Happy Endings - Fiction or Real Life?

On my other blog - the Moody Muses - one of my fellow Muses wrote a post this week prompting us to consider why we write. I am pretty sure of the basic reason why I write (I like to tell stories) but my response to her post was a little more detailed than that.

Among other things, one reason I write is because I like to immerse myself in something that guarantees a happy ending. As a writer, and a reader, these kinds of books give me the emotional satisfaction I crave when I launch myself into a story. Real life is hard enough without having heart wrenching angst and drama and pain thrust into my favorite leisure activity. I want a hero and a heroine who complete one another; whose whole is greater than the sum of their parts. And a couple whose lives become so intertwined that I continue to think about and root for them once the curtain comes down.

But real life seeps in where it is least wanted sometimes and I have been thinking about reality in relation to my writing and I find myself struggling with a question -- Is it just me, or do real life happy endings seem fewer and farther between in our culture?

Maybe the root cause is the rabid curiosity of tabloid reporting, but what is up with all the headline grabbing sexcapades? Is media attention or immediate gratification more important than staying true to a loyal life partner? These major cheating scandals that seem to dominate the news these days have me feeling sad and pessimistic and even angry over the modern state of courtship and love and marriage.

What is the deal, people?

I know there are relationships out there that work. Most of my friends are married to truly fantastic guys (which is good, since they are truly fantastic gals) so I know the dream is still alive for at least some people. But when I look around I really wonder - is it the norm any more?

What do you guys think - is it called fiction because we guarantee those happy endings in our writing? Or because those romance novel heroes are just too impossibly good looking?! Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex