with a friend. Sometimes I end up loving it much more and it sticks with me forever on the second read/watch. I don't know if it's because I can relate to it better after life experiences have made me appreciate or empathizewith certain aspects, or what. It's definitely interesting though. I actually loathed Fellowship of the Ring the first three times I saw it (once in theaters, twice with friends who wanted to watch it) and of course, I ended up falling in love with the franchise. Maybe some stories just require being in the right mood/frame of mind at the right time for you to be able to fully appreciate them.

[mollyringle]

Oh yes, I have definitely had that experience! It's become one of our experiments (husband and mine) to rewatch things we loved in, say, the '90s and see what we think now. Some things hold up well despite my change in perspective with age; some don't. Other times, it takes a rewatching to get the full picture on a character or a subplot or what have you, and I end up changing my opinion about that aspect of it. Makes me wonder what I'll love-and dislike-when I'm 60, or 80, or 100!