I really want to write a story where nothing happened in the end of it. I don’t know why, but the idea of a character experiencing multiple traumatic events and then continuing life as is with no big ending or sense of closure is just very compelling to me.

My whole issue with this concept is “who cares?”. Do people consume stories not for the story aspects but just for the ending? The past books and movies that I have read and watched respectively I remember some aspects of the story, but the ending is more clear and memorable. Through the story, a lot of irreversible damage is done, but what if that damage does not visibly affect the character we follow and they continue on seemingly indifferent to the things that they have experienced?

If anyone has examples of a story where at the end everything is back to “normal” please tell me about them. Any form of media would work, I am genuinely curious.

As I am writing this, the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon, keeps coming up in my mind. This book is really excellent and is written from the perspective of a child with ASD who goes is trying to solve what caused the incident of the dog in the night-time (as the title suggests). This book definitely has a massive change for the main character, as well as the main character goes through multiple potentially traumatic events, but is not really phased by the events that happened to him. Of course, the events made him trust others more or less, but he does not dwell on the events or seem scarred by them.

Currently, a project I am working on but have not felt confident in would try to follow premise by following a college student who has signs of underlying mental conditions as they go through seemingly a normal day to onlookers. However, as the story is written in their perspective the reader can follow their ruminations and their catastrophizing of very common events. I think what has been turning me off of this project is the belief that every story has to be the “super hero” story. A story where the entire fate of the earth hangs in balance and every action must have consequences! I think this “nothing happens” idea is also very close to what a lot of early TV shows and sitcoms use. Every single thing is wrapped up neatly and everything at the end of the 30 minute story is fine. BoJack Horseman does an amazing job commentating on this affect both in his own show as well as several other characters referencing the idea that an aspect of life or stories end cleanly with everything “back to normal” or ends with a dramatic change that will forever affect all involved in the story.