Skeletal Writings

Here's the thing: Sometimes I want my five cheese baked ziti and I want it from Olive Garden.  If you know me, you'll know I HATE spaghetti sauce.  As in, it makes me want to puke on the nearest spot on the floor.  Of course, that might have something to do with the way my family makes it. They like loading their sauce with carrots and onions and that completely ruins the flavor of an otherwise decent sauce.  Back to Olive Garden, because I actually like their five cheese baked ziti.

I mention this because of this link: http://gawker.com/#!5793849/olive-gardens-culinary-institute-is-a-sham.  This article is from April 20th, but I think it's worth linking to.  In short, Olive Garden's claims that they have a cooking school in Tuscany has been proven to be a lie (or semi lie, depending on whether you consider renting a hotel room and teaching stuff there a school).  On one hand, I feel super ripped off.  You know what?  If Olive Garden never mentioned that stupid not-a-school ever again, I'd be a happy woman.  I don't like being lied to and well, I'm not happy right now.

Here's the other thing: I am sick, sick, SICK of all the privilege in the comments.  A lot of folks who are otherwise good people (not really, but I tend to like their comments otherwise) say "Well I have loads of money and can afford to go to real Italian restaurants and Olive Garden sucks and anyone who likes them is a terrible person."  You know what?  You and your loads of money can shove it!  God forbid there are people in this world who honestly do not have the option to go somewhere "better"!  And what if, like me, you happen to like one of their dishes?  That makes me/us bad people?  Yeah, I don't think so!

The bigger problem is that all these privileged people call everyone out for, you guessed it, being privileged.  White privilege, male privilege, rich privilege, you name it.  But it's okay for them to be privileged because they're talking about Olive Garden.  Give me a break!

I'm in a semi-snarky mood right now, although I am dead serious about this concept.  Just advanced warning.

Okay, so something interesting happened one night when I was asleep.  Yes, it's a dream, and I know it was a dream because in this dream I was a singer (ha!) and I had a band (ha!) and we were successful (ha!) and I ended up richer than rich (the lols are killing me, seriously).  Anyway, in this dream me and the band were kicking over the last song for our CD and we decided on this one song, untitled at the moment.  So then I said, "It's about me and this guy.  I hate him, like so much I quite literally puke every time I see him.  Well, he didn't get the memo because he asked me to marry him."  Then one of the girls in the band said, "So maybe you should call it something like I Hate You So Much I Puke."  Then I said, "Yeah, no."  Finally we reworked the song and called it Prison or a Promise, because that related way too perfectly to the wedding aspect.  Dream over after that point (although later I have continuing segments, so...interesting, definitely).

So, Jess, what's that have to do with writing?  Well, I love the title Prison or a Promise  but it's obviously not going to be a song (I am painfully bad at singing, so there's that little issue).  Then I thought, hey, what if I used it as a chapter title?  And then I thought a lot more about it and thought, I know exactly how it fits in.  And now for the outline so I don't forget.

This is the third novel in my Slayer trilogy, so Callix Ruelo is a grown woman (anywhere from twenty five to thirty) and the only ranked female slayer (but she's dedicated to helping teenage girls develop their slaying so she's not so alone in that world).  The important thing that happens in this third novel is two men (of sorts, and I'll mention why later...for now, keep in mind that they are men in age only) propose to Callix (who is of course a slayer and would slay them if she could).  The thing is, one man (Toriaun, who is the man in age only; he's immature, can't make decisions for himself worth anything, relies on his mother to defend him, and so on) she absolutely, one million percent loathes.  At one point she thought maybe they'd have a future if he stopped keeping demons for torture purposes (having been tortured by her father from age 0 to 10, she knows it's not fun) and he's her age (okay, two years older, but close enough) and there are so many reasons she could use him (he's rich, he has influence, he's powerful, and so on).  However, being around him even in the name of business (she slays his problem demons, essentially) makes her want to puke (see a pattern here?).  Therefore, his marriage proposal (the promise), while solid, could trap her in something she doesn't want (the prison).  See how awkwardly I tied that in?  Well, the plan is to make it flow more smoothly when I write it.

By the way, the other man is Marius So-and-So (that is not actually his last name, I just don't have one for him right now) and he's a special problem of his own.  He's a serial killer, he makes sacrifices that hurt everyone around him including himself and he never realizes it, and basically he's like Callix's father.  On the count of three, let's all say "Ewwwww!"    

I apologize for any potential typos...I am so ragey about this right now (and I'm not even an author!).

If anyone happens to be a horror/mystery/romance reader, you might be interested to know about this really bad company.  So, last year (2010) Leisure/Dorchester stopped paying authors for their books because they were sort-of-but-not-really going bankrupt.  Around this time, the Leisure website had a post about "Hey everyone, we're going to stop publishing Mass Market Paperback and focus exclusively on ebooks!  Because we are innovative!"  Yeah, sure, not because you were late in the ebook game and now you've screwed yourself!  So anyway, writers stopped getting paid and there was a time when Leisure wasn't releasing any books.  So a bunch of writers did one of two things: find another publishing company  and start fresh or find another publishing company and get all rights to their backstock (um, not sure if that's the right word).  Sounds like that's the end, right?

WRONG!

In 2011 (actually, new reports are saying as early as late 2010) Leisure/Dorchester began putting unauthorized copies of their big-name authors in ebook form on places like Amazon.  I always thought if an author said "Okay, publishing company, you screwed me over and I want my books back so I can do whatever with them" then the author gets to do whatever they want with their work and their relationship with the publishing company is done.  Which would mean the publishing company has lost all rights to the work.  Except Leisure/Dorchester is all "Oh no!  How did this happen!  Oh, wait, it's Amazon's fault.  We'll look into it" and "Oh no!  Why are all these readers so upset?  We are innocent!"  Also, they've been making it difficult for people to comment on their Facebook page.

You know what?  This is absolutely the sign of a bad publishing company.  It's bad enough that they didn't pay their authors the first time around.  It's worse that they agreed to revert all rights back to their authors and then go back on that.  It's even worse they're acting like they have no idea what's going on and everyone (authors, readers) is making a big deal about nothing.  This is most definitely something. 

Anyone who wants to get the word out can go to Twitter and use hashtag #BoycottDorchester.  It's interesting to read the tweets already there.

Normally I don't share personal information, but I thought it was important in this case.  So, here's the thing: I live in West Virginia.  Never mind the jokes about how we're all stupid and backwards (although some folks kind of live up to it, so...yeah).  We have some of the WORST stuff going on at the moment.

-Right now, people in the West Virginia state legislature are debating about returning the death penalty to West Virginia.  The people that support it are all emotional and "They killed my *Insert name of person who is somehow related to them* and they deserve to die, die, DIE!"  Okay, you know what?  There are ways you could make a good case for the death penalty.  If West Virginia has a ridiculously high rate of violent inmates, you might be able to say "Well, if they're such dangerous people, why are we keeping them alive?"  That at least could lead to good discussion.  I don't think emotional testimonies (or whatever they're called) make a good case.  I do not want to live in a state that might seriously considering reinstating the death penalty because of people who come in and cry and rage.

-So, the city of Morgantown is looking for a new police chief (I think that's it; I haven't followed the story that closely).  There were at least five people who applied for the job, and three were out-of-state and two were in-state (possibly Morgantown residents).  The two in-state folks weren't even considered.  Of the three remaining applicants, the first guy was a little handcuff-happy, the second guy caused all sorts of drama in his home state, and the third guy wants to enforce a strict curfew of 11:00 in a college town (and while I hate the bar scene and hate the party-school reputation, this is flat-out ridiculous).  I want someone who understands Morgantown (that it is a college town and that like it or not, we have students, that it is also has residential areas, and so on) and seems reasonable.  

-Let's talk about a certain county's superintendent.  For some semblance of internet safety I won't mention the county.  I was never a fan of him (he made some dangerous decisions about sending kids to school in horrible weather), but he seemed like a decent guy.  Well, he's getting a 15.2 percent raise while the teachers are getting no raises and are actually at risk for being cut.  I agree with one of the teachers when he says a superintendent is only as good as the teachers below him.  Also, there were some counties in the state that had positions available for teachers that were willing to take them, until the teachers found out the pay was less-than-impressive.  I understand why teachers are going out-of-state after getting their degrees and certifications.
 

Well, I've been all over the board with my novel (anywhere from DELETE IT ALL! to okay, there's one paragraph that just isn't working, I need to change it to ugh, I don't even want to see this thing to wow, this is awesome! and everything in between).  The new inspiration came from a dream, where I saw the first book's final title as well as the completed first chapter.  It was also a mass market book in bookstores, which was super duper awesome, but one of the least important details.  I'm going to write this novel based on my outline as well as what I saw in the dream, and the first step is to list the three novel titles.

First book: Slayer's Playground (where Callix has first exposure to the world of slaying and nothing is too serious)

Second book:  Slayer's Paradise (where Callix has a new life and slays, slays, slays)

Third book: Slayer's Battlefield (where Callix becomes a villain, makes some tough decisions, and faces death during the Ultimate Battle Between Good and Evil)

This way, I can free up titles like "Victim Hero" and "Downward Spiral" for related chapter titles.

Okay, so apparently the trend in Young Adult books is post apocalyptic/dystopy.  I'd sort of kind of fit in.  Yay?  But here's the thing: Whether I was writing for adults, teens, kids, whoever, I'd want to write my own thing the way I wanted to write it.  I don't believe in following trends just because that's what sells.  See, that's what sold two years ago and is coming out two years later.  By the time all these post apocalyptic/dystopy stuff is out, it's a new trend.  My god, I shudder to think what people would write when the trend is happy fluffy bunnies that go around hugging people and making the world happy.  In any case, I'm writing this novel the way I want to write it and right now, it's not going easy (or at all) but at least it's working the way I want it to work.  So there is that.

One other thing I read today.  There were some people saying "We hate fantasy (specifically YA Fantasy)!  We want real because it's real!"  If I didn't think it would pop my teeth out, I'd beat my head against the nearest wall all day.  You know, when I was a kid I read a lot of slice-of-life fiction, and I hated it to no end.  Because in being real, it felt too real.  I wanted something I couldn't see every day.  Not necessarily true fantasy (I got into that as well as horror when I was about eighteen), but stuff that was clearly fictitious.  These people also said "You can only learn about the world through realistic fiction."  Sorry, but wrong.  I learned more about real-life issues through speculative fiction novels.  I'd even say I've learned more from paranormal romance than my tenth grade health class (and that is super embarrassing to admit on more than a few levels).  So no, not true.

First of all, I was Tweeting about this earlier today, but I realized I had so much to say I wanted to do a longer version here.  So if by chance anyone on here follows me on Twitter, this might seem familiar.  Now that that is out of the way...

This is the link that spawned said rant: http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/physical-erotic-perfection/.  Short version is this woman writes in, says she tries reading recommended erotica, but gets pulled out of the story because the men are ridiculously perfect.  She adds that if that's what women want, she's a bit upset nobody talked to her.  Her relationships have been all over the board size wise and none of her partners have been "perfect" but she was more than okay with it.  So essentially she's wondering what women REALLY want, and the comments are interesting.  From what I saw, it seems that some women share her view (overly perfect men are a problem and they'd rather read about people they can picture meeting in their everyday life) and some women disagree (because it's fantasy, and they want perfect in their books). 

As an important disclaimer, I do not write erotica.  I think the world will breathe a sigh of relief for that.  See, I don't have a romantic bone in my body.  I even have problems writing relationships where there's absolutely no physical contact.  I just...don't get it.  I'd butcher it so badly if I tried, it's probably better I don't.  However, I do write in a genre where the term "fantasy" is used (well, it is the fantasy genre, so...).   

The Novel That Never Ends is interesting to write.  Besides that it's never perfect and there's always something new I feel like Oh my god I have to add, it's just all the characters I'm writing about.  So, this is a fantasy novel.  Part of it is very solidly fantasy, like genre wise.  The other part is only fantasy in the respect that I only wish I could do things my characters do (which is a very different type of fantasy).  This leads me to the point, which is because I'm writing a fantasy, anything (within reason) can happen.  So, for example, if I wanted to write every single character as being sizzling hot, I could in theory get away with it.  Which brings me to the rant. 

Because here's the thing: I hate this idea that if you're writing fantasy, you should make your characters everything that turns you on (which for a sizable number of readers, would be super duper muscular men who are possessive over Their Woman).  For starters, this isn't really a huge turn-on for ME.  To be honest, if I met someone like that in real life (and by met, I just mean see them walking the street), I'd look at them and say "Meh."  Unless they happen to love writing and have no problems hearing me chatter about the latest idea that popped into my mind, and then MAYBE it's a bit of a turn-on.  I thought I'd get that out of the way first, because it's relevent to my rant.

Okay, so we have this idea that if it's fantasy, you should be writing what turns you on, and that means HOT men and HOT women and HOT creatures.  Well, I don't buy into it at all.  In this ridiculously hard to write novel, I write my "good" guys as being varied in their appearance (some of them are sizzling hot, some of them are average, one of them is super cute and looks like she's five years old, which is a problem because she's semi immortal and already has a good couple hundred years on her) and my "bad" guys as being varied but more often than not HOT and my creatures as being goofy.  Yes, goofy.  They're scary, they'll kill you, they'll kill you in the most painful ways possible, but they're hilarious to look at.  It's hopefully a little different than the fantasy genre conventions, and as soon as I get stuff more developed, it should be a lot of fun as well.  And this brings me to a point about my HOT villains.

I'm not very good at writing villains, I hate to admit.  It's a bit of a challenge to come up with their motivation for being so evil.  There's the standard take over the world aspect, which I am using.  I also want a deeper, slightly more personal reason.  One thing I'm doing well (at least, I think) is that it's not fifty villains teaming up.  There are levels of villainy and different villains want different things.  That may be a different rant for a different time.  In any case, I'm still working on them.

But one thing for sure:  My villains tend to be HOT.  And they tend to be disgusting.  A couple of main villains do this thing where they lure people to their bedroom, and they skin them, and they feed the flesh to their doglike creatures (known as Snip Snips) and make said creatures even more bloodthirsty, and they keep the skeletons for...okay, that's where I left off.  I was thinking in a future novel, they keep the skeletons to maically reanimate them and use them in their army.  Or something.  That's just the first example I could think of.  The whole thing is that I'm trying to go against this idea that HOT means good because it has been driving me up the wall.  It's why there are some genres/subgenres I frequently try, but get frustrated with after a few books.

Okay, here's another thing I just thought of.  I'm not sure if I'm writing in the Young Adult genre or not, but one reason why I wouldn't mind if I got shelfed there: I might give them a slightly healthier perspective on relationships.  Well, not exactly healthier as much as taking the "Abusive relationships are okay if the guy's hot" concept and saying "Uh, no."  I'm writing an abusive relationship and I KNOW it's an absuive.  It's just...You know how I said my villains tend to be HOT?  Well, there's this one, and his name is Toriaun.  He falls in lust/love with Callix (female lead) and at one point they have something like a relationship (besides my problems writing such a think, it's a bit one-sided; he loves her, she could do without him).  He nearly kills her one evening and has no idea why, when she's finally healthy enough to pack up and leave, she doesn't accept his "Don't go!  I NEED you!"  Because he tried to kill her and she understands that's not a good relationship.  Never mind that she's abusive as well (more mentally than physically) and yet doesn't see it.  I apologize if this was a little disjointed.  This is the first time I've been this opened on my thoughts of this particular genre and how I'd maybe change it. 

I know there's a lot more to say.  I haven't even gotten around to discussing my goofy creatures yet!  I think the important stuff has gotten out, however, so I'll leave you all with what's currently here. 

  

Title: Victim Hero (which is the original title and has been changed from that to Borrowed Life and back again.)

Main Character: Callix Ruelo (changed from Caprice Ruelo, although Caprice Ruelo is used as a psuedonyme...and I apologize for butchering the spelling of that word)

Beginning: Callix Ruelo has an unusual life, and there's detail on what that means.  Death, demons, and a serial killer father, for those folks interested in specifics.  We learn that Callix looks like a horror movie dead girl and her appearance is so scary she frightens the demons who drop by to see her.  We learn that she is abused and should've died, except said demons are keeping her alive (as well as turning her into a sometimes cannibal).  We meet Eriko (demon who is an instructor at a demon slayer school, and yes the irony is intentional, and who commits to guarding Callix even though it is a bad idea/illegal) and Simmons (spirit guide who created Callix's body and cares about her, although he has his own agenda).  There is details of Callix getting cleaned up for the first time ever, and how it's a dramatic difference.  There is talk of the slayer school, and Eriko suggests maybe she goes to that.  Throughout the beginning, Marcell Ruelo (Callix's father) talks about buying his own circus and building an ultimate death machine and becoming the greatest serial killer in the world.

Middle: More talk of ultimate death machines and circuses.  Callix is torn between Eriko and Simmons and what they both want from her (in short, the two disagree with each other and take it out on her).  Callix has a run-in with a demonic shadow and Eriko swoops in, saves her, and begins teaching Callix about demon slaying.  Astrixto (demon king and Eriko's ultimate boss) visits Callix and makes her an offer to join him in the demon realm, which she rejects because "It's scary!"  Note that in this novel, Callix is never what you'd consider tough, although she survives ridiculous amounts of pain and towards the end, stands up for herself.

End: Callix, a slayer-in-training, returns to Marcell Ruelo's house because she feels like she needs to finish something.  Marcell Ruelo introduces her to creepy new wife Melissa (a clown) and his ultimate death machine (a funnel slide that has three blades at the end, which raise from a flap and chosp you up unless he decides against it).  Callix notices ultimate death machine is bad quality and will break the first time anyone uses it.  Callix uses it, dies, and Simmons takes her back to the spirit realm to work on her reincarnation.

Things to Keep in Mind: 

Callix is no older than sixteen by the end of the novel.

Callix is friends with these people: Garret, Jin, Zoello for boys and Karielle, Delivia, Debora, Ellia for girls.

Callix is in competition with these people: Tarquel, Anquil (although it's relatively friendly), possibly  Christien and Bricio if they still exist

There is mention of a girl named Henrie, but Henrie is more of a possibility rather than someone that exists.  Henrie does exist in books two and three, which are set one thousand plsu years later when Callix reincarnates, some of these other characters are dead or have their own children who are her age, and Callix's relationships with everyone from book one change.  So, there is that major thing to keep in mind.

There is a Briella and a Toriaun, and there is relationship drama because Callix wants Toriaun for herself.  In this version of the novel, Callix is a bit more interested in guys, but not much.  At the end of the day, the only thing she can be is Toriaun's buddy.  This leads to books two and three, when Toriaun is much, much older (keep in mind, he is a semi immortal and much, much older still puts him at about age thirty in human years) and falls for Callix in a different body.  Things get weird because he has an adoptive parent relationship with Callix, who was spirited away from her human mother the day she was born, before any other type of relationship.  That, however, is a more appropriate outline for books two and three.  In short, there is a love triangle of sorts and is it convoluted!

Karielle is a human/robot hybrid and it makes perfect sense in context.  Later, Tarquel becomes a hybrid as well.

Zoello is the first cambion Callix meets, and looks very much the way she looks in books two and three.  This is more a note to self because I have no idea what that is right now.

The creature villains of this novel are most definitely Snip Snips, but I'm torn between demonic rabbits, which was in the original draft.  This is something I'll have to work in.

The primary world for this novel is Escalli (water/forest world) but Simballa (desert world) is mentioned frequently, as are Baltian and Antareas (water worlds).


            

I am beginning to think people in the writing community (right now, authors as well as cover designers) would not be thrilled to find out I'm interested in publication, just because...okay, here's the thing.  I'm critical.  If I read a book, for example, I will absolutely find something that I hated or found out of place/unnecessary, whether I liked the book or not.  That's why, while I have so many book review blogs I follow, none of them have completely sung to me.  The reviewers seem to like everything they buy/receive, unless it was horribly written, where it becomes a Did Not Finish (DNF).  This doesn't mean they give everything five stars or an A+ letter grade, but they always say something super positive about the book (whereas, if I were reviewing the book, I would say "It just sucked" and of course give my review based on why).

Today, my issue is about book covers. 

I read a guest post on a blog I like and check every day that dealt with a) the author's new book and b) readers that hate the covers of her books/books in general.  Here it is: http://wickedlilpixie.com/2011/01/19/making-the-best-with-emma-petersen/.  Basically, this woman has received emails from readers saying "Your cover is horrendous!" and judging the book by the cover, and she is trying to tell us don't do that.  She evens it out by saying it's also not a good idea as the author to write a blog post defending your super duper beautiful world-shatteringly amazing cover (totally not her words, by the way,but  I've seen other authors think of theirs covers in such a way), so props to her. 

However, one thing she says in her list of ways to not react to complaints of a bad cover, and I will direct quote it, is this: 2. Insult your cover artist and/or publisher and blame them for your cover.

Okay, here's the thing that's been bothering me for a while, even before she made her post.  There are two ways you could have a horrible cover.  The first way is, the cover looks awesome and beautiful, but the images on the front have zero to do with your writing.  In that case, I'd follow this lady's advice because the cover art isn't going to hurt book sales any.  The second way is, a professionally created cover looks like something an author could do on a basic photoshop program.  Here's the thing: If I, who has never used a photoshop program in my life, could do as good or better than my cover artist, maybe they're doing something wrong.  And maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to at least tell them "Hey, look, I appreciate it, but this cover isn't going to appeal to people."  I don't know much about the business of being a cover artist, but I'd think they'd get a cut from every book you sold.  If part of the problem is the cover, well, they're not making the money they thought they'd make and that might be a good angle to come from.  Sometimes it is okay to say something isn't working.     
    

Couple of things spawned this post.

First, I finished my first draft of Borrowed Life and realized it was still not working.  Part of the problem was just, it did not read like a real book.  That's something I think I'll be struggling with for quite some time.  The bigger problem was this: The ending was rushed.  Don't get me wrong, that is the ending I want.  It just felt like while the rest of the book details this character's life, the ending was one paragraph that said "So this is this and that is that.  The end!"  Ugh!  I mean, again, it's the ending I want as far as what happens.  It's just that I as the author felt ripped off.  Imagine what future readers would say.

Second was this post right here: http://thebookpushers.com/2011/01/11/hea-hea-why-art-thou-happy/.  It deals specifically with the romance genre, and this thing called HEA (Happily Ever After), and this reviewer's opinion is that all romance must have an HEA and she hates any book that does not.  Also, she believes that people who do not like HEAs look down on the romance genre (which I disagree with but can see where she's coming from at the same time).  Everyone who has commented agrees with this reviewer.  To be honest, I'm a bit scared to share my opinion because it is VERY dissenting.  But I will share it here because it's relevant to what I'm writing about book endings.

Here's the thing: I want a believable ending.  If you have all this buildup throughout a series and the ending fizzles out, for example, I will most likely take that book and chunk it against the nearest wall.  Can we talk plot twists here, as well?  Because I'm all for a good plot twist, but not at the very end when there was no evidence throughout the book/series to support it.  And as you might've guessed, if this happens I will take that book and chunk it through the nearest wall.  Now let's get specific-ish, because there have been some fantabulous books that have been ruined by one little topic.  Okay, although I'm not really interested in reading about characters having kids, sometimes it happens.  Fair enough.  However, the ending I think I hate most is the one where after you have a character who okay, wants a family and is okay with their pregnancy and so on, ends up with three or more kids and...that's their happy ending.  No no no, not even that.  I mean, I hate the idea that it can't be the things the character has accomplished/overcome that is the happy ending, it's that they have kids, I hate it very much.  It's that characters you think would not want kid after kid after kid (or heck, kids in general)...does that and that's their happy ending.  But that is just my personal gripe.  In short, the ending must be believable.

This reviewer says she feels that a downer ending is a way to mess with the readers.  Hmmmmm, I find that interesting she says this, because I'm on the opposite side of the spectrum.  I feel like a happy ending (particularly when it is not justified) does the same thing.  Now, I will give her some props (or, uh, not really sure of the word) and say that I don't like a downer ending like "Rocks fall and everyone dies."  Like, that exact phrase.   Um, okay, so WHY were we reading this series if that's the ending we get?

I could be completely biased on this topic because I'm more of a horror (well, used to be, before it became hard to find books in the genre)/urban fantasy fan than a romance fan.  See, I like reading a book where I don't know the ending.  I could guess, but that doesn't mean I'd be right.  If I know that the two lead characters are going to end up together and everything will be sappy-happy, then why am I reading the book?  Here I'll add that there's one good thing about the paranromal romance subgenre (and there's other stuff too, but this is the one that jumps out most), and that is this:  There must be a strong emphasis on the paranormal as well as the romance.  I love reading about supernatural stuff.  Therefore, I'll probably enjoy the paranormal aspects.  So, there is that.  Still, my main thing is that I want to be kept guessing, and have to follow the story to know how it ends.

Okay, so those are the two things.  

Now I'm wondering, how would you react to an ending where the main character, who you expect to die (whether it's because of a prophecy or because they have a high-risk job or...fill in the blank) and who had come close to it before, does die?