HEA (Happily Ever After)

Think of it as a contract between the genre and its readers. However dark the road, however many misunderstandings, separations and dangers lie along it, the last page finds them together. That certainty is what lets readers be properly afraid on the way there.

You recognise a true HEA by the absence of loose ends. Often there is an epilogue, months or years on, showing that it held. A wedding isn't required. A decision is.

In a story that responds to your moves, the ending isn't written in advance. Whether a season closes on a full HEA, a cautious happiness or a door left open depends on what you say, do and wish for along the way. The promise changes shape: the story takes you seriously.